Richard L. Daft

Vanderbilt University | Vander Bilt · Owen Graduate School of Management

Hybrid organizations seek simultaneous social and profit-seeking missions as part of the core business. Hybrids face a big challenge—balancing dual missions that are based on opposing principles and beliefs. Traditional means of goal conflict were not designed to handle these opposing beliefs and values, and the social mission is likely to whither...

This 1st New Zealand edition maintains the comprehensive theoretical base of the successful Samson and Daft Management text while bringing the challenges of management to life within the context of the New Zealand business environment

“Leaders usually know the correct way to lead others, so why don't they do it?” Richard L. Daft asks. Too often, Daft says, leaders focus on getting the best out of other people, without the necessary preparation, because “the first job of leadership is often getting the best out of yourself.” Personal mastery is essential, yet difficult to achieve...

This paper addresses the issues of rigor and relevance in organizational studies in the context of idea migration and journal evolution. The paper argues that creeping parochialism can happen to any journal, which reflects the evolving narrowness within boundaries of academic sub-communities. Evidence suggests that ideas do migrate across academic...

Organization framework and process are proposed as two modalities for implementing intended business-level strategic decisions. A model is developed in which the components of these two modalities are defined and related to the implementation of low cost and differentiation strategic decisions. The implementation of 57 decisions in integrated circu...

This paper is a follow up to Robert Duncan's seminal article, "What is the Right Organization Structure?" published in Organization Dynamics in 1979. The purpose of this paper is to present key developments in organization structure and design since Duncan's article was published. The design developments are organized into three eras. Era 1was domi...

This paper addresses the issues of rigor and relevance in organizational studies in the context of idea migration and journal evolution. The paper argues that creeping parochialism can happen to any journal, which reflects the evolving narrowness within boundaries of academic sub-communities. Evidence suggests that ideas do migrate across academic...

This article presents a commentary on William Ouchi's book “Theory Z: How American Business Can Meet the Japanese Challenge.” The author explains that Ouchi's book was a response to the management processes of the 60s and 70s, and served as a roadmap for those companies threatened by successful Japanese management techniques. The author outlines th...

Managers recognize that they must satisfy a variety of demands, some contradictory. The authors investigated this circumstance using Quinn and Rohrbaugh's competing values model. They report the findings of a study that identified and measured the four competing values (internal process value, rational goal value, human relations value, and open sy...

Organizations are, in many respects, information-processing systems. Organizations are also instruments that top managers use to carry out strategies that the managers believe will put their organizations at a competitive advantage. Managers and organizational scientists know these things, so it is surprising to find that their respective literatur...

Incluye índice Incluye bibliografía Contenido: Introducción a las organizaciones. Propósito organizacional y diseño estructural. Elementos de diseño de sistemas abiertos. Elementos de diseño interno. Administración de procesos dinámicos (toma de decisiones, conflicto, poder, política).

The media richness model and the symbolic interactionist perspective are the basis for hypotheses about managerial communication patterns. The hypothesized relationships are tested with data from 94 managers. The results indicate that managers tend to select the face-to-face medium for highly equivocal communications and written media for clear, ob...

present a conceptual framework for understanding the managerial choice process based upon symbolic interactionism / research linking appropriate media choice with managerial effectiveness will be presented / message equivocality and media choice / contextual determinants and media choice / symbolic meaning and media choice practical guidelines fo...

This paper examines how executives of 28 companies gather and distribute information about low cost or differentiation strategies. Low and high rich information sources were used less in more turbulent environments. More high rich sources were used to develop differentiation strategies and more high and low rich channels were used to implement them...

Chief executives in 50 manufacturing companies were interviewed about the perceived strategic uncertainty in six environmental sectors, and the frequency and mode of scanning used for each sector. The findings suggest that customer, economic and competitor sectors generated greater strategic uncertainty than technological, regulatory and sociocultu...

Symbolic interactionism is presented as a theoretical approach for understanding media choice processes during managerial communications. In an exploratory study, 65 managers from 11 organizations were interviewed about communication incidents involving face-to-face, telephone, electronic mail, and written media. Managers were asked the reasons the...

