8: The Ends of Men - Chester Barnard (Part 1 of 4)

Second episode on The Functions of The Executive (1938) by Chester Barnard. This time we spent quite a bit of time talking about why people decide to cooperate and what is authority. Did you know that authority is a form of communication infused with ritual? Or, that Barnard has four criteria which need to be satisfied in order for something to qualify as a command? And that employees are free to ignore what their superiors tell them if those criteria are not met? To find out more join us as we finish discussing this grand management book!

You will notice that we split this episode into 4 parts, instead of the usual 2. This is because of how long the recordings were due to the sheer amount of ideas contained in this work. Accordingly, we will be posting Episode 8 in 4 parts.