Barnard, Chester I

Barnard, Chester I. (1886–1961)
An American industrialist and administrator who was interested in the comparative study of organizations and penned classic and influential studies of their workings (see The Function of the Executive, 1938, and Organization and Management, 1948). Barnard argued that organizations are inherently co-operative systems—in sharp contrast to previous approaches, which stressed their hierarchical, rule-bound, and authoritarian nature.