Theory W 390
Chapter 6 - Propositions and hypotheses
A new theory?
Proposition seeds
Propositions
Hypotheses
Review. Steps have been
provided encompassing the
history of organization from business and education views,
its scholars, the various structures of organization, and a
macro sense of Theory W.
Summary. Define theory,
defend Theory W, set forth
norms for the performance of good theory, and delineate
propositions and hypotheses.
Next. Provide a micro sense
of Theory W - a pure
functional structure of organization.
A new theory?
Theory W claims to represent scientific
thought toward
seeing a universal concept of pure functional organization.
First, what makes a theory?
Webster's Third (1983 sv)
provides a checklist for a supposed theory.
1. An imaginative contemplation.
2. A procedure as a basis of action.
3. An ideal.
4. A body of knowledge in association with practice.
5. A content formed as an intellectual discipline.
6. Pure as distinguished from applied science.
7. A coherent set of hypothetical, conceptual, and pragmatic
principles forming a general frame of reference.
8. Abstract knowledge (not tied to a single or few
experiences).
9. Intellectual inquiry.
10. A systematic analysis, elucidation, or definition of a
concept.
11. A proposition.
Elements Theory W 391
12. A hypothetical entity or structure explaining or relating
an observed set of facts.
13. A working hypothesis or conceptual analysis but not
conclusively established or accepted as law.
Second, can the above theory makings
be expressed in
Theory W terms, that is, verb-descriptor-nouns?
Table 48 - Theory definition
____________________________________________________________
Act Verb
Descriptor Noun
Done
___ __________ ______________
_____________ ____
1 imagine
contemplation ?
2 express
action basis
?
3 hold
aim ideal
?
4 associate
knowledgable practice ?
5 form
disciplined content
?
6 isolate
science purity
?
7 form
reference principles
?
8 tiein
many experiences
?
9 question
intellect reasonings
?
10 outline
elucidation ?
11 analyze
propositions ?
12 explain
observed facts
?
13 negate
conclusive law
?
____________________________________________________________
Imagine contemplation. Previously,
the Theory W
structure has been contemplated within the context of
business and education administrative history, and the
verbage of a number of authors and scholars, as a
three-sided pyramid - organization structures of formal,
informal, and pure functional, on a base of technology.
Express action basis. The verb-descriptor-noun
phrasing succinctly expresses the action basis of Theory W.
Hold aim ideal. The ideals of
strategy and the
Elements
Theory W 392
statement of mission were held up as ideals, providing
functional authority in contrast to dysfunctional authority.
Associate knowledgable practice.
Using growing
personal case study of practical application from the
decades of the 1960s into the 1990s, a significant
universality was seen to exist in application.
Form disciplined content. Considerable
effort was
extended to subject a fledgling Theory W to the rigors of
Doctor of Philosophy programs and a practical personal
writing scheme.
Isolate science purity. A personal
security was
formed about the worthiness of a new significant theory of
organization, regardless of opposing direction from
employment programs and Doctor of Philosophy programs.
Form reference principles. The
independent
dissertation process formed principles on writing, provided
a student exercise into scholarship, and encouraged more
possible writing. The probability of finding open-minded
publishers or sponsors may be unlikely. A 350 publisher
search51 seems to be too big an effort. Yet a constant
commitment within the context of a balanced life can be
seen.
____________________
51 Pirsig's effort to publish Zen
And The Art Of
Motorcycle Maintenance.
Elements
Theory W 393
Tiein many experiences. Many case
studies have been
documented.
Question intellect reasonings.
The separate faceting
of pure formal, pure informal, and pure functional
structures AND the integration of strategy and job
descriptions AND the application of the same theory to
organization of the individual are intellectually
significant.
Outline elucidation. Although
traditional
dissertation divisions were referenced, Theory W (or the
author) seemed to need more exhaustive treatment.
Analyze propositions. The subject
of this current
chapter.
