IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ebg/iesewp/d-0814.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

A humanistic approach to organizations and to organizational decision-making

Author

Listed:
  • Rosanas, Josep M.

    (IESE Business School)

Abstract

This paper attempts to take steps towards the formulation of a more human approach to the theory of the firm than the conventional economics-based models. Unbounded rationality, self-interest and the absence of learning are shown to be crucial assumptions of conventional economic theory. Then, the essential assumptions of an alternative approach are put forward and discussed. Next, I present an alternative view of organizations, which has its foundations in the concepts of mission, distinctive competence, identification and unity. Finally, the implications of such an approach for management decision-making are shown, emphasizing that three criteria have to be considered in any non-trivial decision in an organizational context.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosanas, Josep M., 2009. "A humanistic approach to organizations and to organizational decision-making," IESE Research Papers D/814, IESE Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0814
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.iese.edu/research/pdfs/DI-0814-E.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michael C. Jensen, 2010. "Value Maximization, Stakeholder Theory, and the Corporate Objective Function," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(1), pages 32-42, January.
    2. Bruno S. Frey & Reto Jegen, 2000. "Motivation Crowding Theory: A Survey of Empirical Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 245, CESifo.
    3. Ikujiro Nonaka, 1994. "A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(1), pages 14-37, February.
    4. Bruno S. Frey, 1997. "Not Just for the Money," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1183.
    5. Sendil K. Ethiraj & Daniel Levinthal, 2009. "Hoping for A to Z While Rewarding Only A: Complex Organizations and Multiple Goals," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 4-21, February.
    6. Baker, George P, 1992. "Incentive Contracts and Performance Measurement," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(3), pages 598-614, June.
    7. Kreps, David M, 1997. "Intrinsic Motivation and Extrinsic Incentives," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(2), pages 359-364, May.
    8. Josep Rosanas, 2008. "Beyond Economic Criteria: A Humanistic Approach to Organizational Survival," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 78(3), pages 447-462, March.
    9. Bruno S. Frey & Reto Jegen, 2001. "Motivation Crowding Theory," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 589-611, December.
    10. Sarah J. Freeman & Kim S. Cameron, 1993. "Organizational Downsizing: A Convergence and Reorientation Framework," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(1), pages 10-29, February.
    11. Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "Corporate Governance for Crooks? The Case for Corporate Virtue," IEW - Working Papers 164, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    12. Frey, Bruno S, 1993. "Does Monitoring Increase Work Effort? The Rivalry with Trust and Loyalty," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(4), pages 663-670, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. McCausland, David & Pouliakas, Konstantinos & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2005. "Some are Punished and Some are Rewarded: A Study of the Impact of Performance Pay on Job Satisfaction," MPRA Paper 14243, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Konstantinos Pouliakas, 2010. "Pay Enough, Don't Pay Too Much or Don't Pay at All? The Impact of Bonus Intensity on Job Satisfaction," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(4), pages 597-626, November.
    3. Mario Coccia & Igor Benati, 2018. "A new taxonomy of rewards in public administration for management implications," IRCrES Working Paper 201802, CNR-IRCrES Research Institute on Sustainable Economic Growth - Moncalieri (TO) ITALY - former Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth - Torino (TO) ITALY.
    4. Dickinson, David & Villeval, Marie-Claire, 2008. "Does monitoring decrease work effort?: The complementarity between agency and crowding-out theories," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 56-76, May.
    5. Emil Inauen & Katja Rost & Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, 2010. "Back to the Future –A Monastic Perspective on Corporate Governance," management revue - Socio-Economic Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 21(1), pages 38-59.
    6. Dirk Sliwka, 2007. "Trust as a Signal of a Social Norm and the Hidden Costs of Incentive Schemes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 999-1012, June.
    7. Fehr, Ernst & Falk, Armin, 2002. "Psychological foundations of incentives," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(4-5), pages 687-724, May.
    8. Margit Osterloh, 2005. "Human Resources Management and Knowledge Creation," CREMA Working Paper Series 2005-09, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    9. Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "Shareholders Should Welcome Employees as Directors," CREMA Working Paper Series 2005-02, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    10. Sander Onderstal & Arthur J.C. Schram & Adriaan R. Soetevent, 2011. "Bidding to give in the Field: Door-to-Door Fundraisers had it right from the Start," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-070/1, Tinbergen Institute, revised 10 Nov 2011.
    11. Neunzig, Alexander R., 2002. "Effiziente Fixlöhne, Arbeitsfreude und Crowding-Effekte," CSLE Discussion Paper Series 2002-03, Saarland University, CSLE - Center for the Study of Law and Economics.
    12. Bruno S. Frey & Margit Osterloh, "undated". "Yes, Managers Should be Paid Like Bureaucrats," IEW - Working Papers 187, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    13. Sliwka, Dirk, 2003. "On the Hidden Costs of Incentive Schemes," IZA Discussion Papers 844, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    14. Margit Osterloh & Bruno S. Frey, "undated". "Corporate Governance for Crooks? The Case for Corporate Virtue," IEW - Working Papers 164, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    15. Samuel Bowles & Sandra Polania-Reyes, 2011. "Economic incentives and social preferences: substitutes or complements?," Department of Economics University of Siena 617, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    16. Stephan Meier, 2005. "Do subsidies increase charitable giving in the long run? Matching donations in a field experiment," Natural Field Experiments 00308, The Field Experiments Website.
    17. Pouliakas, Konstantinos, 2008. "Pay enough, don’t pay too much or don’t pay at all? An empirical study of the non-monotonic impact of incentives on job satisfaction," MPRA Paper 10031, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Pouliakas, Konstantinos & Theodossiou, Ioannis, 2009. "Confronting Objections to Performance Pay: A Study of the Impact of Individual and Gain-sharing Incentives on the Job Satisfaction of British Employees," MPRA Paper 14244, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Vladislav Valentinov, 2007. "The Property Rights Approach to Nonprofit Organization: The Role of Intrinsic Motivation," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 41-55, March.
    20. K. Pouliakas & I. Theodossiou, 2009. "Confronting Objections To Performance Pay: The Impact Of Individual And Gain‐Sharing Incentives On Job Satisfaction," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 56(5), pages 662-684, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    theory of the firm; bounded rationality; self-interest; distinctive competence; mission; identification;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ebg:iesewp:d-0814. 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: Noelia Romero (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ienaves.html .

    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.