Background
March, James Gardner was born on January 15, 1928 in Cleveland. Son of James Herbert and Mildred (MacCorkle) March.
(In this thought-provoking new work, long-term collaborato...)
In this thought-provoking new work, long-term collaborators James March and Johan Olsen construct a brilliant foundation for thinking about the broad theoretical concerns of democratic governance. Building on the work that began with their seminal essay on "The New Institutionalism" in "The American Political Science Review" in 1984 and continued in "Rediscovering Institutions", March and Olsen challenge key aspects of standard contemporary thinking. While conventional thought is based primarily on the premises of individualism and self-interest, the authors argue that exchange theories of democracy are incomplete, reflecting only a partial view of history and human action. Going beyond democratic theory, March and Olsen draw on social science to examine how political institutions create and sustain democratic solidarity, identities, capabilities, accounts, and adaptiveness; how they can maintain and elaborate democratic values and beliefs-- and how governance might be made honorable, just, and effective. They show how democratic governance is both proactive and reactive-- creating interests and power as well as responding to them-- and how it shapes not only an understanding of the past and an ability to learn from it, but even history itself. By exploring how governance transcends the creation of coalitions that reflect existing preferences, resources, rights, and rules, the authors reveal how it includes the actual formation of these defining principles of social and political life. Which institutions serve democracy best? March and Olsen do not offer neat answers. Instead, while recognizing the complications involved in fulfilling democratic ideals, they ask how individuals and societies can achieve institutions that can make politics civil, accountable, capable, and transformative. In what is likely to be received as a seminal work, March and Olsen have established a comprehensive framework for discussion and debate that will continue to be read in management, political science, education, psychology, and sociology into the 21st century.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0028740548/?tag=2022091-20
( Explorations in Organizations presents readers with con...)
Explorations in Organizations presents readers with contemporary issues in the study of organizations, and introduces the paths down which tomorrow's organizational scholarship might travel. A collection of recent papers by or co-authored by the eminent James G. March, the book consists of five sections: exploring theories of organizational action; novelty in organizational adaptation; institutions and the logic of appropriateness; the history of organization studies; and uses of literature in the study of organizations. Each section begins with a new essay by a scholar whose work has focused on the theme explored in that part of the book. These introductory essays not only introduce and tie together the papers that follow, but also serve to add additional voices to the volume in order to deepen the discussion within it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804758980/?tag=2022091-20
(The Pursuit of Organizational Intelligence brings togethe...)
The Pursuit of Organizational Intelligence brings together the writing of one of the best--known academics in the field of decision making and organizational theory.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0631211020/?tag=2022091-20
(This book collects together for the first time over 20 of...)
This book collects together for the first time over 20 of James Marcha s key essays, including those co--authorised with R.M. Cyert and J.P. Olsen and others. The coverage ranges from his early work on the behavioural theory of the firm, through conflict and adaptive rules in organizations, to decision--making under ambiguity (including the famed a garbage cana model).
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0631168567/?tag=2022091-20
(This book is about the business firm and the way it makes...)
This book is about the business firm and the way it makes economic decisions. We propose to make detailed observations of the procedures by which firms make decisions and to use these observations as a basis for a theory of decision making within business organizations.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UJUBYRY/?tag=2022091-20
(Building on lecture notes from his acclaimed course at St...)
Building on lecture notes from his acclaimed course at Stanford University, James March provides a brilliant introduction to decision making, a central human activity fundamental to individual, group, organizational, and societal life. March draws on research from all the disciplines of social and behavioral science to show decision making in its broadest context. By emphasizing how decisions are actually made -- as opposed to how they should be made -- he enables those involved in the process to understand it both as observers and as participants. March sheds new light on the decision-making process by delineating four deep issues that persistently divide students of decision making: Are decisions based on rational choices involving preferences and expected consequences, or on rules that are appropriate to the identity of the decision maker and the situation? Is decision making a consistent, clear process or one characterized by ambiguity and inconsistency? Is decision making significant primarily for its outcomes, or for the individual and social meanings it creates and sustains? And finally, are the outcomes of decision processes attributable solely to the actions of individuals, or to the combined influence of interacting individuals, organizations, and societies? March's observations on how intelligence is -- or is not -- achieved through decision making, and possibilities for enhancing decision intelligence, are also provided. March explains key concepts of vital importance to students of decision making and decision makers, such as limited rationality, history-dependent rules, and ambiguity, and weaves these ideas into a full depiction of decision making. He includes a discussion of the modern aspects of several classic issues underlying these concepts, such as the relation between reason and ignorance, intentionality and fate, and meaning and interpretation. This valuable textbook by one of the seminal figures in the history of organizational decision making will be required reading for a new generation of scholars, managers, and other decision makers.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1439157332/?tag=2022091-20
(Behavioural Theory of the Firm has become a classic work ...)
Behavioural Theory of the Firm has become a classic work in organizational theory, and is one of the most significant contributions to improving the theory of the firm. This second edition includes new material which puts the original text in a contemporary context.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0631174516/?tag=2022091-20
(What is a model? How do you construct one? What are some ...)
