‘The Organization Man’ is a benchmark and one of the most influential books in the history of management, written by William H. Whyte. It was published in 1956. This book has dealt with the dilemmas of the group ethos, which were generated in the social and cultural world after the World War II. This book is regarded as a very significant sociological and business explanation of modern times. This gives a detailed description of the effects of public organizations on the American people (Rao 2012). The central idea of this book is that, over time, the average Americans have started to follow the collectivism principle rather than following the existing rugged individualism notion. Whyte showed in the book that, in today’s world, people are becoming convinced that, the groups and the organizations can take better decisions for the wellbeing of the society than what an individual can take. The organizations provide more efficient platform for the individuals to perform better and benefit all (Nocera 2014).
The mid century conformity and the difference between collectivism and individualism are illustrated in this book by Whyte. In the 1950s and 1960s, the working life of the Americans focused on the image of conformity. At that time, the idea of conformity was depicted through business people wearing identical gray suits and sitting in long rows of identical work desks. This was highlighted in this non-fiction book by Whyte. The author depicted an entire era of the business world in his book. Whyte observed and studied the American businesses and said that the principal of collectivism guided the American workers. This practice of behaving according to the socially accepted norms of collectivism, depicted in ‘The Organization Man’ has helped to explain the organizational culture and behavior of the American businesses in the mid century, and later, generations rebelled against it (Mills 2017).
Being the editor of the famous financial magazine Fortune, Whyte was able to observe the corporate world of America. He found that, the idea of a perfect society was shifting from individualistic view to the collectivistic view. The period after World War II, i.e. from 1940s to 1960s, brought about huge economic growth in America. At this time, the companies grew larger, created infinite number of jobs for the middle-class people, and brought great prosperity. The growth of the pre-planned suburban communities, and the revolution of technologies, from television to frozen food, has also emerged in this period, which was making life easier (Whyte 2013). Whyte was encouraged by this idea that the new technology and the corporate American culture could bring solutions to all the problems of life. With this notion, he interviewed the CEO’s of many large corporate houses of America. To his satisfaction, he found that this attitude was present among all the CEO’s and the employees. Thus, he came to conclude that, American people no longer believed in the principle of individualism, rather they started to believe in collectivism. In the previous era, people used to believe that the progress was achieved by the talented individuals alone, with no much contribution from the others of the society. Whyte found that this idea of progress was changing (Armstrong and Taylor 2014). People now started to believe that the problems could be best solved by a group or organization, where individuals come together and contribute in finding solutions to the problems by dedicating their individual talents in the group. However, Whyte argued that individual creativity was required for advancement and collectivist mentality resulted in hesitation for trying out new things (Cho et al. 2013).
This book had significant impact on the corporate culture of America. After the release of the book, the workplace of the modern America has undergone huge changes. This had made the corporate organizations to rethink and restructure their management and strategies. The organizations realized that their structure did not encourage to take risks in business. When the Silicon Valley in California developed in 1970s, the organizations followed the advice of Whyte and created small companies, where individual’s inputs and risk taking attitude were given more importance. Over time, the large companies lost much of their relevance while the small businesses grew leaps and bounds with the help of new technology (Nocera 2014). As a new economy has emerged, the structure of the socio-cultural economy has changed. In the 1990s, when the large companies became less relevant and small companies gained importance, the logic of the book became significant.
In Whyte’s book, it was full of the explanations on rising equality. As the new era has come, it has been found that equality has been expanding too. The young people, who believed in corporate bureaucracy, effectiveness, and equality, gained power within the organization, and their values were reflected in the corporate pay. Thus, the organizations moved towards achieving equality (Lewis 2012). However, it has been found, that following the collectivism principle, as mentioned in ‘The Organization Man’, the CEOs of the big organizations earned 20 times more than what a typical worker earned in the respective industries. By the end of 2015, the disparity ratio skyrocketed to 276 times. Hence, the rationale of social welfare mentioned in the book was not applicable in this case. This phenomena for the huge inequality in pay resulted from globalization and automation. The technological revolution has brought about a wave of automation, which has made life and work easier, but at the same time, resulted in loss of jobs for many throughout the world. Hence, with the improvement in financial service and technology, the companies are generating supernormal profits. However, the profits are reflected in the pay of the CEOs and top management people, and not in the pay of the workers. The collectivism is present in the organizational work structure and culture, but not in the pay structure (Sernovitz 2016).
‘The Organization Man’ mostly considered the cultural changes happening outside the organizations. The author had focused on people’s personal and professional lives and how they react to any changes in the social ethics. The shift from individualism to collectivism within the organization was accepted by the people and they started to work accordingly. It is still relevant, because, now, many Americans, who live in the suburbs, think of getting a job in the cities and moving ahead, and this reflects the individualistic attitude. At the same time, to achieve something bigger and better, the involvement of the organizations is indispensable, supporting the collectivism attitude. The shift in culture, economy and organizations was following collectivism (Taras et al. 2014).
The book is still relevant in today’s world, because, it described a culture that was in motion, in every aspect of life and within and outside the workplace. The transition between equality and inequality in the pay structure is reflected in the lives of people, and it is essential to understand this transition to analyze the socio-cultural changes. When Whyte wrote the book, the inequality of pay in the corporate world was not present, still the transition in organizational culture happened. In the modern world, the inequality is a huge thing, which influences the way of life of people. However, the Protestant Ethics and rugged individualism, as seen by Whyte in the American corporate, are gone to some extent, giving way to the collectivism in today’s world.
Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Cho, Y.N., Thyroff, A., Rapert, M.I., Park, S.Y. and Lee, H.J., 2013. To be or not to be green: Exploring individualism and collectivism as antecedents of environmental behavior. Journal of Business Research, 66(8), pp.1052-1059.
