Quotes from book
The Functions of the Executive

Chester Barnard

The Functions of the Executive is a book by Chester I. Barnard that presents a "theory of cooperation and organization" and "a study of the functions and of the methods of operation of executives in formal organizations." It was originally published in 1938; a Thirtieth Anniversary edition, published in 1968, is still in print.The book is notable for its focus on how organizations actually operate, instead of previous approaches to organizations that emphasized "prescriptive principles." It has been praised for being one of the first books to consider leadership from a social and psychological viewpoint. An article in Public Administration Review reported that an informal advisory panel voted it one of the most influential books in public administration published between 1940 and 1990. It was voted the second most influential management book of the 20th century in a poll of the Fellows of the Academy of Management, behind The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Winslow Taylor.

“Executive processes are specialized functions in what we know as organizations. If these functions are to be adequately described, the description must be in terms of the nature of the organization itself.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. vii

“Organizations endure, however, in proportion to the breadth of the morality by which they are governed. Thus the endurance of organization depends upon the quality of leadership; and that quality derives from the breadth of the morality upon which it rests.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 282

“Formally this work is divided into four parts, but in a sense it consists of two short treatises. One is an exposition of a theory of cooperation and organization and constitutes the first half of the book. The second is a study of the functions and of the methods of operation of executives in formal organizations.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Preface
The Functions of the Executive (1938)

“At a crisis in my youth he taught me the wisdom of choice: To try and fail is at least to learn; to fail to try is to suffer the inestimable loss of what might have been.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 31

“An organization can secure the efforts necessary to its existence, then, either by the objective inducements it provides or by changing states of mind. It seems to me improbable that any organization can exist as a practical matter which does not employ both methods in combination. In some organizations the emphasis is on the offering of objective incentives — this is true of most industrial organizations. In others the preponderance is on the state of mind — this is true of most patriotic and religious organizations.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 141

“More than the topography and cartography of organization would be necessary to understand the executive functions; a knowledge of the kinds and qualities of the forces at work and the manner of their operation would also be needed.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. viii

“The inculcation of belief in the real existence of a common purpose is an essential executive function.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 87

“Although the physical factors are distinguished from the biological they are not separable in specific organisms… Human organisms do not function except in conjunction with other human organisms.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 11

“An organization is a subordinate system of a specific larger system, the cooperative system, whose components are physical, biological, and personal systems. The relations with other organizations… are outside this specific cooperative system. Other organizations are a part of the social environment of the organization. It is for this reason I have used the phrase "complex of organizations" rather than "system." Usually the most significant relationships of a unit organization are those with the specific cooperative system of which it is a part. It is this system which primarily and on the whole in most instances determines the chief conditions of the organization's existence.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 98-99, footnote

“It is important at this point to make clear that every coöperative purpose has in the view of each coöperating person two aspects which we will call (a) the coöperative and (b) the subjective aspect, respectively.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p.86

“The fine art of executive decision consists in not deciding questions that are not now pertinent, in not deciding prematurely, in not making decision that cannot be made effective, and in not making decisions that others should make. Not to decide questions that are not pertinent at the time is uncommon good sense, though to raise them may be uncommon perspicacity. Not to decide questions prematurely is to refuse commitment of attitude or the development of prejudice. Not to make decisions that cannot be made effective is to refrain from destroying authority. Not to make decisions that others should make is to preserve morale, to develop competence, to fix responsibility, and to preserve authority.
From this it may be seen that decisions fall into two major classes, positive decisions - to do something, to direct action, to cease action, to prevent action; and negative decisions, which are decisions not to decide. Both are inescapable; but the negative decisions are often largely unconscious, relatively nonlogical, "instinctive," "good sense."”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

It is because of the rejections that the selection is good.
Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p.194, as cited in in Albert Lepawsky (1949), Administration, p. 626

“The individual is a single, unique, independent, isolated, whole thing, embodying innumerable forces and materials past and present which are physical, biological, and social factors.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 12

“When a specific desired end is attained we shall say that the action is "effective." When the unsought consequences of the action are more important than the attainment of the desired end and are dissatisfactory, effective action, we shall say, is "inefficient." When the unsought consequences are unimportant or trivial, the action is "efficient.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 19 (in 1968 edition)

“The making of decisions, as everyone knows from personal experience, is a burdensome task. Offsetting the exhilaration that may result from correct and successful decision and the relief that follows the termination of a struggle to determine issues is the depression that comes from failure, or error of decision, and the frustration which ensues from uncertainty.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 189

“Effectiveness relates to the accomplishment of the cooperative purpose which is social and non-personal in character. Efficiency relates to the satisfaction of individual motives and is personal in character.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 60

“Planning is one of the many catchwords whose present popularity is roughly proportionate to the obscurity of its definition.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 112

“An organization comes into being when (1) there are persons able to communicate with each other (2) who are willing to contribute action (3) to accomplish a common purpose.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 82; Highlighted section cited among others in: Dennis K. Mumby (2012), Organizational Communication: A Critical Approach. p. 8
Context: An organization comes into being when (1) there are persons able to communicate with each other (2) who are willing to contribute action (3) to accomplish a common purpose. The elements of an organization are therefore (1) communication; (2) willingness to serve; and (3) common purpose. These elements are necessary and sufficient conditions initially, and they are found in all such organizations. The third element, purpose, is implicit in the definition. Willingness to serve, and communication, and the interdependence of the three elements in general, and their mutual dependence in specifie cooperative systems, are matters of experience and observation.

“An organization comes into being when (1) there are persons able to communicate with each other (2) who are willing to contribute action (3) to accomplish a common purpose. The elements of an organization are therefore (1) communication; (2) willingness to serve; and (3) common purpose. These elements are necessary and sufficient conditions initially, and they are found in all such organizations. The third element, purpose, is implicit in the definition. Willingness to serve, and communication, and the interdependence of the three elements in general, and their mutual dependence in specifie cooperative systems, are matters of experience and observation.”

Chester Barnard book The Functions of the Executive

Source: The Functions of the Executive (1938), p. 82; Highlighted section cited among others in: Dennis K. Mumby (2012), Organizational Communication: A Critical Approach. p. 8

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