THE LEGACY OF CHESTER I. BARNARD IN THE SCIENCE OF ORGANIZATION OF OLIVER E. WILLIAMSON

Toronto, Canada 23 June 2022 – 25 June 2022

Naciba Haned (ESSCA School of Management); Virgile Chassagnon (Grenoble Alpes University); Bernard Baudry (University of Lyon)

C6 — History of Transaction Cost Economics Thought

Chair: Pavel Pelikan

Room J225

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Economics / Governance within organizations

Abstract

Chester Barnard was an American manager and public administrator who greatly influenced economics and the history of economic thought. Oliver Williamson’s early works were published after Barnard’s death, but the intellectual proximity they show to Herbert Simon, along with the significant influence of John Commons on their analysis, brings them closer. This study investigates Barnard legacy (particularly his work in 1938) in Williamson’s ‘science of organization’ project by analysing the Barnardian origins of his organizational micro-approach from their complementary theories of cooperation.

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