Robert L. Kahn

Robert Louis Kahn
Born	1918 Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
Nationality	American
Fields	Psychology, Sociology
Institutions	University of Michigan
Known for	Systems theory, Organizational theory

Robert Louis Kahn (born 1918, in Detroit, Michigan) is an American psychologist and social scientist, specializing in organizational theory and survey research, having been considered a "founding father" of the modern approach to these disciplines. He has also been involved in developing studies on aging.

Biography

Kahn, born in 1918, earned his PhD at the University of Michigan and was one of the founding members of the Institute for Social Research. He taught at the University of Michigan from 1948 to 1976, and directed the Survey Research Center. He was president of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues in 1970.

Thought

Kahn's work on organizational theory, including the book "The Social Psychology of Organizations" (1966) that he co-authored with Daniel Katz, has been described as "a major influence on the field of organizational research, applying a framework of open system theory—the assumption that an organization continuously interacts with its environment—to research on leadership, role behavior, and organizational effectiveness". Kahn has also been appraised as a leading scholar in the study of aging, especially after the publication of "Successful Aging" (1998) that he co-authored with John Wallis Rowe. The book and other pertaining research on the topic by Kahn and collaborators have contributed to the understanding of mechanisms of successful aging.

Publications

• 1966. The Social Psychology of Organizations, co-authored with Daniel Katz.
• 1998. Successful Aging, co-authored with John Wallis Rowe.