The emergence of administrative science in the USSR: Toward a theory of organizational emulation

Emulation is a specific linkage pattern between an entity and its inter-organizational environment. It represents a genre of adaptation, i.e., purposive, goal-oriented activity designed to recreate the behavioral attributes in a referent. Emulation can also be symbolic—a legitimization of change within the receiving system. Soviet administrative theorists have consciously drawn from American experience in order to promote and develop a counterpart discipline at home. This constitutes an emulative linkage pattern. The metamorphosis of administrative science in the USSR is charted here as sequential stages in the innovation process—initiation, implementation, institutionalization. Emulation has had a specific impact at each stage.The general arguments in this essay have been abstracted from various parts of my doctoral dissertation, The Science of Management in the USSR: Emulation and the Role of Americanizers. A six-month trip to the Soviet Union was an invaluable opportunity to gather research materials and consult with specialists.