“Organizations and institutions provide the general stimuli and attention-directors that channelize the behaviors of the members of the group, and that provide those members with the intermediate objectives that stimulate action.”
Source: 1940s-1950s, Administrative Behavior, 1947, p. 100.
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Herbert A. Simon 58
American political scientist, economist, sociologist, and p… 1916–2001Related quotes
Source: Leadership in Administration: A Sociological Interpretation, 1957, p. 29

Simon (1993. p. 2); Cited in Mario Catalani, Giuseppe F. Clerico (1996) Decision making structures. p. 1.
1980s and later

Nobel lecture (1978)
Context: Not only has our generation lost faith in Providence but also in man himself, in his institutions and often in those who are nearest to him. In their despair a number of those who no longer have confidence in the leadership of our society look up to the writer, the master of words. They hope against hope that the man of talent and sensitivity can perhaps rescue civilization. Maybe there is a spark of the prophet in the artist after all.
The force is with Jamie (Published on 30/06/2005) by Andrea Thompson at newsandstar.co.uk http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/viewarticle.aspx?id=258643

1950s, What Desires Are Politically Important? (1950)
Source: Unpopular Essays
Context: It is normal to hate what we fear, and it happens frequently, though not always, that we fear what we hate. I think it may be taken as the rule among primitive men, that they both fear and hate whatever is unfamiliar. They have their own herd, originally a very small one. And within one herd, all are friends, unless there is some special ground of enmity. Other herds are potential or actual enemies; a single member of one of them who strays by accident will be killed. An alien herd as a whole will be avoided or fought according to circumstances. It is this primitive mechanism which still controls our instinctive reaction to foreign nations. The completely untravelled person will view all foreigners as the savage regards a member of another herd. But the man who has travelled, or who has studied international politics, will have discovered that, if his herd is to prosper, it must, to some degree, become amalgamated with other herds.
Source: Business Leadership in the Large Corporation (1945), p. 346-7

Campaign speech for 1940 presidential candidate Wendell Willkie (September 27, 1940)
Source: "A multiple-layer model of market-oriented organizational culture", 2000, p. 451