Jane Mouton biography and books

Robert Blake and Jane Mouton - Toolshero

Article by: Vincent van Vliet

Last update: July 8, 2023

Jane Mouton (1930 – 1987) was a management theorist. She was known primarily for the development of the Managerial Grid which Jane Mouton developed with Robert R. Blake.

Jane Mouton biography

In 1950, Jane Srygley Mouton obtained her Bachelor’s degree (BSc.) in mathematics from the University of Texas in the United States. A year later (1951), Jane Mouton obtained her Master’s degree (M.A.) from the University of Florida. She returned to the University of Texas for her doctoral research and obtained her doctorate (Ph.D.) in 1957.

The University of Texas provided Jane Mouton with many opportunities. She was a former student of Robert R. Blake and at that time she was already fascinated by organizational management issues.

After she had obtained her doctorate (Ph.D.) she worked as a researcher at the University of Texas (1953 – 1957), a behavioural scientist and a lecturer (1957 – 1959) and finally as an assistant professor in the field of psychology (1959 – 1964).

From 1961 she was involved in Scientific Methods Inc. and until 1981 she held different positions within this company including the position of Vice President. At that time dr. Jane Mouton developed the theory and the practical research with respect to the ‘Managerial Grid’ model together with Robert R. Blake.

Development of the Managerial Grid

The Managerial Grid itself was developed when Robert R. Blake and Jane Mouton were hired as consultants by Exxon. The creation of the Managerial Grid was especially used to develop a method that could be used as a median between McGregor’s ‘Theory X and Theory Y’ at employee level.

Robert R. Blake and her approach was more focused on dealing with organizational issues than on diagnosing them.

This was contrary to the standard National Training Laboratories (NTL) practices where they were both employed. he consequence was that they distanced themselves from the NTL and that they patented the GRID approach (copyright). That is why Robert R. Blake and Jane Mouton developed a franchise formula for GRID training courses.

Later, they cooperated with NTL again and Jane Mouton was given a leading position with respect to the training sessions.

Books and publications

1989. Change by design. Reading, Mass. Addison Wesley.
1987. Spectacular teamwork: how to develop the leadership skills for team success. Sidgwick and Jackson.
1986. How to achieve integration on the human side o the merger. Organizational dynamics, 13(3), 41-56.
1984. A new strategy for education, training and development. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey Bass.
1984. Synergogy: A New Strategy for Education, Training, and Development. Jossey Bass Higher & Adult Education Series. Jossey-Bass Inc.
1984. Solving costly organizational conflicts. Jossey-Bass Publishers.
1983. Consultation: A Handbook for Individual and Organizational Development. Addison-Wesley.
1982. Grid® Principles Versus Situationalism: A Final Note. Journal: Group & Organization Management – GROUP ORGAN MANAGE , vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 211-215.
1982. Theory and Research for Developing a Science of Leadership. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 275-291.
1982. A comparative analysis of situationalism and 9, 9 management by principle. Organizational dynamics, 10(4), 20-43.
1982. Productivity: The Human Side. Amacom Books.
1981. Management by Grid® Principles or Situationalism: Which? Journal: Group & Organization Management – GROUP ORGAN MANAGE , vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 439-455, 1981.
1980. Grid for Sales Excellence. McGraw-Hill Inc.
1971. Corporate excellence through grid organization development.
1970. The Fifth Achievement. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science , vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 413-426, 1970.
1969. Building a Dynamic Corporation through Grid Organization Development.
1968. Corporate excellence through grid organisation development. Houston, Texas: Gulf.
1968. Managing intergroup conflict in industry.
1965. The Union-Management Intergroup Laboratory: Strategy for Resolving Intergroup Conflict. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 25-57.
1964. Key orientations for achieving production through people. Houston, Texas: Gulf.
1964. The managerial grid: The key to leadership excellence. Gulf Publishing Company.
1964. Breakthrough in organization development. Harvard Business Review, 42(6), 133-155.
1962. Over-evaluation of own groups product in in-group competition. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, vol. 64, no. 3, pp. 237-238.
1962. Managerial grid. Advanced Management-Office Executive.
1961. Reactions to Intergroup Competition Under Win-Lose Conditions. Management Science, 7(4), 420-435.
1961. Comprehension of own and of outgroup positions under intergroup competition. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 304-310.
1961. Group dynamics: Key to decision making.
1961. Loyalty of representatives to ingroup positions during intergroup competition. Sociometry, 177-183.
1958. Task difficulty and conformity pressures. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, vol. 57, no. 1, pp. 120-122.
1957. The Generality of Conformity Behavior as a Function of Factual Anchorage. Journal of Personality – J PERSONALITY, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 294-305.
1956. Housing architecture and social interaction. Sociometry, 133-139.
1956. The Relationship between Frequency of Yielding and the Disclosure of Personal Identity. Journal of Personality – J PERSONALITY, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 339-347.
1955. Status factors in pedestrian violation of traffic signals. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 704-706.

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Original publication date: 12/14/2013 | Last update: 07/08/2023

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Article by:

Vincent van Vliet

Vincent van Vliet is co-founder and responsible for the content and release management. Together with the team Vincent sets the strategy and manages the content planning, go-to-market, customer experience and corporate development aspects of the company.