Decisionism and action: changing perspectives in organization theory

The neglect of moral discourse in mainstream organization theory during the past four decades may be attributed to the dominance of the “decision,” popularized by Herbert Simon, as the field's primary unit of analysis. Underwritten by an epistemology derived from the logical positivists’ analytical distinction between value and fact, the idea of decision has come to be uncritically accepted as a morally neutral and empirically self-evident beginning point for organizational analysis. The ethnomethodological writings of Harold Garfinkel, coupled with insights from contemporary philosophy of language, radically challenge the value-fact distinction, pointing to an epistemology of everyday life in which value and fact are initially fused. The inherent fusion of value and fact provides the basis for an alternative epistemology for organization theory—termed the “action” or “process” perspective—which fundamentally alters the empirical understanding of organizational life and, consistent with the writings of Mary Parker Follett, enables the recovery of organization theory's moral center.

Commenting on the effects of technology on modern consciousness, Manfred Stanley has noted that:

Of all the upheavals of history and culture, it is difficult to imagine any of greater scope than the decline and fall not of some one vision of the good, but of the good itself. The rise of the notion that there is no such phenomenon as the good in the objective nature of things must be the most ironic anticlimax possible to centuries of bitter conflict between those who felt themselves empowered to define it.⁽¹⁾

For Stanley, the problem is not technology as such, but “technicism”: the implicit, even unconscious, belief that the humanly possible is synonymous with the technologically available. In technicist consciousness, technology is no longer a means for attaining the good, because “means” presupposes a prior moral or practical end in whose service that means is applied. Should any conception of the good be embraced at all, he argues, it ironically can merely be an artifact of what has been made available by technology.

Technicism has become the predominant attribute of modern consciousness, producing what William Barrett, speaking in a slightly different context, calls “the illusion of technique.”⁽²⁾

In the collective infatuation with technology, Barrett argues,

... we have come to regard it [technology] as the source for the discovery of human meaning. The tragic consequence of this is the inevitable alienation of man from himself and his estrangement from others. The irony of technicism to which Stanley alluded earlier may be summarized as a reversal of a familiar aphorism—invention has now become the mother of necessity—albeit one devoid of moral content.

Stanley sees the rise of technicism as concomitant with the emergence of liberal society, whose institutions have achieved coherence and legitimacy explainable in terms of three themes that have dominated Western thought since the seventeenth century. The first is the general desanctification or secularization of the political economy exemplified ... in the transformation of human skills and the earth itself into objective commodity resources for commercial production.⁽³⁾ The second theme is the ascendancy of the market principle as the chief basis of socioeconomic organization, wherein interests are privately held by individuals rather than shared by communities or other larger collectivities. Finally, there is the theme of pluralistic representation in political decision making, where the expression of individual (and group) interest is tolerated in the hope of achieving a balance among them.

Taken together these themes have produced a pervasive sense of nihilism in Western society insofar as they seem to exclude the possibility “of grounding collective standards of value priorities in anything more transcendent than the simplest shared utilities like power, wealth, and the security of one's immediate personal circumstances.”⁽⁴⁾

The consequence of the three themes of liberal society, profoundly abetted by technicist consciousness, is nothing less than the loss “of a sense of common human community in the West”⁽⁵⁾and also of the moral possibility of a common, transcendent good.     

Organizational perspectives on the formation and disintegration of terrorist groups

Abstract

This article treats terrorist organizations as political interest groups. Starting from the assumption that terrorists are rational political actors, it follows that organizational considerations will play a role in the formation and decline of terrorist groups, just as is the case in other political organizations. The effects of several factors, including recruitment, ability to provide selective and purposive incentives, the need for entrepreneurial political leadership, competition from other organizations, the ability to attract outside support, and the ability to form coalitions with other groups, are considered.     

