Building efficient management and leadership practices : the contemporary relevance of Chester I. Barnard's thought in the context of the knowledge-based economy

Building efficient management and leadership practices : the contemporary relevance of Chester I. Barnard's thought in the context of the knowledge-based economy

Barnard, Chester I.; Zanda, Stefania

This book examines the relationships among leadership, the quality of the management process and business results. Drawing from the pioneering contributions of Chester I. Barnard, this book defines the role and characteristics of an effective and efficient manager in the new knowledge economy. This book also examines the relevance of Barnard’s work on modern studies in economics and business administration.Chester I. Barnard considered the company to be a complex socio-economic system, oriented towards general aims. A company’s behavior is rational if its constituent elements and management models are planned, organized, guided and regulated in order to create and maintain a cooperative system that combines efficiency and effectiveness. In this book, the conceptual construction of Barnard’s management theory is represented by a synthetic scheme in which the various components of the business process (including leadership) and their influences on the outcome variables of the company are linked as a system. This approach makes this book appealing to academics, scholars and professionals in business, management, administration and knowledge management. Read more... 

Table of contents : 

Front Matter ....Pages i-xxi

Objectives and Research Methodology (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 1-4

Outlines of an Effective Management Model in the Light of the Economic, Social, and Moral Requirements of the Knowledge-Based Economy (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 5-22

The Cultural Background and Socio-Economic Context in Which Barnard Developed his Theory of Executive Functions to Create an Efficient and Effective Cooperative System (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 23-35

The Executive Process and Its Organic Functions. The Fundamental Role of Leadership (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 37-52

The Formulation and Control of the General Purposes of a Company and Its Sub-system Objectives. The Creation of the Organizational Structure and the Information System (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 53-69

Barnard and the Theory of Authority (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 71-80

The Role of Executives in Making the Organization’s Goals Compatible with Members’ Goals. The Search for Equilibrium Between the Organization’s Incentives and Members’ Contributions (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 81-108

The Compatibility of Effectiveness and Efficiency: The Pillars of Barnard’s Theory of Cooperation (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 109-128

The Executive Process, Leadership, and the Realization of a Cooperative System: The Theoretical Model of C.I. Barnard (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 129-144

Summary of the Present Work (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 145-147

The Relevance of Barnard’s Theoretical System to the Economic, Social, and Moral Requirements of the Current Knowledge-Based Economy (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 149-162

Limitations of Barnard’s Model (Stefania Zanda)....Pages 163-187