Philip Selznick - TVA and the grass roots (1947)

3 Sourced Quotes

View all Philip Selznick Quotes

Cooptation is the process of absorbing new elements into the leadership or policy- determining structure of an organization as a means of averting threats to its stability or existence.

Philip Selznick

The most important thing about organizations is that, though they are tools, each nevertheless has a life of its own.

Philip Selznick

Whereas some consequences of our actions occur as planned, others are unanticipated; social actions are not context-free but are constrained, and their outcomes are shaped by the setting in which they occur. Especially significant are the constraints on action that arise from commitments enforced by institutionalization. Because organizations are social systems, goals and procedures tend to achieve an established, value impregnated status. We say that they become institutionalized.

Philip Selznick