The struggle for control of the modern corporation : organizational change at General Motors, 1924-1970
"The Struggle for Control of the Modern Corporation provides a 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 arguments of business historian Alfred Chandler and economist Oliver Williamson, who contend that GM's multidivisional corporate structure emerged and survived because it was more efficient than alternative forms of organization."
Print Book, English, 2001
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2001
xvii, 364 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
9780521630344, 0521630347
43751718
1. The modern corporation and the problem of order
2. Creating corporate order: conflicting versions of decentralization at GM, 1921-1933
3. Administrative centralization of the M-Form, 1934-1941
4. Participative decentralization redefined: mobilizing for war production, 1941-1945
5. The split between finance and operations: postwar problems and organization structure, 1945-1948
6. Consent as an organization weapon: coalition politics and the destruction of cooperation, 1948-1958
7. Consent destroyed: the decline and fall of General Motors, 1958-1980