Burns and Stalker, The Management of Innovation*

1 103 BurnsandStalker,TheManagementofInnovatio n*.. The utility of the notions of mechanistic and organic Management systemsresides largely in their being related as dependent variables to the rate of environ-mental change. Environmental, in this connection, refers to the technologicalbasis of production and to the market increasing rate of techno-logical change characteristic of the last generation could plausibly be regarded as theformof managementisproperlytobeseenasdependento nthesituationthe concern is trying to meet,it follows that there is no single set of principles for good organization, an ideal type of Management system which can serve as amodel to which administrative practice should, or could in time, approximate.

2 Itfollows also that there is an overriding Management task in first interpreting cor-rectlythemarketandtechnologicalsitua tion,intermsofitsinstabilityoroftheratea t which conditions are changing, and then designing the Management systemappropriate to the conditions, and making it work. Direction, as I have labelledthisactivity,isthedistinctivetas kof the individual, much of the importance of the difference between mecha-nistic and organic systems lies in the extent of his commitment to the workingorganization. mechanistic systems (namely bureaucracies ) define his functions,together with the methods, responsibilities, and powers appropriate to them; inother words, however, this means that boundaries are set.

3 That is to say, in beingtold what he has to attend to, and how, he is also told what he does not have tobother with, what is not his affair, what is not expected of him, what he can postCHAPTER8*Excerpted with permission of the publisher fromTheManagementofInnovation, ,1961, ,theboundariesof fea-sible demands on the individual disappear. The greatest stress is placed on hisregardinghimselfasfullyimplicatedinth edischargeofanytaskappearingoverhishoriz on,asinvolvednotmerelyintheexerciseofasp ecialcompetencebutincom-mitment to the success of the concern s undertakings approximating somewhat tothatof thedoctororscientistinthedischargeof thetwomanage-ment systems which represent for two polar extremities of the formswhich such systems can take when they are adapted to a specific rate of technicaland commercial case we have tried to establish from the literature, ,isthatthedifferentformsassumedbyaworkin gorganization do exist objectively and are not merely interpretations offered byobserversof rational formoforganization.

4 Inthattheymayboth,inourexperience,beexpl icitlyanddeliberatelycreatedandmaintaine dtoexploitthehumanresourcesof aconcerninthemostefficientmannerfeasible inthecircum-stances of the concern. Not surprisingly, however, each exhibits characteristicswhichhavebeenhithertoasso ciatedwithdifferentkindsof contention that empirical findings have usually been classified according tosociological ideology rather than according to the functional specificity of :1. The specialized differentiation of functional tasks into which the The abstract nature of each individual task, which is pursued with tech-niques and purposes more or less distinct from those of the concern as awhole ( ,the functionaries tend to pursue the technical improvement ofmeans,ratherthantheaccomplishmentof theendsof theconcern).

5 3. The reconciliation, for each level in the hierarchy, of these distinct perfor-mances by the immediate superiors, who are also, in turn, responsible forseeingthateachisrelevantinhisownspeci alpartof Thetranslationof rightsandobligationsandmethodsintotheres ponsibil-itiesof Hierarchicstructureof control,authority, Areinforcementofthehierarchicstructureby thelocationofknowledgeofactualitiesexclu sivelyatthetopof thehierarchy,wherethefinalreconcilia-tio nof distincttasksandassessmentof A tendency for interaction between members of the concern to be vertical( ,betweensuperiorandsubordinate).9. A tendency for operations and working behavior to be governed by Insistenceonloyaltytotheconcernandobedie ncetosuperiorsasacondi-tionof Agreaterimportanceandprestigeattachingto internal(local)thantogeneral(cosmopolita n)knowledge,experience, is appropriate to changing conditions, which give rise :1.