Explain observed facts. When all
is done the most
important functional structure can be seen as supported
(facilitated) by the informal structure (responsibility)
which in turn is supported (facilitated) by the formal
structure (accountability).
Negate conclusive law. Visualizing
a replacement
theory or arguing the finality of Theory W as law at this
point in time would be premature and counter productive -
against the timely completion of an attempted statement of
Theory W circumstances.
Elements Theory W 394
Table 49 - Theory W definition?
____________________________________________________________
Act Verb
Descriptor Noun
Done
___ __________ ______________
_____________ ____
1 imagine
contemplation yes
2 express
action basis
yes
3 hold
aim ideal
yes
4 associate
knowledgable practice yes
5 form
disciplined content
yes
6 isolate
science purity
yes
7 form
reference principles
yes
8 tiein
many experiences
yes
9 question
intellect reasonings
yes
10 outline
elucidation yes
11 analyze
propositions yes
12 explain
observed facts
yes
13 negate
conclusive law
yes
____________________________________________________________
Theory construction. Now the rules
for the
formulation of a theory need to be discussed. The form
of
the rules vary from very concise to fairly specific. First,
the very concise form -
A good theory provides us with
a reasonably reliable
means of prediction. (231 1)
Second, the more specific form -
In achieving...final form for a
theory, no precise
guidelines are offered. It should be stable
in the face
of new data, and rich in detail. In achieving
such
detail, the collection of different slices of data
is
favored. (115 35-6)
There are no obvious, preferable,
logical alternatives
to the structure-conduct-performance approach, because
what one regards as an alternative depends on the
purpose
at hand. (115 211)
Theory W can be seen to have reconciled
all predicted
jobs with all predicted tasks validated with whole hour data
Elements
Theory W 395
across many enterprises over many industries - providing a
reasonably reliable means of prediction. Further chapters
present that material.
Now further detail on the
structure-conduct-performance approach to performance
measurement.
Elements Theory W 396
Table 50 - Theory performance measurement
___________________________________________________________
Structure norms
1 Show individual worktasks
2 Measure quality differentials
3 No impediments to mobility
4 Reasonable availability of market information
5 Uncertainty about improvement source
6 Freedom from legal restraint
7 Development of new contacts
Conduct norms
1 Independent critical thinking
2 No shielding of inefficiency
3 No unfair, exclusionary, predatory, or coercive tactics
4 Discrimination within reason
5 Reasonably honest sale promotion
6 Rapid response to obvious improvements
Performance norms
1 Efficient time on task
2 Reasonable promotional expense
3 Investment, efficiency, and innovation rewards
4 Output consistent with efficient resource allocation
5 Minimal distractions from task
6 Quality consistent with consumers' interest
7 Appropriate exploitation of improvement techniques
8 Conservation requirements respected
9 Output responsive to consumers' needs
10 Reasonably free entry of individuals and tasks
11 Regard for national requirements
12 Avoidance of excessive power in few hands
13 Regard for employees' welfare
___________________________________________________________
Note:
The more and better a theory scores
on the above
norms, the more worthy it is and the more worth
it can
bring to the user. (115 125)
Proposition seeds
This dissertation centers around
the author's career
Elements
Theory W 397
jobs, fitting on-the-job observations with existing academic
knowledge and structuring a Theory W of functional
organization to complement the informal and formal concepts
of the organization.
One way of reporting on my writing
process uses the
happenings of my current job as a entrance into
the body
of Theory W. I feel that I have lived and
worked Theory
W all of my life.
See Personal Propositions section below.
Parallels to Theory W.
The individual as an organization
moves from existence
needs, to relatedness needs, and on to growth needs
(Alderfer in place of Maslow).
Strategy progresses from the organization's
mission,
to individually measured objectives, and on to individual
implementation as part of the whole.
The management science project
concepts of PERT, CPM,
and Gantt charting can be database-computerized with the use
of the computer science concept of the precedence network
(Operations Management).
Theory W characteristics.
Theory W purports to be universal
in the same spirit
that all individuals are managers.
