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Interest in developing institutional explanations of political and economic behavior has blossomed among social scientists since the early 1980s. Three intellectual perspectives are now prevalent: rational choice theory, historical institutionalism and a new school of organizational analysis. This paper summarizes, compares and contrasts these views and suggests ways in which cross‐fertilization may be achieved. Particular attention is paid to how the insights of organizational analysis and historical institutionalism can be blended to provide fruitful avenues of research and theorizing, especially with regard to the production, adoption, and mobilization of ideas by decision makers.

This paper examines the potential relationship between the history of American generations and the development of American management thought. The paper reviews the recently developed generational theory of American history, along with the generational concept itself. Then, the leading thinkers in the history of the management discipline are classified according to their generational membership. The potential theoretical and research implications of the interplay of managerial and historical generations are then discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to point out a worrisome phenomenon and suggest some ways of dealing with it.

The paper is a historical analysis of references in organization studies.

The finding of this paper concludes that the proportion of women authors is low and is increasing very slowly.

Some simple solutions may be applied, even if they alone will not solve the problem.

An appeal to use first name on reference lists and in texts (when appropriate).

Better recognition of women’s contribution to knowledge.

Not for the authors to judge.

Reports on an empirical study of the decision to purchase computers in a single firm. States it is a competitive bidding situation with several suppliers attempting to win a contract that eventually reached £3.5 million pounds. Illustrates how the politics of the firm can influence significant purchase decisions and, in particular, how gatekeepers within the firm's buying centre can structure the outcome of purchase decision in line with their position in the political process. Bases the study on a large organisation in England, in the period 1957–1968, with regard to four computer purchase decisions. Concludes that it is clear that the computer suppliers had differential access to the firm's power structure and it was also evident they had differential knowledge of its operation.

Studies purchasing responses of small firms to the introduction of a new product. Indicates, from results, that search and evaluation phases of the decision are severely abbreviated – also small firms exist in informationally‐barren environments. States that academic interest in organisational behaviour has been increasing rapidly since the Second World War, in particular with regard to decision making. Posits that the nature of small firms' formalised buying procedures requires more research, as they are often marginalised with regard to important areas of market information such as that provided by agents and vendors. Summarises that the role of specialisation of the parts of the organisation and the complex interaction between these parts needs further study.

This paper, which is a structural‐functional attempt to explain a restricted domain of interpersonal perception within the school as an organization, presents some of the author's findings as a clue to one possible effect of the hierarchically contrived authority system of the school on certain of the organizational participants' perceptions of one another. If the findings and theory are valid, they may help to explain one of the explicit ways in which the school may he exploitive of the individual—exploitive in the sense that not all of the individual's interpersonal needs may be equally relevant to the organization's strivings towards goal attainment. The economy necessarily associated with organizational goal attainment and the resulting expediency for an adequate flow of organizational authority may operate to induce a lack of organizational recognition of certain of the individual's vital interpersonal needs. The author proposes his notes toward a theory in an effort to explain how and why people come to perceive certain other people as they do within the context of the school as an organization.

Research into educational organizations is usually concerned with one of two distinct connotations—investigation into the patterns of deploying teachers and pupils, as in team teaching, or investigations into the nature of the organizations themselves. The latter approach has great promise for providing insights into administrative behaviour. The work of Katz and Kahn, Presthus and Carlson helps to provide such insights. Much attention is now being paid to the initiation of organizational change, especially as it affects the organizational climate. The results of a recent project in this area suggest that administrators who wish to change organizational climate may 1. “Thicken the mix” through freeing communication; 2. Sharpen perception through training in interpersonal awareness; S. Improve output by not tinkering with the statics of the organization.

The purpose of the paper is to contribute to further advancing of IMP as a research field by setting up and starting a theoretical conversation between system theory and the IMP.

The approach is based on a narrative literature study and conceptual research.

The authors find that system theory and cybernetics can be regarded as important sources of inspiration for early IMP research. The authors identify three specific theoretical “puzzles” in system theory that may serve as useful topics for discussion between system theorists and IMP researchers.

Only a handful of papers have touched upon the relationship between system theory and IMP before. This paper combines a narrative, historical analysis of this relationship with developing specific suggestions for using system theory as a vehicle for further advancement of IMP research.

Companies have been predicting marketing and economic conditions for years, but they lag behind in forecasting environmental changes that can have dramatic impact on their operations. SPIRE is a systematic approach to spotting coming problems, as a look at how one company put it to work indicates.