“Administration is not unlike play-acting. The task of the good actor is to know and play his role, although different roles may differ greatly in content. The effectiveness of the performance will depend on the effectiveness of the play and the effectiveness with which it is played. The effectiveness of the administrative process will vary with the effectiveness of the organization and the effectiveness with which its members play their parts.”

— Herbert A. Simon, book Administrative Behavior

Source: 1940s-1950s, Administrative Behavior, 1947, p. 252; As cited in: Herbert Simon (1996) The Sciences of the Artificial. page xii.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Administration is not unlike play-acting. The task of the good actor is to know and play his role, although different r…" by Herbert A. Simon?

Herbert A. Simon58

American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and p… 1916–2001

Related quotes

“I love when a crucial novel leaves a trace in my memory. In this, its ending plays a significant part—creating a wake effect that is never erased.”

Maylis de Kerangal (1967) French writer

On the writings that she favors in “Maylis de Kerangal by Jessica Moore” https://bombmagazine.org/articles/maylis-de-kerangal/ in Bomb Magazine (2015 Dec 15)

“Administration is both social engineering and applied psychology. It is apparatus and mechanics, incentives and human nature. Let no one think it is merely the former. Nowhere is the need for psychology greater than in the organization, direction, and inspiration of men working in large groups. Outstanding administrative results are produced by spirit, morale, atmosphere; these, in turn, are the product of psychological mainsprings and invigorating incentives. As Benjamin Lippincott has recognized, both governmental and business administration resolve fundamentally into the role played by effective incentives.”

Marshall E. Dimock (1903–1991) American writer

Source: "The Study of Administration." 1937, p. 30

“Placebo effects (plural) are mostly reporting bias, regression to the mean, investment justification, researcher bias, and other sources of self-deception. They are transient, and significant only for subjective symptoms where reporting bias can play a major role. Studies have shown, in fact, that there is no significant "healing" that occurs due to placebo effects — no objective biological improvement.”

Steven Novella (1964) American neurologist, skepticist

NeuroLogica Blog, Can Thinking Change Reality Part II http://theness.com/neurologicablog/index.php/can-thinking-change-reality-part-ii/ (March 11, 2014)

“To be effective, judicial administration must not be leaden-footed.”

Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) American judge

Cobbledick v. United States, 309 U.S. 323, 324 (1940).
Judicial opinions

“… condoms are about as effective against AIDS as a twenty-four-chamber gun instead of a six-chamber gun when playing Russian roulette.”

Peter Kreeft (1937) American philosopher

Ecumenical Jihad, (Ignatius Press, 1996)

“Administration is the process and agency which is responsible for the determination of the aims for which an organization and its management are to strive, which establishes the broad policies under which they are to operate and which gives general oversight to the continuing effectiveness of the total operation in reaching the objectives sought.”

Ordway Tead (1891–1973) American academic

Ordway Tead (1945) Democratic administration. p. 67.

“Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference: the one takes account only of the visible effect; the other takes account of both the effects which are seen and those which it is necessary to foresee.”

Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly

That which is seen and that which is not seen (Ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas, 1850), the Introduction.
Context: In the department of economy, an act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect, but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate; it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause — it is seen. The others unfold in succession — they are not seen: it is well for us, if they are foreseen. Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference: the one takes account only of the visible effect; the other takes account of both the effects which are seen and those which it is necessary to foresee. Now this difference is enormous, for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favourable, the ultimate consequences are fatal, and the converse. Hence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, while the true economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.

“For me, the roles are the secondary part of the whole process to me strangely. It's about who you're being directed by and who the other actors are. Whenever I read a script, I think, 'wow, that's a great story,' and invariably I want to play one of the other characters, and the process of working out how to play the character you're offered is to work out why you aren't playing the other characters in a way. Maybe that's why I play roles of various different sizes. The challenge is not necessarily always the lead role, but in this case [Blue Jasmine] it was all those things combined.”

Cate Blanchett (1969) Australian actress

2014 SBIFF - Cate Blanchett Discusses Selecting Roles, Woody Allen and Casting, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, 2 February 2014 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9m9sMSGC5M,

“If the assembled company rags you for a failing, you can usually play up to it for comic effect: it's the failing they don't mention that you have to watch out for.”

Clive James (1939–2019) Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and memoirist

Source: Memoirs, North Face of Soho (2006), p. 190

“Between good sense and good taste there lies the difference between a cause and its effect.”

Jean de La Bruyère book Les Caractères

Entre le bon sens et le bon goût il y a la différence de la cause à son effet.
Aphorism 56
Les Caractères (1688), Des jugements

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Herbert A. Simon58

Related quotes

Related topics