Organizations and Markets: History and Development of the Ccmo Course and the Field (1st of 4 Ccmo Documents)

Abstract

This paper describes the history of the development of the course Coordination, Control and the Management of Organizations (CCMO) from its initiation by Michael C. Jensen and William H. Meckling at the University of Rochester in 1973 to its current state as one of the most highly demanded elective courses in the second year of the MBA program at Harvard Business School. CCMO regularly attracts between 500 and 600 of the 850 second-year MBA students.

CCMO presents a new theory of organizations that draws on economics, finance, psychology, neuroscience, and human resource management. In developing our theory, we focus particularly on four interrelated areas: 1) the nature of human beings and their behavior; 2) compensation, career systems, and performance measurement; 3) task structure, organizational boundaries, and technology; and 4) governance, corporate finance, and organizational performance. This paper presents specifics in each of these four categories.

(Forthcoming in The Intellectual Venture Capitalist: John H. McArthur and the Work of the Harvard Business School, 1980-1995, Edited by Thomas K. McCraw and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank, Harvard Business School Press, 1998.)

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The CCMO materials are presented in four electronic documents entitled as follows (you can go directly to each document and its abstract by clicking on the title below):

1. This document -- Organizations and Markets: History and Development of the Course and the Field, by Michael C. Jensen, George P. Baker, Carliss Y. Baldwin, and Karen H. Wruck, Dec. 10, 1997 (forthcoming in "The Intellectual Venture Capitalist: John H. McArthur and the Work of the Harvard Business School," 1980-1995, Thomas K. McCraw and Jeffrey L. Cruickshank, eds, (Harvard Business School Press, 1998)).

2. Coordination, Control, and the Management of Organizations: Course Notes, by Michael C. Jensen and William H. Meckling, with contributions from George P. Baker and Karen H. Wruck, April 20, 1998, Harvard Business School Working Paper.

3. Coordination, Control, and the Management of Organizations: Course Content and Materials, by Michael C. Jensen and Karen H. Wruck, April 20, 1998, unpublished manuscript, Harvard Business School.

4. Coordination, Control, and the Management of Organizations: Practice Questions, by Michael C. Jensen, William H. Meckling, George P. Baker, and Karen H. Wruck, with contributions from Carliss Y. Baldwin, and Malcolm S. Salter, April 20, 1998, unpublished manuscript, Harvard Business School.

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JEL Classification: A23, D21, D23, D60, G30, J33, J50, L20