There is no precise definition of neoclassical in the context of organization theory. The general connotation is that of a theoretical perspective that revises and/or is critical of classical organization theory—particularly for minimizing issues related to the humanness of organizational members, coordination needs among administrative units, internal external organizational relations, and organizational decision processes. The major writers of the classical school did their most significant work before World War II. The neoclassical writers gained their reputations as organization theorists by attacking the classical writers from the end of the war through the 1950s. Because classical theories were, to a large measure, derived intellectually rather than empirically, their artificial assumptions left them vulnerable to attack. Theorists of the classical period thought that organizations should be based on universally applicable scientific principles.