The Organizational Imperative

Abstract

The American value system has undergone a recent and pervasive transformation. The immediate cause has been “the organizational imperative”: the primary values absolutely necessary for modern organization. This essay analyzes the organizational imperative: its a priori propositions, its rules for behavior, and its administrative norms. Particular attention is given to its impact on social values, for the organizational imperative has transformed them into supportive administrative norms. This is of concern because it has made us a significantly different people than we presumed we would be. The new values pose serious questions about their compatibility with traditional assumptions about the innate moral nature of man.