Several articles by Clay Alderfer have been especially important for understanding management, inter-group relations, and organizations. His work with Existence, Relatedness, and Growth (ERG) need theory appears regularly in management textbooks. Embedded Inter-group Relations Theory, the centerpiece of his consulting practice, significantly advances knowledge about organizations, leadership, race relations, family business, and corporate governance. For a complete list of publications, see Clay’s CV.
Core Theoretical Articles
Alderfer, C. P. (1980). The methodology of organizational diagnosis. Professional Psychology, 16, 462-485. This article defines organizational diagnosis and describes the four critical steps in the process: entry, data collection, analysis, and feedback.
Alderfer, C. P. (1987). “An inter-group perspective on group dynamics.” In J. Lorsch (Ed.), Handbook of Organizational Behavior, (pp. 190-222). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. This chapter presents the unique ideas about group and inter-group dynamics that guide my work. It includes applications to team development, organizational culture, diversity, and teaching.
Applications of the Theory
Alderfer, C. P., Alderfer, C. J., Tucker, R. C. & Tucker, L. M. (1980). Diagnosing race relations in management. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 16, 135-166. This study employs the methodology of organizational diagnosis and the theory of embedded inter-group relations to examine racial dynamics among managers in a medium-sized corporation. It provides a quantitative analysis of the findings and a set of recommendations that resulted in a major change project.
Alderfer, C. P. (1986). The invisible director on corporate boards. Harvard Business Review, 64, 38-52. Drawing on information from systematic research and consultation, the article explains how the group and subgroup dynamics of corporate boards effectively result in the board as a collective entity-not just the individual directors-functioning as a powerful ‘invisible director’.
Alderfer, C. P. (1988). Understanding & consulting to family business boards. Family Business Review, 1, 249-261. This article combines knowledge of family businesses with an understanding of corporate boards to explain the special properties of family business boards.
Alderfer, C. P. (1988). Teaching personality & leadership. Organizational Behavior Teaching Review, 12, 12-33. Utilizing theories of personality and family dynamics together with biographical and autobiographical information from well-known leaders (e.g., Lee Iacocca, Adolph Hitler, Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thomas Watson, Jr.), the article explains how people can be taught to understand how personality affects leadership.
Alderfer, C. P. & Simon, A. F. (2002). An empirical study of parallel processes during organic questionnaire administration. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 38, 416-435. This article employs concepts from embedded inter-group relations theory to show quantitatively how properties of an organization infect the apparently neutral process of questionnaire administration.
Alderfer, C. P. & Sims, A. D. (2003). Diversity in organizations. In W. C. Borman, D. R. Ilgen, & R. J. Klimoski (Eds.), Comprehensive Handbook of Psychology, Vol. 12: Industrial & Organizational Psychology (pp. 287-293). New York, NY: Wiley. Describing several key theories about diversity in organizations developed by behavioral scientists, the chapter provides an analysis and critique of their implications for changing inter-group relations.