6 The contributive nature of special knowledge and experience to the com-montaskof The realistic natureof theindividualtask,whichisseenassetbythet otalsituationof The adjustment and continual re-definition of individual tasks Thesheddingof responsibility asalimitedfieldofrights,obligations,andm ethods. (Problems may not be posted upwards, downwards, or sidewaysasbeingsomeoneelse sresponsibility.)5. Thespreadof A network structure of control, authority, and communication. The sanc-tions which apply to the individual s conduct in his working role derivemore from presumed community of interest with the rest of the workingorganization in the survival and growth of the firm, and less from a con-tractual relationship between himself and a nonpersonal corporation, Omniscience no longer imputed to the head of the concern; knowledgeaboutthetechnicalorcommercialna tureof thehereandnowtaskmaybelocatedanywhereint henetwork.

7 Thislocationbecomingtheadhoccenterof A lateral rather than a vertical direction of communication through theorganization,communicationbetweenpeop leof differentrank,also, A content of communication which consists of information and Commitment to the concern s tasks and to the technological ethos ofmaterial progress and expansion is more highly valued than loyalty Importance and prestige attach to affiliations and expertise valid in , ( ,greaterexpertise).Theleadin joint decisions is frequently taken by seniors,but it is an essential presumptionof the organic system that the lead ( , authority, ) is taken by whoever showshimself most informed and capable ( , the best authority ). The location theextentto which the individual yields himself as a resource to be used by the workingorganization is far more extensive in organic than in mechanistic ,in fact,is expected to approach that of the professional scientist tohis work,and frequently further consequence of this is that it becomesfarlessfeasibletodistinguish informal from formal ,theemptyingoutof significancefromthehierarchiccommandsyst em,bywhichcooperationisensuredandwhichse rvestomonitortheworkingorgani-zation under a mechanistic system, is encountered by the development of values, beliefs, and conduct, in the forms of commitments, ideology,andmanners.

8 Aroundanimageoftheconcerninitsindustrial andcommercialset-tingmakegoodthelossof , the two forms of system represent a polarity, not a dichotomy; thereare ..intermediate stages between the extremities empirically known to ,therelationofoneformtotheotheriselastic ,sothataconcernoscillatingbetweenrelativ e stability and relative change may also oscillate between the two concern may (and frequently does) operate with a Management system organic form,by departing from the familiar clarity and fixity of the hier-archic structure, is often experienced by the individual manager as an uneasy,embarrassed,orchronicallyanxiousq uestforknowledgeaboutwhatheshouldbedoing ,orwhatisexpectedof him,andsimilarapprehensivenessaboutwhato thersare doing.

9 , this kind of response is necessary if the organic form ,suchanxietyfindsexpressioninresentment when the apparent confusion besetting him is not explained. In these106 PARTVOPENSYSTEMRATIONALMODELS situations,all managers some of the time,and many managers all the time, ,somemanagersrecognizearationaleofnondef inition,area-sonedbasisforthepracticeoft hosesuccessfulfirmsinwhichdesignationofs tatus,function,andlineof stask more neatly defined to know what and when one doesn t have to botherabout as much as to know what one does have follows that the more defini-tion is given,the more omniscient the Management must be,so that no functionsareleftwhollyorpartlyundischarg ed,nopersonisoverburdenedwithundelegated responsibility, or left without the authority to do his job properly.

10 To do this, tohave all the separate functions attached to individual roles fitting together andcomprehensively,to have communication between persons constantly maintainedonaleveladequatetotheneedsofea chfunctionalrole,requiresrulesortraditio nsof behavior proved over a long time and an equally fixed, stable task. The omni-science which may then be credited to the head of the concern is expressedthroughoutitsbodythroughtheline sof command,extendinginaclear,explicitlytitl edhierarchyof definitionanddependencewhichactsasthefra mewithinwhichactionisconceivedandcar-rie d works,unconsciously,almost in the smallest minutiae of daily activity. Howlateislate? Theanswertothisquestionisnottobefoundint herulebook, 8:00 is the Does he think that 8:15 is all right occasionally if it isnot a regular thing?