The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Office

This is a tour through the history of modern corporations, as seen through the lens of organizational economics. Fisman (social enterprise, Columbia Univ.) and Sullivan (editor, Harvard Business Sch. Pr.) have combined forces to examine what makes organizations and executives tick and why we should care. They offer many interesting tidbits about corporations and executives, describing, for instance, how Henry Ford doubled the daily wage on his assembly line as a cost-cutting measure, because of its effect on employee retention. That decision, the authors maintain, can be seen as an early precursor of the comprehensive perks offered today at high-tech firms such as Google. Studies on organizational efficiency and corporate culture are cited frequently, with examples ranging from McDonald's Hamburger U. to the drastic change in culture at the FBI since the 9/11 attacks.