ABSTRACT
Robert Michel's argues that large modern organizations inevitably produce a powerful oligarchy at the top, with far-reaching social consequences. Michel's suggests that as an organization gets bigger, so it becomes more bureaucratic. For William H. Whyte also, managers are an increasingly assertive section of society; he is alarmed that their characters are being moulded by the organizations which employ them. Whyte traces the career cycle of organizational people as, guided by the social ethic, they give themselves up to the organization. Though Whyte is stating a case against too great a belief in the social ethic, he realistically points out that it may never be applied as absolutely as it is preached, any more than was the Protestant ethic. Kenneth E. Boulding highlights the frequent conflicts between the interests of the organization and the wider interests of society. Having a single-customer guaranteed market becomes extremely important for those organizations using especially advanced, expensive technologies.
