Честер Барнард: Теория организации и управления

American businessman
the business executive and scholar

Chester Irving Barnard (November 7, 1886 – June 7, 1961) was an American business executive, public administrator, and the author of pioneering work in management theory and organizational studies. His landmark 1938 book, The Functions of the Executive, sets out a theory of organization and of the functions of executives in organizations. The book has been widely assigned in university courses in management theory and organizational sociology. Barnard viewed organizations as systems of cooperation of human activity, and noted that they are typically short lived. According to Barnard, organizations are generally not long lived because they do not meet the two criteria necessary for survival: effectiveness and efficiency.

In his youth, Barnard worked on a farm, then working as a piano tuner, paid his way through high school at the Mount Hermon School. After graduation he studied economics at Harvard University on a scholarship, earning money selling pianos and operating a dance band. He did not obtain his Harvard BA because he did his four year work in three years and could not complete a science course, but a number of universities later granted him honorary doctorates. Barnard joined the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (now AT&T) in 1909. In 1927, he became president of the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company. During the Great Depression, he directed the New Jersey state relief system. He was president of the United Service Organizations (USO), 1942 45. Upon retiring from business, he served as president of the Rockefeller Foundation, 1948–52, and as chairman of the National Science Foundation, 1952 54. End 1950s he was among the first members of the Society for General Systems Research.

Barnard viewed organizations as systems of cooperation of human activity, and noted that they are typically short lived. It is rare for a firm to last more than a century. Similarly most nations last for less than a century. The only organization that can claim a substantial age is the Roman Catholic Church. According to Barnard, organizations are not long lived because they do not meet the two criteria necessary for survival: effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness, is defined the usual way: as being able to accomplish stated goals. In contrast, Barnard's meaning of organizational efficiency differed substantially from the conventional use of the word. He defined efficiency of an organization as the degree to which that organization is able to satisfy the motives of the individuals. If an organization satisfies the motives of its members while attaining its explicit goals, cooperation among its members will last. Barnard was a great admirer of Talcott Parsons (1902–1979) and he and Parsons corresponded persistently. The two scholars would send manuscripts for commentary to each other and they would write long letters where they engage in a common theoretical discussion. The first correspondence between Barnard and Parsons began in the end of the 1930s and it persisted essentially to Barnard’s death in 1961.

1938. The Functions of the Executive
1939. Dilemmas of Leadership in the Democratic Process. 1946. A Report on the International Control of Atomic Energy. 1948. Organization and Management
1956. Organization and Management: Selected Papers
1956. On the Teaching of Law in the Liberal Arts Curriculum. With Harold Joseph Berman. Harvard Law
1958. Elementary Conditions of Business Morals. 1973. Conversations With Chester I. Barnard. Edited by William B. Wolf. 1986. Philosophy for Managers; Selected Papers of Chester I. Barnard. Edited by William B. Wolf and Haruki Iino.