The Aesthetic Imperative of a Rational-Technical Machinery: A Study in Organizational Control Through the Design of Artifacts

Abstract

This chapter provides a tentative approach to understanding its significance in the determination of organizational life and relations. It examines the aesthetic imperative inherent in the ideal-typical modern organization. Aesthetic discipline can also be observed in the design of buildings, furniture and furnishings, in the organization of physical space, in the use of colour and texture, and in organizational artifacts of all kinds. Most conspicuous in this aesthetic is the dominance of simple geometry. The aesthetic structure of action realizes a distribution and ordering of energies. The organization, considered as a rational-technical machinery, is an instrument of production. There are a number of reasons, however, for the scant attention that has hitherto been afforded to the study of artifacts and of aesthetic factors in organizational life. Physical artifacts are integral to the design of situations in organizations, and they play an important part in calling out "appropriate" attitudes and responses in members.

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