Organization and Management Theory OMT

From:

Bob Hinings

Graham Kenny

Professor Lex Donaldson (1947 - 2023)

We are saddened to report the death in Sydney of Lex Donaldson, Professor Emeritus, Australian Graduate School of Management, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Throughout his distinguished career, Lex's interests and contributions centered on Organizational Theory, Organizational Structure, Organizational Design, and Corporate Governance, especially Stewardship Theory.

Lex received his PhD from the University of London (London Business School) and began his academic career at LBS as a Senior Research Officer working with Derek Pugh, in further development of the Aston Studies. Lex's experiences there were foundational in the development of his distinguished contributions to the study of organizations. In 2012 he was awarded a Doctor of Science by UNSW in recognition of his research excellence.

Contingency theory was the area of Lex's initial, and outstanding, contribution to our understanding of organizations. He produced a series of books that developed his approach to organizations, starting with In Defence of Organization Theory: A reply to the critics (1985), American Anti-Management Theories of Organization: A critique of paradigm proliferation (1995), For Positivist Organization Theory: Proving the Hard Core (1996), Performance-Driven Organizational Change: The Organizational Portfolio (1999), and The Contingency Theory of Organizations (2001). This collection of work shows a remarkable and important commitment to a strong paradigmatic approach. Lex's work demonstrates, in the clearest possible way, how an important theory of organizations can be maintained and developed through a strong, well-elaborated, epistemological approach (positivism) together with adding new concepts to deal with new issues as theoretical and empirical concerns are raised. Concepts of fit, with the ideas of disequilibrium and quasi-fit, were further developed by Lex and he elaborated on the link between contingencies, structure and performance, by introducing ideas of hetero-performance. At the core, Lex was advocating SARFIT: structural adaptation to regain fit.

Ideas around managerial stewardship made for a further important contribution by Lex, initially in collaboration with James Davis in 1991. Lex saw a negative view of managers presented in many theories of organizations, and in agency theory in particular. Rather than seeing managers as individualistic, opportunistic, and self-serving, Stewardship Theory utilizes sociological and psychological approaches to governance, depicting managers as collectivists, pro-organizational, and trustworthy. Stewardship Theory emphasizes managers' psychological attributes and the organization's situational characteristics. In Management Redeemed: Debunking the fads that undermine corporate performance (1996), Lex and Fred Hilmer argued that reflection, analysis, and intellectual activity are as important to managerial success as quick action and intuition. Stewardship Theory has become part of many management courses touching on corporate governance and social responsibility.

Lex was a regular attendee at the Academy of Management conference. He served as an Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Review from 2000-2002. He was a visiting professor at the Universities of Maryland, Iowa and Oxford and at Stanford and Northwestern.

Farewell to a thoughtful and systematic intellect and to a distinguished scholar. Our condolences go to his wife, June Ohlson.

From:

Bob Hinings

Graham Kenny

Professor Lex Donaldson (1947 - 2023)

We are saddened to report the death in Sydney of Lex Donaldson, Professor Emeritus, Australian Graduate School of Management, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Throughout his distinguished career, Lex's interests and contributions centered on Organizational Theory, Organizational Structure, Organizational Design, and Corporate Governance, especially Stewardship Theory.

Lex received his PhD from the University of London (London Business School) and began his academic career at LBS as a Senior Research Officer working with Derek Pugh, in further development of the Aston Studies. Lex's experiences there were foundational in the development of his distinguished contributions to the study of organizations. In 2012 he was awarded a Doctor of Science by UNSW in recognition of his research excellence.

Contingency theory was the area of Lex's initial, and outstanding, contribution to our understanding of organizations. He produced a series of books that developed his approach to organizations, starting with In Defence of Organization Theory: A reply to the critics (1985), American Anti-Management Theories of Organization: A critique of paradigm proliferation (1995), For Positivist Organization Theory: Proving the Hard Core (1996), Performance-Driven Organizational Change: The Organizational Portfolio (1999), and The Contingency Theory of Organizations (2001). This collection of work shows a remarkable and important commitment to a strong paradigmatic approach. Lex's work demonstrates, in the clearest possible way, how an important theory of organizations can be maintained and developed through a strong, well-elaborated, epistemological approach (positivism) together with adding new concepts to deal with new issues as theoretical and empirical concerns are raised. Concepts of fit, with the ideas of disequilibrium and quasi-fit, were further developed by Lex and he elaborated on the link between contingencies, structure and performance, by introducing ideas of hetero-performance. At the core, Lex was advocating SARFIT: structural adaptation to regain fit.

