Chester barnard biography channel

Chester Irving Barnard (1886 – 1961) was a telecommunications executive and author of ‘Functions of the Executive’, an influential 20 century management book, in which Barnard presented a theory of organisation and the functions of executives in organisations.

Chester Barnard looked at organisations as systems of co-operation of human activity, and was worried about the fact that they are typically rather short-lived. Firms that last more than a century are rather few, and the only organisation that can claim a substantial age is the Catholic Church.

According to Chester Barnard, this happens because organisations do not meet the two criteria necessary for survival: effectiveness and efficiency.

Effectiveness is defined the usual way: as being able to accomplish the explicit goals. In contrast, his notion of organisational efficiency is substantially different from the conventional use of the word. He defines efficiency of an organisation as the degree to which that organisation is able to satisfy the motives of the individuals. If an organisation satisfies the motives of its participants, and attains its explicit goals, co-operation among them will last.

Two of his theories are particularly interesting: the theory of authority and the theory of incentives. Both are seen in the context of a communication system that should be based in seven essential rules:

The Channels of communication should be definite;

1. Everyone should know of the channels of communication
2. Everyone should have access to the formal channels of communication
3. Lines of communication should be as short and as direct as possible
4. Competence of persons serving as communication centers should be adequate
5. The line of communication should not be interrupted when organisation is functioning
6. Every communication should be authenticated.

Thus, what makes a communication authoritative rests on the subordinate rather than in the boss; he takes a perspective

Chester Barnard (Chester Irving Barnard, November 7 1886 – June 7 1961) was an American manager, public administrator and author of various titles in management theory and organisational studies. His signature book from 1938, The Functions of the Executive, describes an organisational theory and the positions of supervisors in organisations.

Chester Barnard biography

Chester Barnard was born on November 7 1886 in Malden, Massachusetts. He lost his mother when he was only five years old. His father was a mechanic and encouraged Barnard to study. After completing primary school, he learned to tune pianos.

Barnard used his income from piano tuning to fund the costs of the Mount Hermon Preparatory School and eventually received a scholarship to Harvard University. During his studies at Harvard he continued to work. He obtained a diploma in economics there. While he excelled at Harvard and nearly completed a four-year programme in three years, he left school before graduating. The reason for this was that he missed a course in laboratory sciences.

In 1909, Chester Barnard left Harvard and started working at the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in Boston as a statistician at the age of 23. He worked there for 39 years. From this position, he was able to climb the ladder to the position of vice president of the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania in 1926 and president of New Jersey Bell Telephone Company in 1927.

In the period of 21 years as president of the company, he carried out important activities; his two successful books were written in those years. However, it is striking that the Bell system deviates from the behaviour one of his main managers tolerated. Barnard didn’t do much with this, he separated his ‘personal decisions’ from his ‘organisational decision’ (as he called them in The Functions of the Executive).

During World War II, Barnard co

American businessman

This article is about the business executive and scholar. For the American football player and coach, see Chester S. Barnard.

Chester Irving Barnard (November 7, 1886 – June 7, 1961) was an American business executive, public administrator, and the author of pioneering work in management theory and organizational studies. His landmark 1938 book, The Functions of the Executive, sets out a theory of organization and of the functions of executives in organizations. The book has been widely assigned in university courses in management theory and organizational sociology. Barnard viewed organizations as systems of cooperation of human activity, and noted that they are typically short-lived. According to Barnard, organizations are generally not long-lived because they do not meet the two criteria necessary for survival: effectiveness and efficiency.

Biography

In his youth, Barnard worked on a farm, then working as a piano tuner, paid his way through high school at the Mount Hermon School. After graduation he studied economics at Harvard University on a scholarship, earning money selling pianos and operating a dance band. He did not obtain his Harvard BA because he did his four-year work in three years and could not complete a science course, but a number of universities later granted him honorary doctorates.

Barnard joined the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (now AT&T) in 1909. In 1927, he became president of the New Jersey Bell Telephone Company. During the Great Depression, he directed the New Jersey state relief system.

He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1939 and the American Philosophical Society in 1943. He was president of the United Service Organizations (USO), 1942-45. Upon retiring from business, he served as president of the Rockefeller Foundation, 1948–52, and as chairman of the N