A field study of middle- and upper-level managers was undertaken to explain managers' selection of communication media. The findings indicate that media vary in their capacity to convey information cues. Managers prefer rich media for ambiguous communications and less rich media for unequivocal communications. The data suggest that high performing...

Behavioral accounting research suggests that (1) the design and use of a management accounting system is related to overall characteristics of the organization, and (2) a management accounting system is one element in a package of control systems. The research reported here investigated the relationship between the organizational characteristic of...

This paper explores the relationship between budgeting and perceived power in city government organizations. Data are reported from a survey of perceived budget influence in six city governments in Texas. The findings suggest that perceived influence varies by stage of budget cycle, city size, level of hierarchy, department function, and vertical v...

A field study of 95 middle-level and upper-level managers was undertaken to explain top managers' selection of communication media. The findings indicate that media vary in their capacity to convey information cues, and that media richness is correlated with message equivocality. Managers prefer rich media for equivocal communications and less rich...

This paper answers the question, "Why do organizations process information?" Uncertainty and equivocality are defined as two forces that influence information processing in organizations. Organization structure and internal systems determine both the amount and richness of information provided to managers. Models are proposed that show how organiza...

This report assesses the current state of organizational learning theory using the story of American LaFrance a manufacturing company that went bankrupt because it failed to respond to changes in material and design technology. Organizational learning has been implicit in the organizational literature for many years. Previous research and theorizin...

This paper argues that information processing in organizations is influenced by two forces--equivocality and uncertainty. Equivocality is reduced through the use of rich media and the enactment of a shared interpretation among managers (Weick, 1979). Uncertainty is reduced by acquiring and processing additional data (Galbraith, 1973; Tushman and Na...

A dilemma exists between technical information designers and students managerial information behavior. A richness model is proposed that uses the concepts of media richness and communication learning requirements to integrate the two perspectives. The concepts and model were tested in a four-stage research program, and they were generally supported...

Feinberg and Trotta report simulation experiments of administrative scale relationships that show inference inconsistency across statistical models. Their findings are contrasted with our previous analysis (MacMillan and Daft, a) that reported inference consistency across statistical models with respect to definitional dependency. This paper reconc...

A comparative model of organizations as interpretation systems is proposed. The model describes four interpretation modes: enacting, discovering, undirected viewing, and conditioned viewing. Each mode is determined by (1) management's beliefs about the environment and (2) organizational intrusiveness. Interpretation modes are hypothesized to be ass...

Management control research from organization theory, accounting, and business policy is reviewed; and a two-stage qualitative study of management control systems (MCSs) used in business organizations is reported. The study identified four MCS components used at the middle management level: budget, policies and procedures, performance appraisal sys...

A comparative model of organizations as interpretation systems is proposed. The model describes four interpretation modes: enacting, discovering, undirected viewing, and conditioned viewing. Each mode is determined by (1) management's beliefs about the environment and (2) organizational intrusiveness. Interpretation modes are hypothesized to be ass...

This essay proposes that scholarly research is a craft and that significant research outcomes are associated with the mastery of craft elements in the research process. A tentative framework of the research craft is proposed, which includes error and surprise, storytelling, research poetry, nonlinear decision making, common sense, firsthand knowled...

This paper introduces the concept of information richness, and proposes three models of information processing. The models describe (1) manager information behavior, (2) organizational mechanisms for coping with equivocality from the environment, and (3) organizational mechanisms for internal coordination. Concepts developed by Weick (1979) and Gal...

A model is proposed that relates the amount and equivocality of information processing to the variety and analyzability of work-unit activities. New questionnaire scales were developed for the information and task variables, and an exploratory test of the model was conducted on 24 work units. The reported amount of information processing increased...

Articles in the Administrative Science Quarterly are analyzed by (1) complexity of organizational models and (2) the variety of language used to transmit observations about organizations. A sharp trend toward low-variety statistical languages has taken place, which may represent an organizational mapping phase in which simple, quantifiable realtion...

A framework is proposed in which changes in administrative component are related to organization requirements for managerial, institutional, and technical activities. Longitudinal data for a sample of high school districts are used to test the framework. Empirically, size of administrative component had impact on both revenue acquisition and servic...

This paper explores the process of horizontal differentiation by examining events leading to the establishment of thirty new departments in five universities. Two types of horizontal differentiation processes - administrative and academic - were observed and each was associated with different organizational conditions. Administrative departments we...

