Organizational Theory and Public Management

Paper Summary:

This paper acknowledges how Robert B. Denhardt, professor of public administration at Arizona State University, has authored numerous works on the topic of human behavior as it relates to public organization. In particular, it examines how he draws heavily on the ideas of Weber, Marx and Freud to illustrate just how the governing theories and scholarly assumptions concerning organizational theory have developed into the modern version of the theory.

From the Paper:

"Of course, one of the most influential thinkers on organizational theory was Max Weber. According to Weber, the "organization" or the "bureaucratic administration" is a symbol of the exertion of control based on knowledge. What was interesting about his work, however was his distinction between the idea of "power" and "authority"-where actual authority is distinguished by a belief in the "legitimacy" of the exercise of power (as apposed to despotism, for example). Further, another hallmark of his work was his classification of organizational power based on the type of legitimacy granted by those governed by that power."

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