Rakesh Khurana's Weblog

Harold Leavitt

The great social psychologist Harold Leavitt has died. It is a great loss for his family and for social science. Hal was one of the most insightful scholars in organizational behavior. As as social psychologist, he was a central figure in two important areas in organizational behavior: decision theory and human relations. He contributed to both arenas as a faculty member at Carnegie's GSIA during the 1950s and as a member of MIT's behavioral science group during its heyday in the era of human relations.

Later, as a professor at Stanford's GSB, Hal's writings contributed significantly to my own thinking about business education.

It is a sad day for organizational behavior.

Joy Division

There are two films about my favorite band about to be released. 'Control' and 'Joy Division' are a biopic and documentary, respectively about Ian Curtis, the brooding baritone of Joy Division, the quintessential post-punk band from the Manchester music scene in the late 1970s. For those who don't know, Joy Division is the predecessor band to New Order. The band dissolved shortly after the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. So far, no release date for either film has been announced.

Brief Summary of the Book

While the new book has not yet been released, Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge did a brief summary of the book. Check it out, if you are interested, here.

Albert Ellis

The psychoanalyst Albert Ellis has died. The New York Times has an interesting obituary about this quirky, original, and realist thinker.

I've been reading a lot early 20th century psychoanalytical literature, especially the works of Freud, Rank, and Fromm. It is a lot better than I expected, especially when you place it within the intellectual context of the times. I admire Freud's dogged dedication to try and get at the essence of things. His attempt to reveal our inner core and reconcile our "organic" creature-liness with our "existential" selves is profound. It highlights the dialectic at the core of our existence. We are living, breathing, excreting, mortal animals and, yet, at the same time we have the capacity to create, divine, and imagine possibilities that extend far beyond our physical limits. Institutions and culture (as well as our own neuroses), Freud argues, are manifestations of man's attempt to wrestle with these tensions.

There is something in these core ideas that ring true.

Harry Potter weekend

The Harry Potter phenomenon reached its apex in our household this weekend. I rolled out of bed at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday morning and drove to our local, independent bookstore to purchase two copies--one for the kids and a second copy as a birthday gift for my daughter's friend ($42.00). My oldest child then spent the entire weekend reading the book, which she finished around t 8:00 p.m. on Sunday. My second oldest is re-reading the sixth book in preparation for the final volume. I also took two of the three kinds to see the latest Harry Potter movie ($24.00). My youngest son is asking for a replica of Harry Potter's wand ($24.00) because his sister told him that it really does magic. (One thing is for sure, I'm not buying a tree branch for $24.00). In total, I'm guessing that our household contributed about $30.00 in royalties to J.K. Rowling.

Book--finally

After a long hiatus from the blog, I wanted to report that the new book is finally done. It is titled: From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession." Yes, I know it is a mouthful for a subtitle, but my editors at Princeton thought it captured the full arc of the book. The book will be available on Sept. 10th from Amazon and is in Princeton's Fall Catalog.

Here are the Amazon and Princeton links to the book.

Seymour Martin Lipset

The great political sociologist Seymour Martin Lipset has passed away. His research questions and methods were similar to the comparative traditions of Max Weber and Neil Smelser. What I found most inspiring about his work was its dual focus on empiricism and significant questions. Today, so much of sociology seems like mindless empirical exercises in search of a question. As one obituary described:

Combining a clear writing style with an often unfashionable empiricism, Lipset mined the great veins of American social science that ran from Richard Hofstadter back to eminences such as Alexis de Tocqueville — with themes including individualism and the immigrant experience. Lipset's questions were big ones: Why don't Americans vote? Why have American Jews tended to assimilate in the absence of anti-Semitism?

There are many sociologists who described Lipset as a "conservative" sociologist. I disagree. Lipset was neither conservative or liberal, he was part of a tradition of pragmatists, who were skeptical of all grand, utopian theories and ideas. Like the late Edward Shils or Robert Nisbet, Lipset deeply believed in the social ordering capacity of foundational institutions, like family, religion, and community. He was skeptical of big government as a solution to micro-level problems. A perspective that has recently been articulated by sociologists who are interested in issues like educational attainment and its links to culture.

The New York Times reports an act that is difficult to explain using traditional rational choice theories.

Mr. Autrey was waiting for the local at 137th Street and Broadway in Upper Manhattan around 12:45 p.m. He was taking his two daughters, Syshe, 4, and Shuqui, 6, home before heading to work.

Nearby, a man collapsed, his body convulsing. Mr. Autrey and two women rushed to help. The man, Cameron Hollopeter, 20, managed to get up, but then stumbled a few steps to the platform edge and fell to the tracks, between the two rails.

The headlights of the No. 1 train appeared.

“I had to make a split decision,” Mr. Autrey said.

So he made one, and leapt.

Mr. Autrey lay on Mr. Hollopeter, pressing him down, his heart pounding. The train’s brakes screeched, but it could not stop in time.

Five cars rolled overhead before the train stopped, passing just inches from Mr. Autrey’s head, smudging his blue knit cap with grease. Mr. Autrey heard onlookers’ screams. “We’re O.K. down here,” he yelled, “but I’ve got two daughters up there. Let them know their father’s O.K.” He heard cries of wonder, and applause.

Edinburgh

I was in Scotland last week teaching in an executive education program. I had a great meal at a Edinburgh seasfood restaurant called Fisher's. The restaurant is located in a charming townhouse in the town center. It is a cozy place, with about 15 tables. I sat with a colleague in a tight, but acceptable corner. An exposed brick wall defines one end of the restaurant, while across the room is a deep indigo blue wall, with two indigo paintings. The kitchen, unlike many American restaurants, is out of sight. I appreciated not having the smell of fish and fried foods wafting into the dining room. For an appetizer, I had two beautiful fish cakes, with very little breading. The fish was wonderfully tender and the spicy sauce was a great compliment. The main course was fresh Scottish scallops, served in their shell, with a side of fresh, steamed, organic vegetables. And, for desert, my first sticky, toffee pudding. If you are ever in Scotland, you must get this desert. It is delicious and not as sticky or cloying as it sounds.It is a moist cake that rests of a toffee sauce, usually accompanied by either clotted cream or vanilla ice cream. It is a great combination of flavors. I've never seen it served in American restaurants, but I think it would be a hit.

Milton Friedman

Another titan of 20th century social science has passed away. Milton Friedman, the great libertarian economist and the father of the Chicago School of Economics which revolutionized 20th century economics and hastened the embrace of free-market policies around the world, has died. There are few social scientists who have shaped the world in such a decisive and profound way. Never has Keynes quote about the influence of academic scribblers been so apt as in the case of Friedman: "practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slave of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority who hear voices in the air are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of years back."

During my adolescence, the stage at which one is finding resonance in the writings of Ayn Rand and Herman Hesse, Friedman's PBS series, Free to Choose, had a profound impact on my thinking. And, though, there are many elements around which I disagree with Friedman, especially to the degree which markets are self-ordering, I recognize that most of us and lillputians when compared to this mental giant of the 20th century.