Charles Perrow
Charles Bryce Perrow (also called Chick Perrow ; born February 9, 1925 in Tacoma , Washington , USA ; † November 12, 2019 in Hamden , Connecticut ) was an American organizational theorist and sociologist . He taught and researched at the University of Pittsburgh and most recently at Yale University .
Complex organizations: structure - technology - industry
He was first known for his work Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay , which was first published in 1972. It was an outline of the organizational theories common at the time. He constructed his own approach based on Max Weber's bureaucratic type . In contrast to Weber, however, rulership structures are primarily visible on the basis of the degree of centralization or decentralization , when comparing the organizational structures.
Organizations therefore differ primarily on the basis of the core technology used in production and on the basis of the industrial framework conditions found (error-avoiding vs. error-inducing system). The organization is not free to choose its structure since Perrow assumes that organizations their structures most likely in a ratio of the fit ( fit ) to the respective core technology will bring, because otherwise a high price in terms of loss of efficiency would have to pay.
Although the situational analysis of individual companies was in the foreground of his work, Perrow developed a genuinely sociological approach:
"If we take an industry, rather than particular organizations, as the unit of analysis, we can see the impact of the industry and its ties to society upon the organization and its problems."
"If, instead of individual companies, we analyze an entire branch of industry, we can see the effects of the industry and its connection to society through its organization and its problems."
Normal Accident Theory
"... there is a form of accident that is inevitable."
"... there is some kind of accident that is inevitable."
Perrow became known to a wider public through the sociological technology publication Normal Accidents: Living With High Risk Technologies , which arose in the context of an investigation into the near-disaster at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant and was published shortly before the Chernobyl disaster . In it he develops the idea that catastrophic chain of events in complex systems can probably not be avoided completely or permanently. This view is contrary to the statements of the high reliability theory with which the approach competes.
At the core of Perrow's considerations is the theory of normal accidents (an expression that has been translated into German as normal catastrophes ). Catastrophic accidents are therefore unavoidable, especially in tightly coupled and complex systems. In these cases, only the interaction of multiple errors can explain the accident. Perrow's theory predicts that errors can occur in various and unforeseen ways that are almost impossible to predict.
For Perrow, the main difference is in the industrial and technical environments of the organization. Depending on the core technology, the probability with which an unpredictable and therefore difficult to control chain of events occurs, which can result in a catastrophic event (e.g. “vapor cloud explosions”), varies. Events occur in a contingent relationship to specific situations. In established (complex) systems, it is only possible to determine whether close couplings develop in a catastrophic way at a point in time . Perrow's Normal Accident Theory is therefore counted among the so-called contingency theories or the situational approaches of organizational theory.
Fonts (selection)
- The Next Catastrophe: Reducing Our Vulnerabilities to Natural, Industrial, and Terrorist Disaster . Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2008, ISBN 978-1-4008-2759-6 .
- Organizing America: Wealth, power, and the origins of corporate capitalism . Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 2002, ISBN 978-1-4008-2508-0 .
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Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies . 2nd Edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton NJ 1999, ISBN 0-691-00412-9 (first edition: 1984, with a new afterword).
- Normal disasters. The inevitable risks of large-scale engineering . Campus, Frankfurt 1992, ISBN 3-593-34125-5 (first edition: 1987).
- Still up to date after 25 years , review by Conrad Lay on Deutschlandfunk , March 28, 2011
- Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay . 3. Edition. McGraw-Hill, 1986, ISBN 0-07-554799-6 (first edition: 1972).
See also
Web links
- Literature by and about Charles Perrow in the catalog of the German National Library
- Perrow's website at Yale University
- Curriculum Vitae (PDF; 121 kB)
Individual evidence
- ^ The Sociology Department regrets the loss of Charles Perrow | Sociology. Retrieved November 22, 2019 .
- ^ Charles Bryce Perrow, 94. In: New Haven Independent. November 25, 2019, accessed December 11, 2019 .
- ^ Charles Perrow: Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay . Pp. 152-155
- ^ Charles Perrow: Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies . P. 3
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Perrow, Charles |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Perrow, Charles B .; Perrow, Chick (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American organizational theorist and sociologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 9, 1925 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tacoma , Washington, USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 12, 2019 |
| Place of death | Hamden , Connecticut |