Tinbergen Lectures on Organization Theory

In revising the Tinbergen Lectures I have expanded and restructured the material in an attempt to make the book more readable and more interesting. I have also tried to show more clearly its relevance to managerial and organizational practice. Some mathematical derivations have been moved to appendices. Certain sections that may be skipped in a first reading have been starred. Points that should be of interest to management include • the nature and necessity of rank (4. 1, 4. 2, 4. 4) rank assignment by counting up or down (4. 3) defining an organization's task (6. 2) calculating the required size of an organization (6. 3) • allocating supervisors in the short run (6. 7) when uniform spans of control are desirable (6. 8) • how to estimate an organization's implicit span of control (7) determining the minimal ranks in supervision (8. 3) • the advantage of flexible department lines (8. 4) measuring the leanness of an organization (8. 5) the relationship between average wage and unit labor cost (10. 2) job allocation in the short run (10. 4) • calculating the cost of supervision for particular jobs (10. 5) • recognizing economic choices in substituting managers for operatives or vice versa (11) • determining the optimal size of a research team (12) VI • setting targets (13. 1) • budgeting under full information (13. 2) • budgeting under imperfect information (13. 3) • sources of information loss (14.

1. Introduction.- 1.1 Organizations Defined.- 1.2 Why Economics of Organization?.- 1.3 Plan of This Book.- 1.4 Organizations and Their Environment.- I. Rank.- 2. Supervision.- 3. Control.- 4. Rank.- 5. Distance.- II. Perfect Management.- 6. Numbers of Positions.- 7. Estimation.- 8. Assignment.- 9. Regular Organization.- 10. Costs.- III. Productivity and Structure.- 11. Substitution of Management and Operative Inputs: Welfare Agency.- 12. Information Costs: Research Teams.- 13. Loss of Information in Simple Organizations.- 14. Loss of Information and Control in Multi-Level Organizations.- 15. Uses of Production Functions: Simple Organizations.- 16. Uses of Production Functions: Multi-Level Organizations.- IV. Advantage and Motivation.- 17. Organizations vs. Individuals.- 18. Management Motivation: Principal and Agent.- 19. The Economics of Hierarchy.- 20. Alternatives to Hierarchy: Partnerships.- Conclusion.- Selected Bibliography.- Name Index.