Author:
Castaldo Francesca,Gatti Mauro
Abstract
Introduction: This paper examines, through a biographical approach, the practical activities and overall theoretical corpus of Pacces, an Italian technician and pre-cursor of managerial economy and culture, focusing on his formula for governing the 1970s ‘macro-enterprises', a complex organization's emblem. The article then, through a long period of empirical research, investigates the applicability of this ‘recipe' to large modern companies. Aims of the work: This Article has three objectives: a) to fill a cognitive gap within the existing literature; b) to show, putting on an organizational lens, how some of Pacces' ideas were not only exceptional for his time but still current - confirming his extraordinary vision - and harbingers of important implications for the mana-gerial world; and c) to be a starting point for subsequent studies, stimulating intel-lectual debate and research proliferation. Methodological approach: Consists of two techniques: 1) analysis and critical ex-amination of the Pacces' opera omnia, with a focus on organizational theory; 2) empirical analysis, over a decade, on the applicability of the conceptual system to homogeneous companies (to those studied by the Author), conducted with quali-tative techniques, mainly participant observation and semi-structured interviews with Senior Management. Main findings: The study adds a unique contribution to the knowledge of the Au-thor's organizational thinking. The empirical research shows, moreover, how his intuitions are extraordinary and highly topical but remain rarely applied by the Ital-ian Companies. Originality: Originality therefore lies in the organizational focus, never used before in the Professor's study, and in the long managerial applicability test of the theo-retical-practical corpus. Tools, not only conceptual, indicated by the Theorist to improve organizational practices could be used by management in a continuous improvement perspective
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