Management can be defined as the way of leading, directing, structuring and developing the organisation. From then on, management is interested in the functioning of organisations and will borrow from different disciplines such as economics, sociology or psychology to better understand organisations and provide recommendations for action. The Organisational Theory course presents a set of currents of thought and authors who have contributed to the theory of organisations, in an approach that is both chronological and thematic.

The theory of organizations appears (apart from some precursors such as A. Smith) only at the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century. The authors considered as the founding fathers belong to the so-called traditional school (Taylor, Fayol, Weber). From the 1930s onwards, the human relations movement began with the work of Elton Mayo (Hawthorne factory experiment) and gave rise to various works, particularly on group dynamics, motivation at work, leadership and organisational justice. Then, from the 1960s onwards, the structural contingency movement challenged the 'one best way' principle of the previous schools.

Thematically, the emphasis is then placed on the role of the environment, decision-making (and in particular the work of H. Simon on bounded rationality), power relations in organisations, holism and methodological individualism. Finally, a focus on economic and neo-institutionalist theories.

Each theory approaches the organisation from a specific angle and within the framework of certain assumptions. Knowing a plurality of theories allows us to better understand the organisations in which we live and to acquire a critical view.