Journal of Management History (Archive): Volume 3 Issue 4

Administration as a civic institution in the political thought of Woodrow Wilson

Brian J. Cook

Progressive era debates about politics and economics featured a concern for the effects of political and economic institutions on the civic vitality of democratic regimes…

Historical and epistemological trends in public administration

Laurent Dobuzinskis

Begins with a brief overview of how public administration emerged as the positivist theory and technocratic practice of the modern administrative state. The question then becomes…

Marshall Dimock’s deflective organizational theory

James A. Stever

Marshall Dimock offers students of organizational theory a potpourri of concepts, approaches and arguments. His career began in the founding era of American public administration…

John Rawls and the recent history of public administration

Stephen L. Esquith

John Rawls’ theory of justice has had a direct impact on public administration, especially work in new public administration. His theory has influenced the obligations of public…

Are proverbs really so bad? Herbert Simon and the logical positivist perspective in American public administration

Peter L. Cruise

Since the 1950s, the unifying epistemological perspective in American public administration has been logical positivism, most notably as defined and promoted by Herbert Simon. In…

Wittgenstein on language: toward a theory (and the study) of language in organizations

Robert P. Watson

What has emerged in large organizations is the use of hybrid language of abstractions, jargon, euphemisms, and complex syntax known as bureacratease. Often this misuse of language…