Abstract
What is the sociology of industrial organization? The object of this social science lies in the social context of the industrial organization. To put it concretely, we are interested in the types of management power, the general attitude of the citizen toward it, and the congruency between them. Thus the sociology of industrial organization is the theoretical analysis of the legitimacy (authority) of management power.
But the policy for total commitment in the industrial organization seems to go by the name of the sociology of industrial organization. And this tendency is considerably under the influence of Human Relations thinking. For example we have two important works; “Management in Japan” by prof. Kunio Odaka, and “Deutsche Betriebssoziologie” (in Japanese) by Prof. Kiichi Ichihara. The former written by a student of sociology has the one fault of ambiguity of the object of study, and the latter written by a student of business management has the other fault of misunderstanding the method of study. But both deviate from the proper sociological approach.
We should remain firmly at the point of view above mentioned, and refrain from taking a policy. What is worse still, the gemeinschaftlich type of management is not a typical example of a producing organization, though it is a possible case. It must be pointed out that producing organizations in general, unlike communities and societies, are segmental associations, which require and recruit only limited commitments of actors and in which, therefore, internal democracy (the policy for the total organization) is neither possible nor called for.
In conclusion, our approach depends upon the organization theory of A. Etzioni. In co-operation with him, we must criticize the lack of theoretical arrangement in this applied field of sociology.
