FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION: THEORY W UNIFIES
STRATEGY, FUNCTIONALISM, PRODUCTIVITY, AND STRUCTURE
FOR MEMBERS AND THE INDIVIDUAL
a dissertation in scholarly form
for the earned degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
aimed at clarifying a more specific strategy
process
as personally experienced
in several careers
and many case studies
by
H.L.Otto
Leawood KS
February 1996
Kensington University
Student 267187370
Glendale CA
Runner: Beyond matrix organization
Kensington University approval
Date
Chairperson __________________________________
_______
Degree committee __________________________________ _______
Degree committee __________________________________ _______
Theory W page 2
Part for front materials
Review. Traditional composition texts refer to the
writing divisions of front materials and back materials with
no literal titles. But in this dissertation separate parts
are so titled. The foregoing title page and approval page
preceded the formal titlement to avoid the probable
confusion of the traditionally oriented.
Summary. Front and back materials have their own
literal parts in this dissertation. The traditional
chapter-type divisions of summary, acknowledgements,
preface, glossary, and introduction comprise front materials
- bibliography and the index comprise back materials.
Next. Part one provides a historical and current
orientation to the subjects of administration, organization
structure, and organization science.
Part two presents the essentials of Theory W. Parts
three and four then apply Theory W to individuals as
organizations and to multiple-member larger organizations.
Part five airs the testing-instrument measurement of
the Theory W treatment. Part six encompasses wayward and
tangential information - some perhaps too personal for the
traditional dissertation, as if education had to be
impersonal.
Theory W page 3
Front materials
Chapter for summary
Title
Approval
Copyright
Abstract
Problem abstract
Brief contents
Accreditation
Outline of defense
Petition for PhD
Copyright. The rights for this copy derive
from the
spirit, the concept, and the publicity of applying
evidential functionalism to (1) groups of members in their
organizations, and (2) the individual as their own
organization. Taken together, the unification and
application of strategy, functionalism, and productivity to
members and individuals comprises Theory W.
Spiritually, the spark of the "why" question exists
from a person's infancy. The age of two usually brings
vocalization to the "why" question.
Conceptually, Theory W began in the 1960s as an
organizational development tool which facilitated evidential
improvements. Other w words were added to the critical
thinking routine of organization improvement.
Publically, the Theory W term was aired in a set of
speeches before the National Association of Accountants, 15
September 1983 and 19 January 1984.
This dissertation casts a scholarly version of
Theory W.
Theory W page 4 Summation
Abstract. Theory W - based on case studies from
business, industry, administration, and education - provides
a four dimensional unifying view of organization theory,
valid not only for large organizations but also applicable
to the individual as an organization. Theory W connects all
of the human organization structures - formal, informal,
functional, and technological - for the inquiry into
validity and reliability. The three-sided pyramid provides
visual differentiation.
Theory W makes use of the pyramid's age-old symbol of
higher authority, permitting access to authority from any
one of the three human structures - (a) the hierarchy of
bosses, (b) the social group leader evolution, or (c) the
hierarchical arrangement of work-tasks in support of the
organization's aim.
Theory W's functional structure provides vivid
visibility into the organization policy, philosophy,
purpose, mission, vision, aim, or end. The member's job
description version of the functional structure provides
validity in support of the organization aim. The
"Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation - Behavior"
(FIRO-B) testing instrument presents the ability to judge
the statistical significance of raising productivity through
more fuctional visibility.
Computer technology permits the
valid and reliable
Theory W page 5 Summation
representation of the organization's strategy structure,
reaching from the mission statement of the annual report to
every worker-member. The strategy structure database
permits reliable rearrangement into member worktasks for
periodic review by the worker, the formal hierarchy, and
even the informal group.
Improvement programs like management by objectives
(MBO), total quality management (TQM), control through
variance analysis (VA), leadership of future transition
(LOFT), program evaluation and review technique (PERT),
critical path method (CPM), organizational development (OD),
profit improvements, reorganizations, and any other similar
programs are compatible within the umbrella of Theory W.
Problem abstract. Too narrowly, does worker
productivity come forth from government statistics. Too few
employees and employers are measured as productive workers.
Too often, strategy experiences difficulty in breaking
forth from the mission statement of the annual report.
