LAISSEZ-FAIRE

INTRODUCTION TO LAISSEZ-FAIRE: THE THIRD OPTION THAT COMPLETES THE ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN SET

Merrelyn Emery, 2018

The papers in this section concern the phenomenon of laissez-faire that was discovered as part of the investigation of autocracy and democracy, the famous series of experiments carried out in the United States from 1938 to 1940. We feature it here as a separate area of interest if not major concern as it exposes two of the deadly conceptual malaises operating undercover at the heart of our culture and therefore, our organizations

GETTING TO GRIPS WITH THE GREAT 'SMALL GROUP' CONSPIRACY

Merrelyn Emery, 1978

The concept of a small group was once a pure and scientific concept with a meaning. It has degenerated into a fashion and a fad and almost any situation that includes more than one person is now called a `small group'. Nothing could be more meaningless and in fact destructive of what was once a heuristic concept.

PART LAISSEZ-FAIRE: OLD CONCEPT AND MODERN PROBLEM

1988

The concept of laissez-faire entered the social science literature in the famous series of experiments carried out in the United States from 1938 to 1940 to learn more about the phenomena of autocracy and democracy.

THE CONCEPT OF TLC: TRAINER, LEADER, COACH

Merrelyn Emery, 1992

One of the disturbing features of the new wave is the increasing trend towards trying to change the role of supervisor to that of `trainer, leader and coach'. It is easy to see the superficial attractions of this approach as it appears to offer the learning organization and increased productivity without having to change the bureaucratic structure.  
 
What it really shows is that understanding of the design principles has not kept pace with the rush to make change. Once the design principles and their implications are understood, the idea of a TLC makes no sense whatsoever. The design principles cannot be mixed.

NOTES ON CONCEPTUALIZATIONS

Merrelyn Emery, 2006

ME: these notes were written as preparation for a group effort to research laissez-faire as we find it today particularly in North America but also in Australia. It was critical that our conceptualization was totally accurate so that we could be sure we were measuring what we thought we were measuring.

MODERN FORMS OF LAISSEZ-FAIRE ORGANIZATION

Donald W. de Guerre, Merrelyn Emery, 2008

In a classic series of experiments (1938-1940), social scientists discovered that there were three “social climates” rather than just democracy and autocracy as envisaged. The third arose from believing that democracy meant individual freedom, people could “do their own thing,” and was called laissez-faire (Lippitt, 1940). This confusion of laissez-faire and genuine democracy based on shared and agreed rules, practices, tasks and goals is unfortunately, still with us.

THE DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND LAISSEZ-FAIRE: LOGIC AND PURE AND APPLIED FORMS

Merrelyn Emery and Don deGuerre

The design principle and laissez-faire have been introduced in previous chapters but here we examine them from the logical perspective so that we may get to grips more easily with them, particularly laissez-faire in both its pure and applied forms. We show that the pure laissez-faire is a theoretical concept only but that approximations to it are widespread in practice.