Since its first publication over twenty years ago, Images of Organization has become a classic in the canon of management literature. The book is based on a very simple premise—that all theories of organization and management are based on implicit images or metaphors that stretch our imagination in a way that can create powerful insights, but at the risk of distortion. Gareth Morgan provides a rich and comprehensive resource for exploring the complexity of modern organizations internationally, translating leading-edge theory into leading-edge practice.
Gareth Morgan’s monumental book, Images of Organization, revolutionized the field of organization theory. In honor of Morgan’s classic text, this edited volume, Exploring Morgan’s Metaphors: Theory, Research, and Practice in Organizational Studies, illustrates how Morgan’s eight metaphors inform research, practice, and organizational intervention in a variety of contexts. Including contributions from well-known experts in their fields, specifically, Joep Cornelisen, Cliff Oswick, David Grant, Hari Tsoukas, and Gareth Morgan, this new text offers fresh perspectives and sets forth new metaphors for conceptualizing organizations in today’s workforce. Readers will gain insights and guidelines into the different ways that Morgan’s metaphors and metaphorical thinking can be used to better understand organizational life, as well as how to study and develop organizations.
"The emphasis on change at many levels of organization is critically important as is the first attempt to integrate sophisticated theory and research in organization psychology (e.g., Gersick, Hackman) with social psychological models of development such as Moreland and Levine." --Reuben M. Baron, Emeritus, University of Connecticut "Arrow, McGrath, and Berdahl′s ′Small Groups as Complex Systems′ will change the way you think about groups, the way you think about research, and even the way you think about science." --Donelson R. Forsyth, Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth U "The book is excellent, one of those very rare works that will have substantial impact on the field. I would use the book without hesitation in any advanced graduate seminar dealing with groups." --Donelson R. Forsyth, Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth U "A conceptually elegant analysis of groups as systems. Although the systems approach has been growing more influential in various fields of social psychology in the last ten years, no one has put forward a definitive analysis that applies with fidelity the general systems approach to group processes. McGrath and his colleagues fill that gap, not by paying lip service to popular scientific concepts such as recursive causality, open systems, attractors, and complexity theory, but by fully integrating these concepts into their no-nonsense analysis of such group level processes as formation, task performance, composition, development, and termination. Empirical work is folded into the theoretical mix along the way, but the focus is unrelentingly conceptual with the result that the authors deliver on their promise of developing a powerful, unified theory of group dynamics." --Donelson R. Forsyth, Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth U "Theirs is an ambitious book. They have profound ramifications for experimental social psychology. It is worth mentioning that AMD (Arrow, McGrarth, and Berdahl) list an ethnographic approach, which often implies the adoption of hermeneutic and semiotic methods (a hallmark of the anti-Enlightenment tradition in psychology), as a possible way forward." --Yoshihisa Kashima, American Journal of Psychology What are groups? How do they behave? Arrow, McGrath, and Berdahl answer these questions by developing a general theory of small groups as complex systems. Basing their theory on concepts distilled from general systems theory, dynamical systems theory, and complexity and chaos theory, they explore groups as adaptive, dynamic systems that are driven by interactions among group members as well as between the group and its embedding contexts. In addition, they consider not only the group′s members and their distribution of attributes, but also the group′s tasks and technology in order to understand how those members, tasks, and tools are intertwined, coordinated, and adjusted. Throughout the book, the authors focus our attention on relationships among people, tools, and tasks that are activated by a combination of individual and collective purposes and goals that change and evolve as the group interacts over time.
Organization Theory offers a clear and comprehensive introduction to the study of organizations and organizing processes. It encourages an even-handed appreciation of the main perspectives defining our knowledge of organizations and challenges readers to broaden their intellectual reach. Organization Theory is presented in three parts: Part I introduces the reader to theorizing using the multi-perspective approach. Part II presents different core concepts useful for analysing and understanding organizations - as entities within an environment, as social structures, technologies, cultures and physical structures, and as the products of power and political processes. Part III explores applications of organization theory to the practical matters of organizational design and change, and introduces the latest ideas, including organizational identity theory, process and practice theories, and aesthetics. An Online Resource Centre accompanies this text and includes: For students: Multiple Choice Questions For registered adopters: Lecturer's guide PowerPoint slides Figures and tables from the book
Creating a clear, analytical framework, this comprehensive exploration of the relationship between institutional theory and the study of organizations continues to reflect the richness and diversity of institutional thought—viewed both historically and as a contemporary, ongoing field of study. Drawing on the insights of cultural and organizational sociologists, institutional economists, social and cognitive psychologists, political scientists, and management theorists, the book reviews and integrates the most important recent developments in this rapidly evolving field, and strengthens and elaborates the author’s widely accepted "pillars" framework, which supports research and theory construction. By exploring the differences as well as the underlying commonalities of institutional theories, the book presents a cohesive view of the many flavors and colors of institutionalism. Finally, the book evaluates and clarifies developments in both theory and research while identifying future research directions.
EATING THE BIG FISH : How Challenger Brands Can Compete Against Brand Leaders, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded The second edition of the international bestseller, now revised and updated for 2009, just in time for the business challenges ahead. It contains over 25 new interviews and case histories, two completely new chapters, introduces a new typology of 12 different kinds of Challengers, has extensive updates of the main chapters, a range of new exercises, supplies weblinks to view interviews online and offers supplementary downloadable information.
As David A. Nadler and Michael L. Tushman show, the last remaining source of truly sustainable competitive advantage lies in "organizational capabilities": the unique ways each organization structures its work, builds its cultures, and motivates its people to achieve clearly articulated aspirations and strategic objectives.
Helps educators develop the knowledge and skills they need for reading and interpreting the patterns that constitute the social texts of everyday life in school organizations, thus becoming empowered to initiate effective schoolwide change efforts.
Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture provides a framework, a sense-making tool, a set of systematic steps, and a methodology for helping managers and their organizations carefully analyze and alter their fundamental culture. Authors, Cameron and Quinn focus on the methods and mechanisms that are available to help managers and change agents transform the most fundamental elements of their organizations. The authors also provide instruments to help individuals guide the change process at the most basic level—culture. Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture offers a systematic strategy for internal or external change agents to facilitate foundational change that in turn makes it possible to support and supplement other kinds of change initiatives.