Theory W stresses why and the
way in which an
organization actualizes its work.
Theory W reconciles to the most
fundamental human
Elements
Theory W 398
resource of whole hours, rationalizing the view that the
human works 168 hours per week as a basic individual growth
objective. (The weekly growth objectives relate to the
human growth mission.)
Theory W evidences the relationships
that we, those
who constitute the organization, implement together.
Theory W resorts the computerized-database
of work
task functions into job descriptions which facilitate the
individual's measurement of their contribution to the
organization's mission.
Theory W emulates the causal research
design.
The aim creates reality in the
mind.
Theory W dynamically structures
togetherness yet
emulates an individual and individualized work station.
That mode of dynamicism can be seen as being opposed to
being rigidly designed.
The paedogenic [the child within
the worker] mode is
anti-design; it does not concretize out of an intention,
a designed object, a social structure, a procedure,
etc.
It is a process which creates what is. The
source of
energy that leads to the creation is varied.
For some
people, it may be to achieve simplicity; for the
theory
builder, it may be understanding; for the religious,
it
may be the movement towards divine unity.
Paedogenic
design, at its highest level, is inarticulate,
uncommunicable, and so the product cannot be concretized.
It just is. (108 289)
Theory W provides a structure
which articulates and
communicates organization unity, understanding, and
simplicity.
Elements Theory W 399
The search for applied science.
The caterer's tale is not so much
one of designing as
of anti-design. The design event metaphorically
moved
the management out of the kitchen to join the student's
experience. In the act, it destroyed the managers'
accepted world, replacing it with one which was
not yet
articulated with procedures, designed objects, criteria
of judgement, etc. For those managers it created
a new
reality. (108 289)
Scientific preference? With Theory
W, the process of
management moves from art to science. Can management art
succumb to management science? What lies ahead? Will
Theory W be used in the future?
In the futurist literature...the
dominant
ideology...has seemed to express a preference for
elegant
argument over evidence. (131 11)
Baber testifies that -
where bureaucracy depends on job
specialization to
cope with complexity, matrix organization forsees
a
highly professional work force whose major talent
is
flexible response to complex and changing circumstance.
Instead of career service as a tool of acquiescence,
matrix organization substitutes the notion of career
development involving changes in structure to promote
personal growth. Rules provide the beginning
point for
interpersonal negotiation rather than the end of
it, and
task effectiveness is substituted for the standard
of
process efficiency that dominated bureaucracy.
(131 28-9)
Theory W views a more rational,
as professional, work
force rooted in the elemental question of Why. Putting
Baber's differentiation methodology aside, we see this more
rational work force as responding more flexibly to the
changing of complex circumstance.
Elements Theory W 400
Table 51 - A worker's worknet
____________________________________________________________
Precedence
Act Verb
Descriptor Noun
Why Way
___ __________ ______________ _____________
___ ___
1 grow
good feelings
0 2
2 relate to organization
others 1 3
3 provide existence
needs 2
0
____________________________________________________________
Most administrators can see that
higher Theory W
technology will assist in refining organization structure.
Theory W as a hi-tech organization structure simply begins
as Why. Thus Theory W directly addresses Baber's personal
growth promotion by integrating Alderfer's and Maslow's
hierarchy of personal motivational needs. From the singular
individual organization to the largest multi-member
organization, the human model as Theory W, strategizes
growth built on relatedness, with a foundation of existence
securities.
Further more complex application
of Theory W's
simplistic principles remain to be explored in the next
chapters.
Elements
Theory W 401
Matrix characteristics for differentiation
with
Theory W.
The ideal type of matrix organization:
(1) two or
more intersection lines of authority, (2) achieve
their
goals through task-oriented work, (3) their members
are
drawn from functional departments, (4) task [individuals]
are temporary. and (5) functional departments
continue...for routine personnel functions and
professional development. (131 31)
Functional departments as part
of the formal structure
has a long and diverse history - figures 15 and 20. The
following figure verifies several types coming out of
studying 31 organizations.