This paper examines relationships among ratio variables with common components. Simulation experiments are reported in which data samples with known relationships between ratios are analyzed. Observed ratio correlations are then compared to the known relationships. The simulation findings tentatively suggest the absence of bias or spurious correlat...

Examines relationships among ratio variables with common components. Simulation experiments are reported in which data samples with known relationships between ratios are analyzed. Observed ratio correlations are then compared to the known relationships. The simulation findings tentatively suggest the absence of bias or spurious correlation. The sh...

The purpose of this paper is to report new evidence about economy of scale inferences based on administrative ratio and organization size. The definitional dependency argument is found to be incorrect. Experiments are reported in which economy of scale findings based on the administrative ratio are compared to findings based on other methods of ana...

M.B.A. student academic success was found positively associated with undergraduate grade average and total GMAT score, but negatively associated with language skill and propensity to communicate. A typical M.B.A. program may develop and reward skills different from—perhaps even opposite—the skills required for success in management.

Processes leading to new departments in five universities are explored. Large size appeared to stimulate creation of new administrative departments. New academic departments, however, typically were established to meet needs other than size, and these departments led to an increase in university employees. The findings help integrate size and techn...

Several months ago I taught a course that lead to bitter disappointment. The course material was my favorite. The class format was experimental but seemed reasonably well designed. Students seemed to show substantial progress over the term. Yet afterward I learned the course was a failure on all counts: students were unhappy, even angry; learning w...

This paper argues that insight into organization functioning is related to the fit between language of description and type of organizational phenomenon. Natural language may be more powerful than mathematical language for understanding and describing many organization processes.

New research findings are reported on the problem of tailoring information systems to user needs. User information requirements are found to be systematically related to the underlying technology of user departments. A typology of user department technologies and guidelines for information system design are provided.

Information, that is both accurate and timely, is probably the most important resource needed by managers to make sound decisions regarding the problems and issues facing their organizations. Unfortunately, sophisticated information systems often fail to meet this need. Managers complain that the data produced by information systems arrive too late...

The administrative component was found to receive a smaller proportion of salaries in large districts, while clerical and maintenance service proportions increased, producing a net effect of larger overhead costs in this study of high school districts in the midwestern U.S. (KR)

focuses on relationships between information environments and organizational communications organizational environments / perceived environmental uncertainty / information logistics / information interpretation nature of the research required to advance our understanding of information environments and their relationships with organizational co...

The new structure also meant that TAC units were now organized as they should be in the event of war. Self-sufficient squadrons are more readily deployable than are unyielding, centralized and highly specialized structures. The team orientation brought healthy competition, pride in facilities and aircraft, and true 'ownership' of the product. TAC's...

Sumario: Introducción a las organizaciones -- Diferencias individuales y comportamiento -- Percepción y actitudes -- Motivación y desempeño -- Evaluación del desempeño y recompensas -- Diseño del puesto -- Grupos de trabajo -- Organizaciones: consideraciones básicas -- Tecnología organizacional -- El medio externo -- Metas y efectividad -- Diseño e...

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Traducción de: Organization Theory and Design Tr. de la 6a ed. en inglés Contenido: Introducción a las organizaciones. El sistema abierto. Estructura organizacional y diseño. Proceso del diseño organizacional. Administración de procesos dinámicos. Estrategia y estructura para el futuro.

Obra sobre el liderazgo en las organizaciones. Contenido: La importancia del aprendizaje; La visión estratégica; La comunicación; El desarrollo de una cultura; Los valores organizacionales; Motivación y delegación de responsabilidades; El trabajo en equipo; El cambio organizacional; Los aspectos de toma de decisiones; Poder político e influencia.

Traducción de: Fusion Leadership

La promesa de la fusión -- Cómo liberar las fuerzas sutiles a través de la fusión personal -- Cómo liberar las fuerzas sutiles a través de la fusión organizativa Tít. orig. : Fusion leadership

Traducción de: Organizations a micro-macro aproach Incluye bibliografía e índice

Traducción de: Understanding management Incluye bibliografía e índice

Traducción de: Organization theory and design Incluye bibliografía e índice