In too few instances, does management transfer
functionalism into their organization from engineering, from
architecture, from linguistics, from sociology, from
mathmatics, from Fayol, and from Taylor.
Higher technology machines and advancing psychology
continue to pressure the deficiencies of the formal-
functional, matrix, and hybrid organization structures of
Theory W page 6 Summation
management textbooks. Therefore Theory W provides a
separation of organization structures into pure formal, pure
informal, and pure functional. The latter equates to
strategy and identifies with the functionalist movement.
Part contents
Page
Front
materials
1
Part 1 - Theories of organization
127
Part 2 - The essence of Theory W
328
Part 3 - The individual as an organization
482
Part 4 - Multiple member organizations
760d
Part 5 - Experimental measurement
871
Back materials
984-1027
Appendicies
a1-a318
Chapter contents
Page
Summary
3
Acknowledgement
9
Preface
21
Contents including figures & tables
68
Glossary
78
Introduction
108
Chapter 1 - Industrial administrative history
134
2 - Educational
administrative history
169
3 - Organization
scholars
223
Theory W page 7
Summation
Chapter 4 - Organization structures
298
5 - A three-sided
pyramid of organization 330
6 - Theory W
propositions and hypotheses 390
7 - Entrances
to the Theory W structure
414
8 - Time as
one essence of life
485
9 - The expert
worker
538
10 - The form of Theory
W
630
11 - Individual case
studies
656
12 - The challenge
of Theory W
762d
13 - Business case
studies
791
14 - Education case
studies
819
15 - Experimental
modeling
872
16 - The FIRO-B testing
instrument
889
17 - Critique
901
18 - Functional church
973
Bibliography
984
Index
1012
Appendix A - Dissertation proposals
a2
B - Electronic
wording
a55
C - Dissertation
delimitation
a236
D - The myth
master
a243
E - Is more
education an addiction?
a253
F - A different
culture
a270
G - Bridge in
a whole life
a291
H - Inquiring
into personality
a300
I - A purposeful
aim
a306
Accreditation
Dedication. This dissertation
dedicates to those
literate individuals who desire the benefits of
organization. Theory W presents a challenging and
beneficial way to write and to read an organization's
functional structure.
Function. In mathmatics,
B=F(A) is a functional
Theory W page 8
Summation
equation, where A is "the independent variable or the
argument of the function (272 sv)," and B is the dependent
variable. The dependent variable can also be seen as the
output of an organization where the independent variable can
be seen as the input of an organization. "The function
F is
regarded as a mapping by which the element A is related to
its image, the element B (272 sv)." Theory W provides the
functional task map of any organization.
Functional. 2: existing or used to contribute
to the
development or maintenance of a larger whole.
(61 sv)
Functionalism. Term used in architecture to
describe
the belief that the form... should be determined
by
practical considerations such as planning and
structure.... The process of design begins
with an
analysis of the... function and the best technical
means
of meeting it and that aesthetic character, instead
of
being superimposed, emerges as part of the same
process.
The approach to language study
that is concerned with
the functions performed by language, primarily in
terms
of cognition (relating information), expression
(indicating mood), and conation (exerting influence).
In the social sciences, theory
of the relationships of
parts of a society to the whole and of one part
to
another. (272 sv)
Outline of defense.
Topic selection. Appendix C narrows the Library of
Congress Subject Heading of administration to the topic of
matrix organization.
Spirit. For three decades the author has improved
organization systems. With that background of constant
improvement, he now desires to improve general organization
theory by way of publication, and specifically, to improve
Theory W page 9 Summation
functional organization theory, beginning with this
dissertation project.
Rigor. The glossary includes definitions of scholar
and dissertation, among others. These classic definitions
will be pursued for a management science gestalt view of any
organization - including the individual person.
Reliability. Over a dozen application cases are
presented, many in detail.
Validity. Theory W checks against the universe of
organization development, provides structure to the process
of strategy, and makes the important theoretical leap of
encompassing the individual as an organization.
Topic importance. Strategy quantification provides a
tool for insuring the success of an organization's
synergistic process.
Petition for PhD. The Kensington University form
titled "Petition For Graduation" under cover letter dated 22
June 1988 authorizes this final submission for the academic
degree of PhD under accreditation by the State of
California. The transcript of said university evidences the
approval of this dissertation.