Elements Theory W 402
Figure 39 - Perverse formal structure
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Note: (175 28b) titled General Management Through Chief
Executive And Council Of Divisional Executives.
Elements
Theory W 403
Yet there can be found a few pyramid
structural usage
- figures 19 and 22 and the following figure.
Figure 40 - Thinking pyramid
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Note: (30 19-20) titled "thinking pyramid" (Figure 2).
With this pyramidal glimmer, there
still exists the
basic subservience of functional structure to the formal
division executive or manager - figure 39 above and the
following figure.
Elements Theory W 404
Figure 41 - Organization approaches
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Note: (131 39) titled Basic Approaches To Organization
Management adapted rom R.A.Goodman (1970) Organization
preferences in research and development. Human Relations
v.23, p.279-98.
Elements
Theory W 405
Apparently Theory W can contribute
to raising
functional structure to an equal stature with the formal and
the informal.
Propositions
A proposition is -
1. a proposing;
2. a proposal;
3. an offering
4. a project;
5. an undertaking to be dealt with;
6. in logic, an expression in which the predicate affirms or
denies something about the subject;
7. in mathmatics, a theorm to be demonstrated or a problem
to be solved; and
8. in rhetoric, a subject to be discussed or a statement to
be upheld. (61 sv)
Propositions from the literature -
1. Task groups compete with one another for priority
support.
2. Competition among task groups yields system-level
benefits.
3. Task groups seek to convert competitive advantages into
group autonomy.
4. Task groups will redefine their own tasks to achieve
priority support and autonomy.
5. Interfunctional groups are used to settle (or defer)
jurisdictional disputes.
6. Growth of interfunctional groups generates new
jurisdiction disputes.
7. Interfunctional groups do not require a consensus of
intent to operate.
8. Interfunctional conflict is unlikely as long as task
groups are preceived to be temporary.
9. Membership in temporary task groups disturbs role
identity.
10 Goal ambiguity results in task discretion at the level of
the group.
11 Task discretion implies latitude in building task groups.
12 Given task discretion, task groups develop stable
inventories of skills.
13 Given discretion, task groups will select problems that
can be solved with existing skills.
Elements Theory W 406
14 Established task groups resist imposition of novel
problems in order to protect existing skills.
15 In order to resist imposition of novel problems, task
groups become homogeneous and closed.
16 Closing of task groups prevents problem confrontation.
17 In the absence of problem configuration, task
organizations resort to compromise and coercion.
(131 70-3,83-6)
Other propositions.
Individuals, groups, and employers,
as organizations,
have always had aims.
Aims can be looked upon as tasks.
A higher order aim can be expressed
as a mission.
A mission begins the strategy
process.
Vision communicates the mission
by processing the
organization tasks.
Functional organization has and
will exist as part of
human rationale. This goes against the current thought
for
Matrix Organization In A Postindustrial Society as purported
in the following figure. The dicotomy of control-choice
thinking seems to rule out another "new" functional
structure.
Elements Theory W 407
Figure 42 - Organization types
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
Note: (131 97) titled Types of Organization According to
Choice of Internal-External Change Mechanisms.
There seems to be a need for another
basic structure
of organization in addition to the formal and informal
structures referenced above. But can there be a transfer
of
successful functional structure practice and development?
Specialism transfer.
Just as Taylor claimed there to
be one best way to
perform a task, the principles, concerned with waste,
duplication, and inefficiency, attempted to impose
Taylor's version of order on the practice of public
Elements Theory W 408
administration. (131 15)
Additionally, the administrative
structures of Fayol,
Gulick, and Urwick developed with many close parallels to
Weber's ideal type of bureaucracy - all were deemed to be
"highly compatible approaches to the problem of
complexity."(131 16)
Theory W desires to provide a
compatible approach with
the formal and informal structures in solving the complexity
of organization.
Personal propositions.
Proposition: Time measures life.
Proof: I am 51 years
old.
Proposition: Measurement concerns science.
