Luther Gullicks Theory of Organisation

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This essay is an attempt at analyzing Luther Gullick’s theory of organization. Examples will be drawn from Zambia in order to fully understand the operations of the civil service. The essay will start by first outlining and giving an explanation of the key principles of organization with examples drawn from Zambia. The second part of the essay will analyze Luther Gullick’s theory of organization with reference to the Zambian civil service, after which a conclusion will be drawn. Weiner (2003:P.1864) defines organization as,“the act of assigning tasks, grouping of tasks into departments and assignment of authority and allocation of resources across an organization”. Organization takes place in all institutions such as the family, the church, the university, government etc. The theory of organization was brought forth by an American named Luther Gullick, who was a management consultant for both private and government organisations. He participated in the Browns Law Committee with the United States of America administration during the 1930s when the economy was very bad. This was during the time of the New Deal when the Keyness theory was being used (which was in support of mixed economy, predominantly private sector, but with a significant role of government and public sector). Keyness had argued that the state should invest in business. The state responded to this argument and ultimately there was a rapid emergence of state enterprises. This now created a problem of control, which prompted Luther Gullick to develop the concept of departmentalization. He believed that in order to do organization work effectively and efficiently, certain methods of organization are to be used. As a result of these problems,the Brown Law Committee was appointed in order to bring about control in these organisations (Basu, 1994). As a result, Luther Gullick developed a theory of

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