Terrorism as Transnational Advocacy: An Organizational and Tactical Examination

This article attempts to shed light on the dynamics and machinations within terrorist organizations by incorporating a heretofore overlooked literature which is directly applicable, that of transnational advocacy networks (TANs). Terror networks have been described using every possible analogy, from multinational corporations to organized crime to the anthropomorphic classic “cut off the head, and the body will die.” In reality, terrorist organizations function in much the same way, and using many of the same techniques, as transnational advocacy networks concerned with issues like the environment or human rights. By describing these characteristics, and comparing TANs and Terror TANs (TTANs), this article aims to offer insight into the tactics and motivations that define modern, as well as the much heralded post-modern, terrorism.     

An end-value theory of charismatic influence

The end-value theory of charismatic influence is premised on the existence of two basic types of values which underlie and primarily determine all influence relations. Charismatic and transactional influence relations are defined by these value types. A values typology is proposed as a general framework for analysis of influence relations, leadership, and related constructs. Predictive models, both primary and extended, are derived and specified. Implications for testing the models, for the study of a set of related constructs, and for management practice are discussed.     

Macroeconomic conditions and political instability: An empirical analysis

This article uses statistical methods to examine the relationship between two key macroeconomic indicators—inflation and economic growth—and four measures of political instability—peaceful unrest, violent unrest, coups d’etat, and changes of government. Using a panel research design and fixed effects regression analysis, I examine first whether contemporaneous relationships exist between these two groups of variables and then the direction of causality between them. Peaceful unrest clearly produces higher inflation and slower growth. Oddly, coups d’etat seem to producelower inflation, and there is some evidence that reverse causation may operate here as well—that high inflation mayreduce the likelihood of coups. Slow economic growth is associated with higher levels of violent unrest and a higher likelihood of coups and changes of government, but the direction of causality in these relationships is not clear. These findings, taken together, suggest that the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and political instability runs primarily from the latter to the former, raising doubts about the widely held view that poor economic conditions generally produce unrest and instability. Mark J. Gasiorowski is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Louisiana State University. He is currently working on a project focusing on the relationship between democracy and macroeconomic conditions.     

Export instability: An alternative analysis of causes

Numerous studies into the causes of the export instability experienced by developing countries have failed to establish any significant relationships. This paper suggests that the widely‐used technique of cross‐country regression analysis is inappropriate and that the typical explanatory variable set is inadequately specified. Accordingly, analysis is shifted to a time‐series basis at the level of individual countries, and explanatory variables are developed which correspond more closely to the supply and demand determinants of instability. Applying this alternative model to data for a sample of developing countries produces results which suggest that this approach has considerable explanatory power.     

Mapping Organizational Units in the State: Challenges and Classifications

The article discusses possible answers on three key questions for attempts at mapping the pattern of state organizations:

1. What constitutes a state organization?

2. What constitutes one state organization?

3. What constitutes different types of state organizations?

The main focus is on structural relations within and between organizational units, but the article also draws upon other classifications of units from the academic literature in organization theory and public administration. As an illustration, the article also outlines how these questions have been handled in the development of the Norwegian State Administration Database.     

Mapping Organizational Change in the State: Challenges and Classifications

The article discusses possible answers to the question of what constitutes different types of change of state organizations. Drawing upon contributions from organization theory and public administration, classifications of different types of births, survivals, and deaths, are discussed and outlined, providing a mapping of organizational change in state administration along the horizontal as well as the vertical dimension. As an illustration, the article also shows how a detailed classification has been used in the Norwegian State Administration Database.     

An analysis of mergers and acquisitions in Mexico: 1985-1996

The recent devaluation of the Mexican peso and the resulting “Mexican syndrome” has opened up a world of opportunities for foreign investors. Mexico with all of its economic problems is still seen by many investors as a sound economy with the necessary ingredients to stage a strong comeback. Economic crises often lead to an escalation of corporate restructuring such as mergers, acquisitions and joint-ventures, both, domestic as well as cross-border. This paper examines the M&A trends in Mexico over the period 1985-1996.

The results indicate that cross-border M&A deals have increased during the nineties, with Europe being a major participant since 1995. As far as the industrial sectors are concerned, the study shows that very few M&A deals have been completed in the construction, transportation, and petroleum industries. The managers of multinational firms should take note of this and public administrators should attempt to attract foreign capital towards these sectors. A sound distribution infrastructure is very essential in order to attract much needed foreign capital to the country.