Proof: There are chemical
elements, physical laws,
psychological principles, etc.
Proposition: Human organization uses animal and
intellectual principles.
Proof: Animals have
power and reaction to model
training. Intellectuals have logic.
(Command threatens.) (Reason rationalizes.)
Proposition: Human feelings = joy-sorrow,
love-hate, and
freedom-fear.
Proof: Psychology.
Proposition: Humans manage themselves.
Proof: Humans choose
their actions.
(Work = 24/day, 168/week)
Proposition: Humans need info to manage.
Proof: Scientific management
(Taylor 191x)
Proposition: Workers need whole-life information.
Proof: Time measures
life. Stop, look, and listen.
(Take your time, research info, talk/write.)
Elements Theory W 409
Proposition: Life-tasks produce happiness.
Proof: Only if individuals
choose.
Proposition: Hours make an individual life.
Proof: Hours make days.
Days make weeks.
Weeks make months. Months make quarters.
Quarters make years. Years make decades.
Decades make an individual life.
Hypotheses
A hypothesis is -
from the Greek - groundwork, foundation;
1. a supposition; a proposition or principle which is
supposed or taken for granted, in order to draw
a
conclusion or inference for proof of the point in
question; something not proved, but assumed for
the
purpose of argument;
2. a system or theory imagined or assumed to account for
what is not understood. (61 sv)
Repeating prior initial hypothesis
information from
this dissertation.
A pattern appears - the top mission
provides the
authority for a cascade of goals, objectives, and
task
implementations. Theory W views this top-down
waterfall
as the process of strategy. Now a hypothesis
can be
formed.
If a particular organization's
waterfall of work tasks
can be easily traced to the top mission statement,
the
validity and reliability of the pure functional
organization structure can be said to exist.
In other
words, you can understand the pure functional
organization structure by reading its database and
you
can retrace its dynamics over and over again.
(63 357)
An organization structure able
to generate job
descriptions for a large number of members becomes
very
complex and thus requires the maintenance of a flexible
yet rigorous hierarchy. Theory W provides
that hierarchy
through a precedence network database. (63
a129)
A top-down list of the work functions
provides the
opportunity to arrange tasks in priority (hierarchical)
order. The frequent use of the formal organization
chart
establishes the attractiveness of a hierarchical
chart
over narrative [job descriptions]. (63 136)
The full application of Theory
W provides a complete
Elements Theory W 410
structure of a organization through the ability to
integrate the valid work tasks of every employee.
(63 358)
Fayol's General Survey of the
early 1900s equates to
the idea of strategy today. Although the idea
of
strategy wants for more structure in today's text
books.
Thus Theory W aims to provide an organization structure
which quantifies strategy. Strategy can be
visibly
structured for the organization with the result
of
greater productivity and synergism. Theory
W provides
strategy in organization chart form. (63 138)
The importance of administration
has grown steadily
since the first Congress of Administrative Science
held
in Brussels in 1910. In consequence we have
felt
strongly the need of good administrative methods,
and men
such as Fayol, Solvay and Taylor have in recent
years
worked out certain formula (or a synthesis of
principles)... (183 101)
Most of these writers did their
thinking
independently....The striking similarity and harmony
of
the analyses, nomenclature, and hypotheses, frequently
set forth as principles, is thus doubly significant.
(182 v)
I [Fayol] am going to describe
briefly the
administrative tools that I used during fifty years...
1. General Survey - From this survey should emerge the
general scheme and the directives which serve as
a basis
for the Plan of Operations.
2. Plan of Operations. [for control]
3. Reports or Proceedings...daily, weekly, monthly or
annual...The use of the plan of operations and the
detailed report by each grade of the service permit
us to
realize...the sense of responsibility among employees
and
confidence among the administrative authorities.
4. Minutes of (weekly) Conferences between Heads of
Departments.
5. Organization Charts...permit us to seize at a glance,
better than we could with a long description, the
organization as a whole; various activities and
their
boundaries; the ranks of the hierarchy; the position
occupied by each employee, the superior to whom
he
reports and the subordinates under his control.