Lewis, M., 2012. The New Organization Man. [online] Slate Magazine. Available at: https://www.slate.com/articles/arts/millionerds/1997/10/the_new_organization_man.html [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].
Mills, A.J., 2017. Man/Aging Subjectivity, Silencing Diversity: Organizational Imagery in the Airline Industry. The Case of British Airways?. In Insights and Research on the Study of Gender and Intersectionality in International Airline Cultures (pp. 367-392). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Nocera, N., 2014. The Organization Man - Review. [online] Upenn.edu. Available at: https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/13785.html [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].
Rao, V., 2012. The Organization Man by William Whyte: Introduction. [online] ribbonfarm. Available at: https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2012/11/18/the-organization-man-by-william-whyte-introduction/ [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].
Sernovitz, G., 2016. What “The Organization Man” Can Tell Us About Inequality Today. [online] The New Yorker. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/what-the-organization-man-can-tell-us-about-inequality-today [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].
Taras, V., Sarala, R., Muchinsky, P., Kemmelmeier, M., Singelis, T.M., Avsec, A., Coon, H.M., Dinnel, D.L., Gardner, W., Grace, S. and Hardin, E.E., 2014. Opposite ends of the same stick? Multi-method test of the dimensionality of individualism and collectivism. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(2), pp.213-245.
Whyte, W.H., 2013. The organization man. University of Pennsylvania Press.
To export a reference to this article please select a referencing stye below:
My Assignment Help. (2018). William Whyte In Today World. Retrieved from https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/william-whyte-in-today-world.
"William Whyte In Today World." My Assignment Help, 2018, https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/william-whyte-in-today-world.
My Assignment Help (2018) William Whyte In Today World [Online]. Available from: https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/william-whyte-in-today-world
[Accessed 27 February 2021].
My Assignment Help. 'William Whyte In Today World' (My Assignment Help, 2018) <https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/william-whyte-in-today-world> accessed 27 February 2021.
My Assignment Help. William Whyte In Today World [Internet]. My Assignment Help. 2018 [cited 27 February 2021]. Available from: https://myassignmenthelp.com/free-samples/william-whyte-in-today-world.
If you do not know how to write an annotated bibliography, you are better off at the hands of qualified experts. At MyAssignmenthelp.com, we have over 5000 experts at your service to deliver dynamic content. Incorrect citations and validations reduce the authenticity of the material. Thus, the bibliography needs to be 100% accurate. Our experts are proficient in their services and are aware of the annotated bibliography format. This helps you garner more marks. You can also use our online reference generator for Authentic Annotated bibliography.
Answer: Introduction: Take solutions Ltd is an organization that has it headquarter in Chennai, India which offers certain domain-intensive services in the areas of supply chain management along with life sciences. The company is well established in the international market with increased existence in Europe, Asia as well as in North and South America (Take Solutions.com 2018). The objective of the paper is to analyze certain issues faced by ...
Read MoreAnswer: More effective management of human resources has been increasingly being perceived as positively impacting performance in most of the organizations because of dramatic increases in global activity in the past decade. Such an increase in global performance has raised awareness in business enterprises executing its operations across borders (Stone and Deadrick 2015). Furthermore, international human resources management (IHRM) varies fro...
Read MoreAnswers: 1.Human Resource planning and flexibility are the two beneficial approaches with reference to the given case study of Maximo. The gaming industry is always attractive and contribution like the support of human resources is of help for the firm to sustain a better position in the industry. Their search for better and competent human resources fits into the strategy of manpower planning and in the line of the strategic need of business....
Read MoreAnswer: Introduction: The Human Resource function of an organization is taken to be one of the most crucial functions of an organization. The human resource department forms the backbone of the organization and for this purpose it is very crucial for any business organization to ensure that they engage in successful relationships with the human resource department and treat them as an effective strategic partner which will then go a lon...
Read MoreAnswer: 1.Employees are the most important assets of any company, and the motivation of employees and investment on the same is directly proportional to the results (Rožman, Treven, Mulej & ?an?er, 2018). Firstly, the employees’ salary and other pays are critical elements in satisfying workers need. It is important that employees are paid an amount that truly reflects the kind and amount of work they do. Better pay not only ensures ...
Read MoreJust share requirement and get customized Solution.
Orders
Overall Rating
Experts
Our writers make sure that all orders are submitted, prior to the deadline.
Using reliable plagiarism detection software, Turnitin.com.We only provide customized 100 percent original papers.
Feel free to contact our assignment writing services any time via phone, email or live chat. If you are unable to calculate word count online, ask our customer executives.
Our writers can provide you professional writing assistance on any subject at any level.
Our best price guarantee ensures that the features we offer cannot be matched by any of the competitors.
Get all your documents checked for plagiarism or duplicacy with us.
Get different kinds of essays typed in minutes with clicks.
Calculate your semester grades and cumulative GPa with our GPA Calculator.
Balance any chemical equation in minutes just by entering the formula.
Calculate the number of words and number of pages of all your academic documents.
Our Mission Client Satisfaction
Not good experience, the answer is not fully right, it was not the perfect solving problem. there are some small mistakes in the homework.
Australia
The expect did an amazing job with my Linux assignment. Thanks to the support team that see to it that my my assignment got completed with the rightful requirements.
Australia
Allowing MAH to assist me with my homework was one of the best decisions I could have made this week! I was able to work, keep all of my mom\'s 2 doctor\'s appointments and still not miss my assignment.
Australia
I am so satisfied with the results I received with he help of MAH\'s experts!. My instructor commented that my assessment was well considered and that I had good references. I received 100% grading!
Australia