Contribution of sciences

The historic development of understanding organisation is presented at the following schema:

Military professionals

Engineering

Economics

Sociology

Political Science

Biology-Ecology

Social Psychology

Cultural Anthropology

Folklore Studies

Semiotics and Hermeneutics

Linguistics

Postmodern Architecture

Poststructural Philosophy

Literary Theory

Cultural Studies[16]

Fig. 3. Sciences and works involved into organisation theory development

As far as manufacturing is concerned, treaties as early as the 19^lh century, notably that of C. Bergery, Économie industrielle, in 1831, advocated task-sharing between workers, sharing which required an analysis of production beforehand, involved breaking down the production into simple basic operations and giving an accurate estimation of the time required for each one. Charles BABBAGE, in 1832, insisted on the division of labour and on planning.

At the same time, other thinkers such as Saint-Simon (1829), studied the organisation of labour and included the concern of "rallying the masses in order to organise them". In the second half of the 19th century, in France, the generation of engineers inspired by the doctrine of Saint-Simon (including Eugène FLACHAT, founder of the French association of civil engineers in 1848), was relayed by a new generation of engineers following Frédéric Le Play, who insisted on people handling. And so, as early as the 19th century, discussions about the organisation of labour were already structured around the issues of production rationalisation and human relations policy.

Thus, with the first formalised definitions of the organisation (in the 18 ^th and 19^th centuries), at least two series of authors took to the stage:

- On the one hand, there were the advocates of progressive ideals with respect to production and organisation, who focussed on the practical problems of industrial management and set up theories for action: C. Bergery and the industrial economy, Saint-Simon and his social and industrial organisation doctrine, Frederic TAYLOR and his scientific organisation of labour, Henri FAYOL and people management and Chester Barnard and the job of manager.

- On the other hand, there were the sociologists and economists who strove to understand what they were seeing. For example, Adam SMITH and the efficiency of the division of labour; Frederic LE PLAY and the question of social disorganisation, Emile Durkheim and the role of structure within the organisation of labour; Karl Marx and the question of work collectives and wage relations; Max Weber and his forms of authority.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 752