(183 105-6)
[Fayol's] logical analysis of
the operations involved
in...the function of Administration stops quite
suddenly... This sudden check in his thought...is
an
interesting example of the limitations imposed on
scientific study by immediate administrative
Elements Theory W 411
responsibility. (189 117)
A clarity variable for the expert
worker provides a
link to the purpose of the organization. Theory W
hypothesizes that the better the link between the worker and
the organization purpose, the better the organization's
productivity. Theory W proceeds to exemplify the linkage
between worker tasks and organization purpose. The linkage
clarity enhances the focus on individual work.
The will to see. Understanding
theory, modeling,
hypothesizing, and testing can be seen as work -
minded
human work. (63 388)
Transfer the thermostat example
to the individual as a
learner. Individuals learn standards.
They measure
actual. They compare actual against standard.
They take
action. Yet some do not know why they are
controlling
the temperature, thus, according to the Theory W
hypotheses, some administrators miss added work
motivation - double-loop learning... (63 212)
The traditional entrepreneurial
stereotype can be
explained so as to integrate it with the concept of business
strategy.
Functional organization, within
organization theory,
along with the formal and informal structures can be
exemplified and explained by a popularized concept called
Theory W.
A computerized precedence network
database can model
the functional organization.
Addiction or codependence.
Concerning addiction, the Theory
W system practices
addiction prevention through worktask focus.
(63 31)
Elements
Theory W 412
Theory. Now theory definition
from the Glossary can
be reviewed -
a principle or plan of action,
an ideal or hypothetical set of
facts, principles, or
circumstances,
the body of generalizations and
principles developed
in association with practice in a field of activity...and
forming its content as an intellectual discipline,
the coherent set of hypothetical,
conceptual, and
pragmatic principles forming the general frame of
reference for a field of inquiry,
a judgement, conception, proposition,
or formula (as
relating to the nature, action, cause, or origin
of a
phenomenon or group of phenomena) formed by speculation
or deduction or by abstraction and generalization
from
facts,
a hypothetical entity or structure
explaining or
relating an observed set of facts
a working hypothesis given probability
by experimental
evidence or by factual or conceptual analysis but
not
conclusively established or accepted as a law.
(63 86)
Warning.
Courteous Reader,....they buy my
works....a word to
the wise is enough, and many words won't fill a
bushel,....taxed twice by idleness, three times
by
pride....four times by our folly....dost thou love
life,
then do not squander time, for that's the stuff
life is
made of,....lost time is never found again; and
what we
call time enough, always proves little enough:
let us
then up and be doing, and doing to the purpose;....drive
thy business, let not that drive thee,....by diligence
and patience the mouse ate in two the cable; and
little
strokes fell great oaks,...Do you imagine that sloth
will
afford you more comfort than labour?....oversee
our own
affairs with our own eyes, and not too much to
others;....the eye of a master will do more work
than
both his hands;....learning is to the studious,
and
riches to the careful, as well as power to the bold,
and
heaven to the virtuous, and farther, if you would
have a
faithful servant, and one that you like, serve
yourself....think of saving as well as of
getting:....Beware of little expenses; a small leak
will
sink a great ship;....`tis foolish to lay out money
in a
purchase of repentance;....a plowman on his legs
is
higher than a gentleman on his knees,....if you
know the
Elements Theory W 413
value of money, go and try to borrow some;....when
you
have got the philosopher's stone, sure you will
no longer
complain of bad times, or the difficulty of paying
taxes.....we may give advice, but we cannot give
conduct,....they that won't be counseled, can't
be
helped,....the old gentleman ended his harangue.
The
people heard it, and approved the doctrine, and
immediately practiced the contrary.... Richard
Saunders,
July 7, 1757. (107 361-7)
Truth. Truth will make you free?
Or more
specifically - your truth will make you free! Science and
scientific management can provide truthful functional
authority.
