Industrial Organization

This book has rightly been described as a "classic" in the history of organizational theory. First published in 1965 it was then compared in significance to the Hawthorne studies; it was a major contribution to the devlopment of contingency theory and our understanding of the relationship between technology and organizations.

The book stood in marked contrast to the traditions of scientific management. Combining detailed empirical research and a pioneering analytical framework it suggested that technology and production systems played acrucial role in shaping effective organizational structures. In doing so Woodward offered lasting insights into issues of levels of hierarchy and spans of management control - issues that today might be discussed in terms of "delayering" and "process re-engineering".

Not surprisingly Woodward's work was a springboard for much subsequent research and many of her specific observations have been widely debated and challenged. Yet, as Sandra Dawson and Dorothy Wedderburn write in their Introduction, "the main thesis of the book is well known...however, this is a book where to know its main thesis is no substitute for reading the book itself. Joan Woodward's ideas remain one of the cornerstones of our knowledge of our organizations."