Human Nature and Organization Theory: On the Economic Approach to Institutional

Human Nature and Organization Theory: On the Economic Approach to Institutional Organization (New Horizons in Management series) Hardcover – 28 April 2003 by Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto  
 
In Human Nature and Organization Theory, Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto challenges the conventional wisdom that (organizational) economics is an amoral and empirically incorrect science. He treads new ground regarding the behavioural portrayal of human nature in organization theory.
 
The book focuses on the works of Taylor, Simon and Williamson, reconstructing methods and variables of their organization theories in non-behavioural, institutional economic terms. Implications for institutional economic theory building and practical intervention are outlined. The book suggests that the image of human nature in organizational economics has to be deduced from theoretical and practical outcomes of economic analysis rather than from methods of economic analysis. If this is considered, organizational economics can make considerable moral claims, since it can generate socially desirable interaction outcomes even in the face of pluralism.
 
This volume will appeal to a wide cross-section of organizational researchers, and also deserves to be widely read by economists, business ethics researchers and business historians.
 
Review

'Wagner-Tsukamoto's book provides an original perspective on the role of human nature in theorizing about organizations. Moreover, it offers a fresh reading of some of the classics of organization theory. . . it is written in clear, nontechnical language. Moreover, it is well structured, and its key theses are easily accessible. Therefore, Human Nature and Organization Theory should be of interest to a broad group of readers who have an interest in organizational theory and institutional economics and for those interested in the fields of economics and philosophy. . . I recommend this book to anyone looking for fresh ideas on economic methodology and organization theory.'
 
About the Author

Sigmund Wagner-Tsukamoto, Lecturer in Management and Organization Studies, University of Leicester, UK