The study also finds that relatively few cross-border M&As have been completed with state-owned enterprises. With the aggressive reforms of the Zedillo government and the privatization of the transportation, electricity, and petroleum sectors, there is bound to be an increase in competition and opportunities for investments in these sectors.

Finally, managers of multinational corporations who are targeting Mexico, should be fully aware of the differences in culture and ownership status of target firms. This study shows that a large number of the deals have been done with privately-owned firms, and would therefore need good negotiation skills.     

Organizational loyalty and personal ethics: The moral priorities of Chinese cadres

The ethical norms of senior cadres in the Peoples Republic of China are examined with respect to personal ethics, organizational loyalty and social responsibility. The extent to which one of these sets of norms may take priority over the other is investigated using survey research. The personal ethical values of the 46-50 age group are found to be unusually acute for a group of middle-aged administrators, much closer to those of the younger cadres. Also, they demonstrate exceptional homogeneity in their responses as compared to other age groups. However, they appear to have little independence of conscience when confronted with concrete decision making situations. Loyalty to the organization is found to be particularly dominant over personal ethics and responsibility to the larger society among these 46-50 year-old cadres. Lacking a moral anchor in any foundational philosophy or ideology, these cadres are highly vulnerable to control by the bureaucracies in which they are employed. Further research is suggested to explore the possibility that the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76 may have impacted this particular generation of cadres in ways that severed their ties to Marxism and traditional Chinese values rooted in Confucianism.     

Operating Performance of Privatized Firms in Europe: Organizational and Environmental Factors

This article analyzes the role of organizational changes and contextual factors in explaining the operating performance of European privatized firms. We find that smaller and non-regulated firms and companies privatized by public offer perform better than bigger, regulated, and privatized by private sale companies. Also, privatized Eastern European companies are less profitable than privatized companies from other European countries. Our findings suggest that organizational changes are more difficult to introduce in privatizations by private sale and in bigger and regulated companies. They also suggest that less developed institutional contexts limit performance improvements after privatizations.     

Party size and policy outcomes: An empirical analysis of taxation in democracies

Taxation varies widely among democracies. Yet scholars disagree whether differences in political institutions help produce the variation. This article identifies topdown and bottom-up mechanisms by which political institutions are thought to influence taxation. It then combines political and economic data on more than 50 democracies to evaluate the impact of political institutions on government revenues. Cross-sectional and pooled time series analyses that include controls for economic conditions and partisan ideologies of governments confirm an indirect impact of these institutions: there is a curvilinear relationship between the size of political parties in a democracy and the tax revenues collected. Yet the effect of party size on policy outcomes is limited to a subset of democracies. The article opens new paths for research on the roles of electoral, constitutional, legislative, and party institutions in democratic policy making around the world. Andrew C. Gould is associate professor of government at the University of Notre Dame, where he is a Fellow of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies and of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies. He recently publishedOrigins of Liberal Dominance: State, Church, and Party in Nineteenth Century Europe and the article “Conflicting Imperatives and Concept Formation,” which appeared inThe Review of Politics. For their suggestions and/or data, I thank José Antonio Cheibub, Sven Steinmo, Duane Swank, Daniel Verdier, and Michael Wallerstein. For their comments, I am grateful to Carles Boix, Delia Boylan, Lloyd Gruber, Fran Hagopian, Peter Hall, Mark Hallerberg, Gretchen Helmke, Scott Mainwaring, Paul Mueller, Dennis Quinn, Ashutosh Varshney, and two anonymous reviewers. Peter Baker and Tom Lundberg provided insights and skilled research assistance. This work was supported in part by a grant from the Faculty Research Program, University of Notre Dame. A prior version of this article was presented at the 2000 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association. The errors that remain are my own.     

