Prisoners of Myth : The Leadership of the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1933-1990

Prisoners Of Myth Is The First Comprehensive History Of The Tennessee Valley Authority From Its Creation To The Present Day. It Is Also A Telling Case Study Of Organizational Evolution And Decline. Building On Philip Selznick's Classic Work Tva And The Grass Roots (1949), A Seminal Text In The Theoretical Study Of Bureaucracy, Erwin Hargrove Analyzes The Organizational Culture Of The Tva By Looking At The Actions Of Its Leaders Over Six Decades - From The Heroic Years Of The New Deal And World War Ii Through The Postwar Period Of Consolidation And Growth To The Time Of Troubles From 1970 Onward, When The Tva Ran Afoul Of Environmental Legislation, Built A Massive Nuclear Power Program That It Could Not Control, And Sought New Missions For Which There Were No Constituencies. The Founding Myth Of Multipurpose Regional Development Was Inappropriately Pursued In The 1970s And '80s By Leaders Who Became Prisoners Of Myth In Their Attempt To Keep The Tva Heroic. A Decentralized Organization, Which Had Worked Well At The Grass Roots, Was Difficult To Redirect As The Nuclear Genii Spun Out Of Control, Tva Autonomy From Washington, Once A Virtue, Obscured Political Accountability. Based On Rich Interview Materials And Historical Documents From Tva Archives, This Study Develops An Important New Theory About Institutional Performance In The Face Of Historical Change. Ch. 1. History And Theory -- Ch. 2. Visions Of An Institution -- Ch. 3. Lilienthal's Tva: The Politics Of Leadership -- Ch. 4. The Development Of Tva Organizational Culture -- Ch. 5. The Organization In Action -- Ch. 6. Consolidating Leadership: Clapp And Vogel -- Ch. 7. Rise And Fall Of The Dynamo -- Ch. 8. The Politics Of Organizational Renewal -- Ch. 9. Denouement -- Ch. 10. Reflections. Erwin C. Hargrove. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. 000_FrontMatter......Page 1 001_Chapter1......Page 17 002_Chapter2......Page 33 003_Chapter3......Page 58 004_Chapter4......Page 81 005_Chapter5......Page 101 006_Chapter6......Page 131 007_Chapter7......Page 171 008_Chapter8......Page 211 009_Chapter9......Page 258 010_Chapter10......Page 297 011_BackMatter......Page 323 This study of the history of the Tennessee Valley Authority is also a telling story of organizational evolution and decline. The author analyzes the organizational culture of the TVA from its heroic years in World War II to the late 1970s, when it ran afoul of environmental legislation.