What is a model? How do you construct one? What are some common models in the social sciences? How can models be applied in new situations? What makes a model good? Focusing on answers to these and related questions, this multidisciplinary introduction to model building in the social sciences formulates interesting problems that involve students in creative model building and the process of invention. The book describes models of individual choice, exchange, adaptation, and diffusion. Throughout, student participation in analytical thinking is encouraged. Originally published in 1975 by HarperCollins Publishers.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0819183814/?tag=2022091-20
(A Behavioral Theory of the Firm" has become a classic wor...)
A Behavioral Theory of the Firm" has become a classic work in organizational theory, and is one of the most significant contributions to theory intended to improve the operation of the modern corporation. The authors use experiments and empirical observations to build their model of decision making. They reject the structure of the firm as represented by classical economic theory, instead they focus on the discretion of management. They also offer a new way of viewing the effects of organization, communications and individuals on the firm's overall activity. This is path breaking book and among the most important and provocative interpretations yet advanced for seeing inside the firm to understand it as an organization and an economic entity.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1614275327/?tag=2022091-20
( Written rules in formal organizations are distinctive e...)
Written rules in formal organizations are distinctive elements of organizational history; they shape organizational change and are in turn shaped by it. These rules are created, revised, and eliminated in ways that leave historical traces, and they have a visibility and durability that elude non-written rules. They thus provide rich data for an empirical probe into the dynamics of organizational history. This study uses qualitative and quantitative data from the history of a specific organization, Stanford University, to develop speculations about the ways in which written rules change. It contributes both to a theory of rules and to theories of organizational decision-making, change, and learning. Organizations respond to problems and react to internal or external pressures by focusing attention on existing and potential rules. The creation, modification, or elimination of a rule, then, is a response to events in the outside environment (such as new government regulations) or to events within the organization (such as alterations in internal government structures). The authors elaborate a simple set of ideas about written rules and their dynamics, emphasizing the interplay among periodic major shocks to the system from outside, experiences with individual rules as they age and are revised, and the spread of effects through an interconnected set of rules. It is a story in which changes introduced in one part of a rule system create adjustments in other parts, including the same rule later in time, as the consequences of the changes are experienced and as rule-making attention is mobilized, satiated, and redirected. These processes involve the full panoply of political negotiation, symbolic competition, discussion, and problem solving that are typical of organizational decision making.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080473996X/?tag=2022091-20
March, James Gardner was born on January 15, 1928 in Cleveland. Son of James Herbert and Mildred (MacCorkle) March.
Bachelor, University Wisconsin, Madison, 1949. Master of Arts, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1950. Doctor of Philosophy, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 1953.
Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Copenhagen School of Economics, Denmark, 1978. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Swedish School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland, 1979. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), University Wisconsin, Milwaukee, 1980.
Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), University Bergen, Norway, 1980. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Uppsala University, Sweden, 1987. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Helsinki School of Economics, Finland, 1991.
Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Dublin City University, Ireland, 1994. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Göteborg University, Sweden, 1998. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), University Poitiers, France, 2001.
Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Budapest University of Economics, Hungary, 2003. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), York University, Toronto, 2007. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Lappeenranta University, Finland, 2008.
Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), University Alberta, 2009. Doctor of Philosophy (honorary), Stockholm School of Economics, 2009.
From assistant professor to professor, Carnegie Institute Technology, 1953-1964;
professor, dean School Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine, 1964-1970;
professor management, higher education, political science and sociology, Stanford (California) U., 1970-1995;
professor emeritus, Stanford (California) U., since 1995. Consultant in field; member National Council Ednl. Research, 1975-1978, National Science Board, 1968-1974.
Member sociological-social psychology panel National Science Foundation, 1964-1966. Social science training committee National Institute of Mental Health, 1967-1968. Member mathematics social science committee Social Science Research Council, 1958-1960.
Member Assembly Behavioral and Social Science, National Research Council, 1973-1979, Chairman of Commission on aging, 1977-1982, Chairman of Commission on mathematics, science, technical education, 1984-1986.
(What is a model? How do you construct one? What are some ...)
(The state has lost its position of centrality in contempo...)
(Building on lecture notes from his acclaimed course at St...)
(A Behavioral Theory of the Firm" has become a classic wor...)
(In this thought-provoking new work, long-term collaborato...)
( Explorations in Organizations presents readers with con...)
(Behavioural Theory of the Firm has become a classic work ...)
(The Pursuit of Organizational Intelligence brings togethe...)
( Written rules in formal organizations are distinctive e...)
(This book collects together for the first time over 20 of...)
(This book is about the business firm and the way it makes...)
(no description)
Member National Academy of Sciences, American Psychological Association, National Academy Education, Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, American Academy Arts and Sciences, American Economic Association, American Political Science Association (vice president 1983-1984, John Gaus award 1997, Wildavsky award 2004), American Sociological Association, Academy Management (Distinguished Scholar award 1999), Russell Sage Foundation (trustee 1985-1994, chairman 1990-1993), Finnish Society Sciences and Letters, Citigroup Behavioral Sciences Research Council (chairman 1994-2000), American Philosophical Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Sigma Xi.
Married Jayne Mary Dohr, September 23, 1947. Children: Kathryn Sue, Gary Clifton, James Christopher, Roderic Gunn.