Crop sales,shortages and peasant portfolio behaviour: An analysis of Angola

The article focuses on the influence of economic factors on sales of agricultural products in Angola. Between the early 1970s and the mid‐1980s the volume of sales declined by around 90 per cent, while during the late 1980s there was a significant recovery. This was partly due to non‐economic factors such as war and drought. However, the rural economy also experienced extraordinary regulatory changes which led to a severe shortage of consumer goods. The theory of peasant supply response in a rationed economy therefore provides a starting point for the analysis and is further extended to incorporate features particular to Angola.     

Comparative administration: theory and experience

In order to determine the extent to which regional training in management would serve their own diverse national needs, nine African countries with different colonial, economic. political, and economic traditions sponsored a large-scale restarch project .to identify. common behavioral characteristics in the vublic, private. and amstatal sectors. The theory was that if there was a sufficient body of ;cbuind.thtoighout the region, it would be possible to adopt standard training and selection procedures and use similar approaches in improving organizational designs. The theory posited further that comparative studies conducted in sufficient depth could separate the unique from the common elements of managerial behavior and contribute to the desirn of national as well as reeional training systems. Studies conducted with these ends in mind were also expected distinguish between behavioral differences that were associated with the political and cultural context or organizational setting, and those reflecting individual characteristics. The study proceded by gathering reports of “management events” that reflected both “effective” and “ineffective” behavior on the part of administrators in the public, private, and “semi-public” sectors, including government agencies, large industrial corporations, and parastatals or public enterprises. When nearly 2,000 such events wen coded, it became possible to identify Ntecn clearly distinguishable skills that ranked at the top in frequency of use in all threz sectors. In the African context, it was hund certain skills such as the motivation of employees, the interpretation and avvlication of conventional rules and remhtions involving honnel-administration; -and interpasonal skills were more inportant than technical knowledge or the general administrative techniques commonlv taught in academic curricula. The intensity with which these skills an used, however, was found to be different across countries. Motivational issues an involved much mare frequently in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zambia, for example, than in Tanzania ar Angola Writing skills headed the list in Tanzania but no other country. In the private sector, tcchnical skills were more in demand than motivational skills. Knowledge of procedures was far more important in the public than the parastatal or private sectors. When the results were coded by level of management, however, the dominance of motivational issues was universal. On the other hand, senior managers wae more concerned with negotiations and financial management than were their junior colleagues. Among the general skills least frequently encounted were impact analysis and evaluation, program analysis, computational skills, economic analysis, and Community relations. Among all skills coded in the sample, the worst perfonname was in the field of bureaucratic politics, in which 97% of the incidents were presented as examples of “ineffective performance.” These mults con- the possibility of identifying a common core of skills required by private and public managers, but they also suggest the need for careful adaptation of curricula to emphasize known organizational and national contexts, and they suggest as well a wcedure that can be followed m designing such adaptations. They do not confirm the expectation that private managers are better motivated than public administrators in the African context or that their personal qualities are vay different The major differences appear to be in the technical requirements of their positions, including accounting and writine skills. An isnuortarit caution needs to be observed in the application of the techniiue used in this study: the data do not disclose what skills might have improved performance if they had been present, and they do not predict future needs.     

Palestinian Suicide Terrorism in the Second Intifada: Motivations and Organizational Aspects

Suicide terrorism has developed into a widely used tactic, and arguably one of the major strategic threats facing some countries. This article explores various issues related to Palestinian suicide terrorism by presenting a two-phase model to explain the processes and factors underlying the development of Palestinian suicide bombers, and the execution of suicide bombing attacks. The model is applied to the case of suicide attacks that have occurred in the course of the first 21 months of the Second Intifada, from September 2000 to June 2002. The assumptions of the model are tested by taking an in-depth look into the various motives leading individual Palestinians to volunteer for suicide missions, and by discussing the activities and major functions of the organizations that have employed this modus operandi in the specified time frame. It will be concluded that while a counter-terrorism strategy aimed at targeting terrorist organizations may offer short-term gains, in the long run Israel will need to identify ways of removing or reducing the incentives that lead some Palestinians to volunteer for suicide missions.