James G. March

March studied at University of Wisconsin–Madison and Yale University. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is political science, management and organizational theory. Herbert Simon is recorded as an influence. Employment is recorded with Stanford University, University of California, Irvine and Carnegie Institute of Technology. Distinctions recorded are Herbert Simon Award, Honorary Doctor of Stockholm University of Economics, honorary doctor of the University of Uppsala and Wilbur Cross Medal.

• Name — James G. March • Born — 15 January 1928 • Birthplace — Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. • Died — 27 September 2018 • Place of death — Portola Valley, California, U.S. • Fields — Political science, organization theory • Workplaces — Carnegie Institute of Technology University of California, Irvine Stanford University • Education — Yale University • Doctoral Students — Joseph I. Castro

Born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1928, March received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1945 in political science. He received his M.A. in 1950 and Ph.D. in 1953 from Yale University, both in political science. James March was awarded honorary doctorate from numerous universities: • Copenhagen Business School (then: Copenhagen School of Economics), 1978 • Hanken School of Economics (Helsinki), 1979 • University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1980 • University of Bergen, 1980; (Economics) • Uppsala University, 1987; (EkDhc, Faculty of Social Sciences) • Helsinki School of Economics, 1991 • Dublin City University, 1994; (Economics) • Göteborg University, 1998 • University of Poitiers, 2001 • University of Trento, 2000 • University of Southern Denmark, 2003 • Budapest University of Economics, 2003 • York University (Toronto), 2007 • Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Paris), 2007 • Ramon Llull University (Barcelona), 2007 • Lappeenranta (Finland) University of Technology, 2008 • Stockholm (Sweden) Stockholm School of Economics, 2009

From 1953 to 1964, he had served on the faculties of the Carnegie Institute of Technology as a senior research fellow and assistant professor, and later professor of industrial administration and psychology. For the academic year of 1955–56, March was a Political Science Fellow at the Stanford University Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. From 1964 to 1970, March joined the faculty at the University of California, Irvine as the founding Dean of the School of Social Sciences (1964–69). He was also a professor of psychology and sociology. In 1970, March moved to Stanford University. At Stanford, he held several titles, including professor of political science and sociology, David Jacks Professor of Higher Education (1970–1978), professor of management (1978–1979), Fred H. Merrill Professor of Management (1979–1992), Jack Steele Parker Professor of International Management (1992–present). He had also served as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution (1978–1987) and the founding director of the Scandinavian Consortium for Organizational Research (Scancor) (1989–1999). He had been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the National Academy of Education, and had been a member of the National Science Board. He was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He interacted and communicated in many different forms as books, articles, interactive seminars, films and poetry.

March was highly respected for his broad theoretical perspective which combined theories from psychology and other behavioural sciences. As a core member of the Carnegie School, he collaborated with the cognitive psychologist Herbert A. Simon on several works on organization theory. March was also known for his seminal work on the behavioural perspective on the theory of the firm along with Richard Cyert. In 1972, March worked together with Johan Olsen and Michael D. Cohen on the systemic-anarchic perspective of organizational decision making known as the Garbage Can Model. The scope of his academic work was broad but focused on understanding how decisions happen in individuals, groups, organizations, companies and society. He explores factors that influence decision making, such as risk orientation, leadership and the ambiguity of the present and the past; politics and vested interests by stakeholders; the challenges of giving and receiving advice; the challenges of organizational and individual learning and the challenges of balancing exploration and exploitation in organizations.

James March was the father of four children and a grandfather. He died on September 27, 2018, aged 90.

* * * * * • James G. March, "The Power of Power", pp. 39–70 in David Easton, ed., Varieties of Political Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1966. • James G. March, "The Technology of Foolishness", Civiløkonomen (Copenhagen), 18 (1971) 4, 4–12. * * * * * • Martha S. Feldman and James G. March, "Information in Organizations as Signal and Symbol", Administrative Science Quarterly, 26 (1981) 171–186. • James G. March, "Decisions in Organizations and Theories of Choice", pp. 205–244 in Andrew Van de Ven and William Joyce, eds., Perspectives on Organization Design and Behavior. New York, NY: Wiley Interscience, 1981. * * • James G. March and Zur Shapira, "Behavioral Decision Theory and Organizational Decision Theory", pp. 92–115 in Gerardo Ungson and Daniel Braunstein, eds., Decision Making: An Interdisciplinary Inquiry. Boston, MA: Kent Publishing Company, 1982. * • James G. March and Guje Sevón, "Gossip, Information, and Decision-Making", pp. 95–107 in Lee S. Sproull and J. Patrick Crecine, eds., Advances in Information Processing in Organizations, Vol. I. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1984. * * • James R. Glenn Jr., and James G. March, "Presidential Time Allocation 1970–1984", pp. 263–266 in Michael D. Cohen and James G. March, Leadership and Ambiguity, 2nd ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1986. * • James G. March, "Theories of Making Choice and Making Decisions", pp. 305–325 in Rolf Wolff, ed., Organizing Industrial Development - Visible Guiding Hands. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1986. • James G. March, "Ambiguity and Accounting: The Elusive Link between Information and Decision Making", Accounting, Organizations, and Society, 12 (1987) 153–168. Also pp. 31–49 in Barry E. Cushing, ed., Accounting and Culture, American Accounting Association, 1987. * * • James G. March and Guje Sevón, "Behavioral Perspectives on Theories of the Firm", pp. 369–402 in W. Fred van Raaij, Gery M. van Veldhoven, and Karl-Erik Wärneryd, eds., Handbook of Economic Psychology. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988. • James G. March and Lee S. Sproull, "Technology, Management, and Competitive Advantage", pp. 144–173 in Paul S. Goodman, Lee S. Sproull and Associates, Technology and Organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1990. * * * * * * * * • James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, "The Logic of Appropriateness", pp. 689–708 in Michael Moran, Martin Rein, and Robert E. Goodin (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Public Policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. • James G. March and Johan P. Olsen, "Elaborating the 'New Institutionalism'", pp. 3–20 in R.A.W. Rhodes, S. Binder and B. Rockman (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Political Institutions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. * * * * • Michael D. Cohen, James G. March, and Johan P. Olsen, "The Garbage Can Model", International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies, Sage, forthcoming 2008. *

• James G. March, Academic Notes. London: Poets' and Painters' Press, 1974. • James G. March, Aged Wisconsin. London: Poets' and Painters' Press, 1977. • James G. March, Pleasures of the Process, London: Poets' and Painters' Press, 1980. • James G. March, Slow Learner. London: Poets' and Painters' Press, 1985. • James G. March, Minor Memos. London: Poets' and Painters' Press, 1990. • James G. March, Late Harvest. Palo Alto, CA: Bonde Press, 2000. • James G. March, Footprints. Palo Alto, CA: Bonde Press, 2005. • James G. March, Quiet Corners. Palo Alto, CA: Bonde Press, 2008. • James G. March, Small Steps. Palo Alto, CA: Bonde Press, 2010. • James G. March, A Collection of Words. Palo Alto, CA: Bonde Press, 2011. • James G. March, Fermented Fruit. Palo Alto, CA: Bonde Press, 2013.