IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/jorgde/v12y2023i1d10.1007_s41469-022-00131-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Why managers matter: the paradox of organizing

Author

Listed:
  • Ambra Mazzelli

    (SKEMA Business School, Université Côte d’Azur (GREDEG))

Abstract

Building on Nicolai Foss and Peter Klein’s recent book, Why Managers Matter: The Perils of the Bossless Company, and on its central argument that solving the problems of organizing (i.e., the division of labor and the integration of efforts) requires some form of hierarchy, I offer some observations on the relationship between organizations’ pursuit of social goals and the potential emergence of non-traditional hierarchical structures. I also provide a purposefully simple theory explaining why social organizations may incur over-governance and unnecessary internal transaction costs due to their preoccupation with minimizing the negative externalities of cooperation and coordination failures. Hence, I illustrate the importance of embracing a paradoxical approach to organizational design to solve this tension and its link with the advent of new hierarchical forms.

Suggested Citation

  • Ambra Mazzelli, 2023. "Why managers matter: the paradox of organizing," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 12(1), pages 31-36, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jorgde:v:12:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s41469-022-00131-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s41469-022-00131-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41469-022-00131-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41469-022-00131-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Phanish Puranam & Murali Swamy, 2016. "How Initial Representations Shape Coupled Learning Processes," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 323-335, April.
    2. Macher Jeffrey T & Richman Barak D, 2008. "Transaction Cost Economics: An Assessment of Empirical Research in the Social Sciences," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-65, May.
    3. George A. Akerlof & Rachel E. Kranton, 2005. "Identity and the Economics of Organizations," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 9-32, Winter.
    4. Timothy Besley & Maitreesh Ghatak, 2003. "Incentives, Choice, and Accountability in the Provision of Public Services," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 19(2), pages 235-249, Summer.
    5. Helge Klapper & Markus Reitzig, 2018. "On the effects of authority on peer motivation: Learning from Wikipedia," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(8), pages 2178-2203, August.
    6. Vivianna Fang He & Phanish Puranam & Yash Raj Shrestha & Georg von Krogh, 2020. "Resolving governance disputes in communities: A study of software license decisions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(10), pages 1837-1868, October.
    7. Macher, Jeffrey T. & Richman, Barak D., 2008. "Transaction Cost Economics: An Assessment of Empirical Research in the Social Sciences," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(1), pages 1-63, April.
    8. Paul S. Adler, 2001. "Market, Hierarchy, and Trust: The Knowledge Economy and the Future of Capitalism," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(2), pages 215-234, April.
    9. Aseem Kaul & Jiao Luo, 2018. "An economic case for CSR: The comparative efficiency of for‐profit firms in meeting consumer demand for social goods," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(6), pages 1650-1677, June.
    10. Kim S. Cameron, 1986. "Effectiveness as Paradox: Consensus and Conflict in Conceptions of Organizational Effectiveness," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 32(5), pages 539-553, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nicolai J. Foss & Peter G. Klein, 2023. "Why Managers Matter matters: replies and reflections," Journal of Organization Design, Springer;Organizational Design Community, vol. 12(1), pages 51-57, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jiao Luo & Aseem Kaul, 2019. "Private action in public interest: The comparative governance of social issues," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(4), pages 476-502, April.
    2. Foscaches, Caroline & Macchione Saes, Maria Sylvia & Bigio Schnaider, Paula Sarita, 2019. "Does social identity matter in governance decisions? Evidence from an agrarian reform settlement in Brazil," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 215-226.
    3. Carlos Omar Trejo-Pech & Roselia Servín-Juárez & Álvaro Reyes-Duarte, 2023. "What sets cooperative farmers apart from non-cooperative farmers? A transaction cost economics analysis of coffee farmers in Mexico," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-24, December.
    4. Sharon Novak & Scott Stern, 2009. "Complementarity Among Vertical Integration Decisions: Evidence from Automobile Product Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 311-332, February.
    5. Schneider, Christian O. & Bremen, Philipp & Schönsleben, Paul & Alard, Robert, 2013. "Transaction cost economics in global sourcing: Assessing regional differences and implications for performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 243-254.
    6. de Jong, Jeroen P.J. & Ben-Menahem, Shiko M. & Franke, Nikolaus & Füller, Johann & von Krogh, Georg, 2021. "Treading new ground in household sector innovation research: Scope, emergence, business implications, and diffusion," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(8).
    7. Sharon Novak & Scott Stern, 2008. "How Does Outsourcing Affect Performance Dynamics? Evidence from the Automobile Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(12), pages 1963-1979, December.
    8. Giorgio Zanarone & Desmond (Ho-Fu) Lo & Tammy L. Madsen, 2016. "The double-edged effect of knowledge acquisition: How contracts safeguard pre-existing resources," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(10), pages 2104-2120, October.
    9. Thomas Mellewigt & Glenn Hoetker & Martina Lütkewitte, 2018. "Avoiding High Opportunism Is Easy, Achieving Low Opportunism Is Not: A QCA Study on Curbing Opportunism in Buyer–Supplier Relationships," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1208-1208, December.
    10. Emilia Obiñska-Wajda, 2016. "The new institutional economics - main theories," "e-Finanse", University of Information Technology and Management, Institute of Financial Research and Analysis, vol. 12(1), pages 78-85, June.
    11. Hermano, Víctor & Martín-Cruz, Natalia, 2013. "How to Deliver Foreign Aid? The Case of Projects Governed by the Spanish International Agency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 298-314.
    12. Williamson, Oliver E., 2010. "Transaction Cost Economics: The Natural Progression," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 215-226.
    13. Seggie, Steven H. & Griffith, David A., 2021. "The moderating effects of economic and strategic relationship value in tolerating active and passive opportunism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 233-244.
    14. Geoffrey M. Hodgson, 2010. "Limits of Transaction Cost Analysis," Chapters, in: Peter G. Klein & Michael E. Sykuta (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Transaction Cost Economics, chapter 28, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Evan Rawley & Timothy S. Simcoe, 2013. "Information Technology, Productivity, and Asset Ownership: Evidence from Taxicab Fleets," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(3), pages 831-845, June.
    16. Marta Gancarczyk, 2015. "Proces wzrostu przedsiębiorstwa w świetle podejścia zasobowego i teorii kosztów transakcyjnych," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 5, pages 5-31.
    17. Sharon Novak & Birger Wernerfelt, 2012. "On the Grouping of Tasks into Firms: Make‐or‐Buy with Interdependent Parts," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 53-77, March.
    18. Alex Eapen & Rekha Krishnan, 2019. "Transferring Tacit Know-How: Do Opportunism Safeguards Matter for Firm Boundary Decisions?," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(4), pages 715-734, July.
    19. Jasper GRASHUIS & Ye SU, 2019. "A Review Of The Empirical Literature On Farmer Cooperatives: Performance, Ownership And Governance, Finance, And Member Attitude," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 90(1), pages 77-102, March.
    20. Nicholas Argyres, 2011. "Using Organizational Economics to Study Organizational Capability Development and Strategy," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1138-1143, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:jorgde:v:12:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1007_s41469-022-00131-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.