Ideas around managerial stewardship made for a further important contribution by Lex, initially in collaboration with James Davis in 1991. Lex saw a negative view of managers presented in many theories of organizations, and in agency theory in particular. Rather than seeing managers as individualistic, opportunistic, and self-serving, Stewardship Theory utilizes sociological and psychological approaches to governance, depicting managers as collectivists, pro-organizational, and trustworthy. Stewardship Theory emphasizes managers' psychological attributes and the organization's situational characteristics. In Management Redeemed: Debunking the fads that undermine corporate performance (1996), Lex and Fred Hilmer argued that reflection, analysis, and intellectual activity are as important to managerial success as quick action and intuition. Stewardship Theory has become part of many management courses touching on corporate governance and social responsibility.

Lex was a regular attendee at the Academy of Management conference. He served as an Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Review from 2000-2002. He was a visiting professor at the Universities of Maryland, Iowa and Oxford and at Stanford and Northwestern.

Farewell to a thoughtful and systematic intellect and to a distinguished scholar. Our condolences go to his wife, June Ohlson.

From:

Bob Hinings

Graham Kenny

Professor Lex Donaldson (1947 - 2023)

We are saddened to report the death in Sydney of Lex Donaldson, Professor Emeritus, Australian Graduate School of Management, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Throughout his distinguished career, Lex's interests and contributions centered on Organizational Theory, Organizational Structure, Organizational Design, and Corporate Governance, especially Stewardship Theory.

Lex received his PhD from the University of London (London Business School) and began his academic career at LBS as a Senior Research Officer working with Derek Pugh, in further development of the Aston Studies. Lex's experiences there were foundational in the development of his distinguished contributions to the study of organizations. In 2012 he was awarded a Doctor of Science by UNSW in recognition of his research excellence.

Contingency theory was the area of Lex's initial, and outstanding, contribution to our understanding of organizations. He produced a series of books that developed his approach to organizations, starting with In Defence of Organization Theory: A reply to the critics (1985), American Anti-Management Theories of Organization: A critique of paradigm proliferation (1995), For Positivist Organization Theory: Proving the Hard Core (1996), Performance-Driven Organizational Change: The Organizational Portfolio (1999), and The Contingency Theory of Organizations (2001). This collection of work shows a remarkable and important commitment to a strong paradigmatic approach. Lex's work demonstrates, in the clearest possible way, how an important theory of organizations can be maintained and developed through a strong, well-elaborated, epistemological approach (positivism) together with adding new concepts to deal with new issues as theoretical and empirical concerns are raised. Concepts of fit, with the ideas of disequilibrium and quasi-fit, were further developed by Lex and he elaborated on the link between contingencies, structure and performance, by introducing ideas of hetero-performance. At the core, Lex was advocating SARFIT: structural adaptation to regain fit.

Ideas around managerial stewardship made for a further important contribution by Lex, initially in collaboration with James Davis in 1991. Lex saw a negative view of managers presented in many theories of organizations, and in agency theory in particular. Rather than seeing managers as individualistic, opportunistic, and self-serving, Stewardship Theory utilizes sociological and psychological approaches to governance, depicting managers as collectivists, pro-organizational, and trustworthy. Stewardship Theory emphasizes managers' psychological attributes and the organization's situational characteristics. In Management Redeemed: Debunking the fads that undermine corporate performance (1996), Lex and Fred Hilmer argued that reflection, analysis, and intellectual activity are as important to managerial success as quick action and intuition. Stewardship Theory has become part of many management courses touching on corporate governance and social responsibility.

Lex was a regular attendee at the Academy of Management conference. He served as an Associate Editor of the Academy of Management Review from 2000-2002. He was a visiting professor at the Universities of Maryland, Iowa and Oxford and at Stanford and Northwestern.

Farewell to a thoughtful and systematic intellect and to a distinguished scholar. Our condolences go to his wife, June Ohlson.