Advanced Management Processes in Developing Countries: Planning in Turkey

U.S. Agency for International Development, Technical Assistance Project History and Analysis Report (Ankara: USAID, 1965), unclassified.

For an excellent discussion of such processes see, for example, Koontz Harold O'Donnell Cyril , Principles of Management (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968).

See, e.g., Whiteford Andrew H. , A Reappraisal of Economic Development (Chicago: Aldine, 1967), p. 177.

Farmer Richard N. Richman Barry M. , Comparative Management and Economic Progress (Homewood, Ill.: Irwin, 1965), chapters II, III, and IV.

Koontz Harold O'Donnell Cyril , Principles of Management (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968), and Newman William H. Summer Charles E. Warren E. Kirby , The Process of Management (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1967).

A general description of the Delphi-Technique and a discussion of its scientific validity can be found in Olaf Helmer and Nicholas Rescher, “On the Epistemology of the Inexact Sciences,” Management Science, 6, No. 1 (October 1959), as cited and explained by Richman Barry M. Farmer Richard N. in Comparative Management and Economic Progress (Homewood, Ill.: Irwin, 1965), pp. 329–339.

The import quota system called for a detailed 300-day production schedule and past production records before applications for foreign exchange were even considered by the authorities.

Almost word for word the same views were voiced by another group of Turkish and American managers in a study conducted in Turkey several years ago. See Skinner C. Wickham , “A Test Case in Turkey,” California Management Review, 6, No. 3 (Spring 1964), 59.

Evidence to support this conclusion was obtained also through the study of the sixteen Turkish and American firms and through the answers obtained from the seventy-three selected respondents via the Delphi-Technique. The results of this part of the study are discussed in a paper dealing with the sociocultural constraints affecting managerial delegation of authority in developing societies. For details, see Lauter Geza Peter , “Sociological-Cultural and Legal Factors Impeding Decentralization of Authority in Developing Countries.” Academy of Management Journal, 12, No. 3 (September, 1969).

Turkish Republic Prime Ministry, State Planning Organization, First Five Year Development Plan (Ankara: State Planning Organization, 1963), p. 1.

Opposed to the other discussed environmental constraints, as, for example, the lack of socioeconomic information, this so-called constraint could not have been as impeding as indicated by the managers. Political changes in a country with a democratically elected government are slow and, generally speaking, can be detected ahead of time. In addition to this, it could be argued that it is exactly the air of such political uncertainty that calls for the best possible planning effort.

Similar conclusions were drawn by Anant R. Negandhi in his article about the use of advanced management know-how in developing countries. For details see, Negandhi Anant R. , “Advanced Management Know-How in Underdeveloped Countries,” California Management Review, 10, No. 3 (Spring 1968), 53–59.