THE CONCEPT OF LIMITATION AS THE FIRST STEP IN UNDERSTANDING CHESTER BARNARD'S ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY: A SYSTEMS APPROACH
| Date | 01 January 1979 |
| Pages | 7-16 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009801 |
| Published date | 01 January 1979 |
| Author | EDWARD BOLAND SMITH |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XVII, NUMBER
1
MAY, 1979
THE CONCEPT OF LIMITATION AS THE FIRST STEP IN
UNDERSTANDING CHESTER BARNARD'S
ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY: A SYSTEMS APPROACH1
EDWARD BOLAND SMITH
Chester Barnard has never been fully appreciated or fully understood. Most of present
day theories in administration stem from Barnard's writings. In this article the author
attempts to show that although Barnard's theory is complex, the key to understanding
it is "the concept of limitation," itself quite unique. The functional nature of limi-
tation is shown and its relationship to current system analyses.
INTRODUCTION
In his well known book,
The Functions
of
the
Executive,
Chester Barnard
suggests that theorists of his day had rather superficial insights into the
nature and workings of organization. At least, nothing he had read
corresponded with the ideas he had formed over many years of
experience. In his view, the theories were oversimplified. They "reached
the edge of organization ... and retreated," never arriving at the essence.
Barnard calls this oversimplification one of the four principal errors
ensuing from false ideologies. The effect is "to vitiate the sense of
experience when consciously dealing with problems of the theory of
organization, and to reinforce personal predilections, prejudices, and
interests, as destructive factors, in the guidance of organization
practice."2
Barnard undertook to rectify the matter, but he encountered the
problem of language in a new science. There were no terms generally
acceptable which meant exactly the same. He became in a sense a
pioneer. With a social science background, from his readings and many
years of practical experience as President of New Jersey Bell, he began to
define his terms and spin his theoretical
web.
What eventuated was a very
abstract, complicated series of lectures which were difficult to read and
difficult to understand. If his predecessors had oversimplified the nature
of organization, Barnard was not guilty of the same.
Perhaps the first step in understanding Chester Barnard is simply to re-
read him. Daniel Griffiths suggests that every student of administration
begin by rereading
The Functions
of
the
Executive.3
This is good advice. In
EDWARD BOLAND SMITH received his Ph.D. in Educational Administration from The
University of Chicago in 1962, working under Professors Roald Campbell and Vern
Cunningham at the Midwest Administration Center. Since that time he has held various ad-
ministrative posts in the schools and is now an Associate Professor at Boston College and
Director of the M.A.T. Program.
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