Modernization and Management

Abstract

The choice between mechanistic and organic organizational forms of control should depend not only on the degree of technological and economic complexity, as argued by contingency theory, but equally on whether the cultural conditions necessary to make the organic model work are present. Teaching and learning are complex work processes, and the way control is exercised at business schools is illustrative of principles applicable to other organizations. Data about 26 countries suggest that teaching styles in post-industrial societies are more likely to follow the organic model, involving greater ‘empowerment’ of students and less formal authority. In the business school context, this ‘empowerment’ is shown to rest on students’ cultural values of solidarity and social commitment. The argument is then pursued to the sociocultural and political environment of the business schools. Running the ‘student empowerment index’ generated by own data against international value surveys suggests a close relationship between teaching styles and various indicators of cultural and political modernity.