Information and Organizations

Contents

Contents Acknowledgments 1. INFORMATION, UNCERTAINTY, STRUCTURE, AND FUNCTION IN ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIOLOGY Rationality Uncertainty Uncertainty About What? Information Structure and Function The Plan of the Book 2. INDIVIDUALS' SKILLS AS INFORMATION PROCESSING: CHARLES F. SABEL AND THE DIVISION OF LABOR Introduction Relations Between Routines and Skills Two Relations Between Routines and Human Decisions Complexity of the Routine Artisans at the Beginning of the Industrial Revolution The Division of Skill Between Workers and Professionals Three Organizations for Learning Routines and Decision Skills Earnings Curves for Craftsmen, Professionals, and Managers Jurisdictions of Occupations The Determinants of the Division of Labor Between Engineers and Skilled Workers Manufacturing Artisans in the Early Industrial Revolution v xi 1 1 4 5 7 17 20 32 32 33 34 39 40 43 45 47 49 52 53 Contents Economic and Technical Threats to Artisan Organization Authority Reorganization and Artisan Skill The Ideology of Mass Production Management Scientific Management Authority in Practice Conflict over the New Authority System "Fordism" The Impact of Certainty and Uncertainty on Fordism Sources of Uncertainty in the Market Conclusion 3. MANUFACTURING INFORMATION SYSTEMS: SOURCES OF TECHNICAL UNCERTAINTY AND THE INFORMATION FOR TECHNICAL DECISIONS Introduction People Driving versus Information Systems in Management Some Data on Manufacturing Information Systems Operating Characteristics of Information Systems Types of Operating Information Systems Summary of Dimensions That Differentiate Operating Information Systems Conclusion 4. MARKET UNCERTAINTY AND DIVISIONALIZATION: ALFRED D. CHANDLER'S STRATEGY AND STRUCTURE Introduction The Concepts of Centralization and Decentralization A Definition of Methodological Individualism Individuals in Du Pont: Organizing Information Flows Individuals in Du Pont: Organizational Theory Individuals in Du Pont: Responsibility for Inventing and Adopting a Remedy Individuals in Du Pont and HUD: How Decentralization Works Is It Still Sociology? The Causes of Divisionalization General Motors Creates aMultidivisional Structure by Centralizing The Centralization Revolution at General Motors The Theoretical Problem of Sears Regional Information in Merchant Wholesaling and Sears 55 56 57 59 61 62 64 66 70 73 73 74 75 76 78 93 95 100 100 104 107 109 110 112 114 118 119 120 122 126 126 vi Contents Commodity Line Rationalityversus Store Inventory Rationality The General Problem of Wholesaling Organizational Problems of the Service Sector What Is Chandler's Independent Variable? Conclusion 5. TURNING INVENTIONS INTO INNOVATIONS: SCHUMPETER's ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIOLOGY MODERNIZED Introduction Innovation, the Learning Curve of Cost Reduction, and Monopoly Cases in Which the Follower and Innovator Have Learning Curves of Different Shape Innovation, the Marketing Network, and Monopoly The Theory or Doctrine of an Innovation A "Zero Resources Innovation" Described in Detail The Multidivisional Structure of Chandler as an Innovation Social Predictors of Success in Introducing Innovations Technological Utopianism Investment Approval Cost Reduction and Manufacturing Improvements Markets and Innovation Success The Division of Benefits Examples of Incentives for Innovation Divisionalization and Innovation Conclusion 6. ORGANIZING INFORMATION OUTSIDE THE FIRM: CONTRACTS AS HIERARCHICAL DOCUMENTS Introduction An Extended Definition of Hierarchy Prediction of Performance Requirements and Performance Measurement Elements of Hierarchy in Contract Contents Theoretical Conclusion Notes 7. SEGMENTATION OF THE LABOR MARKET AND INFORMATION ON THE SKILL OF WORKERS The Fundamental Uncertainty of the Labor Contract Institutional Substitutes for Measurement of Productivity vii 128 132 134 136 148 152 152 155 159 162 166 168 170 172 173 176 179 181 185 188 189 191 194 194 199 207 223 232 236 240 240 243 Contents Types of Information About Work Performance A General Theory of Certification The Great Segmenting Factor Is Who Holds the Job Now Segmentation by Internal Labor Markets: Promotions Go to Those Now Employed by Big Firms and Government Worker-Controlled Recruitment in Professional and Craft Occupations Family Recruitment in Small Firm Sectors Union Membership as a Certificate of Productivity The Secondary Labor Market Conclusion 8. CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS AND ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIOLOGY: E. P. THOMPSON APPLIED TO CONTEMPORARY CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS Introduction Unity in Diversity: Why Are Societies with Factories So Much Alike? E. P. Thompson's Conception of Working-Class Consciousness Cross-national Variation in Class Consciousness Class Consciousness in Soviet Societies Class Consciousness in Corporatist Capitalism The Culture in Which Class Consciousness Grew The Cultural Perception of Exploitation, Oppression, and the Wage Bargain Constitutionalism in Modern Organizations Debureaucratization, or Individualizing the Labor Contract Low Unionization of the Modern Service Sector: Theory Service-Sector Class Consciousness: Demography Service-Sector Class Consciousness: Selling Status Symbols Service-Sector Class Consciousness: The Small Firm Effect Conclusion 9. UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION OF RESEARCH SPACE AND TEACHING LOADS: MANAGERS WHO DO...