Biography
March is 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 is also known for his seminal work on the behavioural perspective on the theory of the firm along with Richard Cyert (1963). In 1972, March worked together with Olsen and Cohen on the systemic-anarchic perspective of organizational decision making known as the Garbage Can Model.
March received his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Yale University.
The scope of his academic work is broad, but focused on understanding how decisions happen in individuals, groups, organizations, companies and society. He explores factors that influences 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. As being a very reflected educator and teacher himself his research also has been on different aspects of leadership of universities and pedagogical challenges. He has received numerous teaching awards. He interacts and communicates in many different forms as books, articles, interactive seminars, films and poetry.
James March is the father of four children and is a grandfather. Since 1953, he has served on the faculties of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, the University of California, Irvine, and, since 1970, Stanford University. He has been elected to the National Academy of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Education, and has been a member of the National Science Board. He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
James March is an honorary doctor at numerous universities and among those: Copenhagen Business School (then: Copenhagen School of Economics), 1978; Swedish School of Economics (Helsinki), 1979; University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1980; University of Bergen, 1980; (Economics), Uppsala University, 1987; (Economics), Helsinki School of Economics, 1991; Dublin City University, 1994; (Economics), Göteborg University, 1998; University of Poitiers, 2001; University of Trento, 2002; 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
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