Family and bureaucracy in German industrial management, 1850-1914: Siemens in comparative perspective

Abstract

This study analyzes the changing role of pre-industrial family and bu­reaucratic traditions in the development of Germany's leading electrical manufacturing firm. The Siemens company developed a decentralized, multi-divisional structure ten to twenty years before duPont and General Motors pioneered a similar organization in the United States. The pre­industrial bureaucratic traditions, considered in a multi-national context, facilitated the development of efficient modem management in Germany and help explain the relative success of German industry in the two decades before World War I.