The Struggle for Control of the Modern Corporation
Organizational Change at General Motors, 1924–1970

This book examines the changes in General Motors' organization between 1924 and 1970.

Robert F. Freeland (Author)

9780521630344, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 December 2000

384 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm, 0.653 kg

'A bold work of prodigious scholarship that deftly undermines orthodox accounts of the rise and the development of the largest U.S. corporation.' Walter W. Powell, Stanford University

Winner of the 2005 Business History Review Newcomen Award for best book in business history, The Struggle for Control of the Modern Corporation provides a fascinating historical overview of decision-making and political struggle within one of America's largest and most important corporations. Drawing on primary historical material, Robert Freeland examines the changes in General Motors' organization between the years 1924 and 1970. He takes issue with the well-known argument of business historian Alfred Chandler and economist Oliver Wiliamson, who contend that GM's multidivisional corporate structure emerged and survived because it was more efficient than alternative forms of organization. This book illustrates that for most of its history, GM intentionally violated the fundamental axioms of efficient organization put forth by these analysts. It did so in order to create cooperation and managerial consent to corporate policies. Freeland uses the GM case to re-examine existing theories of corporate governance, arguing that the decentralized organizational structure advocated by efficiency theorists may actually undermine cooperation, and thus foster organizational decline.

1. The modern corporation and the problem of order
2. Creating corporate order: conflicting versions of decentralization at GM, 1921–33
3. Administrative centralization of the M-Form, 1934–41
4. Participative decentralization redefined: mobilizing for war production, 1941–5
5. The split between finance and operations: postwar problems and organization structure, 1945–8
6. Consent as an organization weapon: coalition politics and the destruction of cooperation, 1948–58
7. Consent destroyed: the decline and fall of General Motors, 1958–80
8. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Sociology [JHB]