Electronic Inspection Copy available for instructors here We live in a society dominated by corporations. Whether working for one or pursuing leisure activities run by one, corporations have come to resonate through every aspect of our lives. Each chapter in Understanding Corporate Life supports the reader with a review of the relevant literature and research and a critique of how the theme under discussion fits into the bigger picture presented by the book.
An understanding of identity is fundamental to a complete understanding of organizational life. While conventional management textbooks nod to in-groups, cohesion and discrimination, this text offers instead a deeper, more nuanced understanding of why people, groups and organizations behave the way they do. With conceptions of identity perhaps less stable than they have ever been, the authors make complex theoretical issues accessible to the reader through the use of lively examples from popular culture. The authors present an overview of the key issues, as well as an examination of cutting-edge research and topical forces currently re-defining identity, such as globalisation, the fair trade movement and online identities. This text is a succinct, relevant and exciting overview of the field of identity studies as it relates to business and management and applied social sciences, an is an invaluable resource to undergraduate and postgraduate students of management on any course that has an identity component.
Understanding Careers: The Metaphors of Working Lives uses a unique framework of nine archetypal metaphors to encapsulate the field of career studies. Using an easy-to-read style, author Kerr Inkson examines key concepts, illustrating them with over 50 authentic career cases, to build an excellent bridge between theory and “real life.”
Sometimes possessing great talent, being competent at your job and having a positive outlook are not enough to do well at work. Professional success is not merely dependent on merit; being able to read people and their motives is what keeps one ahead. But organizational politics baffles most people and only the ones who can negotiate it manage to rise to the top. However, you don't need to 'play politics' to survive - just knowing how different workers operate is enough to keep you one step ahead.The Corporate Jungle is a guide to organizational politics. It will help you identify the Jaguars, the Lions, the Cats, the Bears and other types within your organization; let you know of destructive ploys people use, such as the Mustard Gas Strategy or the 3R Strategy; and teach you the right defence techniques. HR professional and expert Seema Raghunath's book is invaluable for anyone negotiating office politics and seeking to understand how interpersonal dynamics in organizations work.
Discover the essential thinking tools you’ve been missing with The Great Mental Models series by Shane Parrish, New York Times bestselling author and the mind behind the acclaimed Farnam Street blog and “The Knowledge Project” podcast. This first book in the series is your guide to learning the crucial thinking tools nobody ever taught you. Time and time again, great thinkers such as Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett have credited their success to mental models–representations of how something works that can scale onto other fields. Mastering a small number of mental models enables you to rapidly grasp new information, identify patterns others miss, and avoid the common mistakes that hold people back. The Great Mental Models: Volume 1, General Thinking Concepts shows you how making a few tiny changes in the way you think can deliver big results. Drawing on examples from history, business, art, and science, this book details nine of the most versatile, all-purpose mental models you can use right away to improve your decision making and productivity. This book will teach you how to: Avoid blind spots when looking at problems. Find non-obvious solutions. Anticipate and achieve desired outcomes. Play to your strengths, avoid your weaknesses, … and more. The Great Mental Models series demystifies once elusive concepts and illuminates rich knowledge that traditional education overlooks. This series is the most comprehensive and accessible guide on using mental models to better understand our world, solve problems, and gain an advantage.
In the spring of 2010, Harvard Business School’s graduating class asked HBS professor Clay Christensen to address them—but not on how to apply his principles and thinking to their post-HBS careers. The students wanted to know how to apply his wisdom to their personal lives. He shared with them a set of guidelines that have helped him find meaning in his own life, which led to this now-classic article. Although Christensen’s thinking is rooted in his deep religious faith, these are strategies anyone can use. Since 1922, Harvard Business Review has been a leading source of breakthrough ideas in management practice. The Harvard Business Review Classics series now offers you the opportunity to make these seminal pieces a part of your permanent management library. Each highly readable volume contains a groundbreaking idea that continues to shape best practices and inspire countless managers around the world.
Corporate Politics. Every large organization is rife with them. Most employees find politics to be confusing, irritating, unfair, and something to be avoided at all costs. Many years in senior positions inside a variety of large corporations forced me to realize ignoring an organization's politics was essentially impossible. Ignoring politics makes you vulnerable. Ignoring politics can cost you your job. And don't even think about ascending the corporate ladder, where you'll be easily victimized by the expert politicians who lurk there. Navigating Corporate Politics is written for those new to large corporations, those confused by the workings of politics within their organization, or those with an emerging interest in politics who want to learn more. It will explain how politics evolves in organizations, how to estimate the level of politics in your company, and the options you have for dealing with your employer's corporate politics. Inside this book you will find a framework that will allow you to place politics in the proper context with the other organization structures of the corporation. You will also find a way of classifying the level of political activism of your work associates, so you'll better know who to watch out for and who should be recruited as an ally. The book also details twenty of the most commonly used tactics employed by corporate politicians, giving you the information you need to employ the tactics as well as how to guard against them. Once you've finished, you'll be fully equipped to understand your organization's political minefield, and will have the beginnings of the skills needed to become a master politician yourself.
Introduction to Business covers the scope and sequence of most introductory business courses. The book provides detailed explanations in the context of core themes such as customer satisfaction, ethics, entrepreneurship, global business, and managing change. Introduction to Business includes hundreds of current business examples from a range of industries and geographic locations, which feature a variety of individuals. The outcome is a balanced approach to the theory and application of business concepts, with attention to the knowledge and skills necessary for student success in this course and beyond. This is an adaptation of Introduction to Business by OpenStax. You can access the textbook as pdf for free at openstax.org. Minor editorial changes were made to ensure a better ebook reading experience. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
There has been a growing interest among scholars in the fields of organizational behaviour and industrial psychology in what can be termed "the dark side of the organizations." A main concept in this regard this is both important and relevant counterproductive work behaviours (CWBs), which can be defined as deliberate actions that harm the organization or its members. These behaviours include a variety of acts that can be directed toward organizations (CWB-O) or toward other people (CWB-P). Destroying organizational property, purposely doing work incorrectly, and taking unauthorized work breaks are examples of CWB-O, whereas hitting a co-worker, insulting others, and shouting at someone are forms of CWB-P. Despite the growing interest in CWBs as a research issue, not enough is known about the determinants of CWBs. The goal of Counterproductive Work Behaviors therefore is to cover this stimulating, important, and innovative issue of dark triad personalities in the workplace. The book will deal with important aspects of this issue, such as the characteristics of dark triad personalities, how they operate and damage organizations, what organizations are more vulnerable to them, ways to diagnose and detect them, and ways to handle dark triad personalities and prevent them from harming organizations and employees. There is no doubt that the issues covered by Counterproductive Work Behaviors will continue to attract academic attention and therefore the book is essential reading for researchers, academics and business professionals alike in the fields of Organizational Studies and Behaviour, Organizational Psychology, Strategy, Human Resource Management, Leadership and the related disciplines.
Career Management & Work/Life Integration: Using Self-Assessment to Navigate Contemporary Careers is a comprehensive, easy-to-follow guide to managing contemporary careers. Although grounded in theory, the book also provides an extensive set of exercises and activities that can guide career management over the lifespan. Authors Brad Harrington and Douglas T. Hall offer a highly useful self-assessment guide for students and other individuals who want to deal with the challenge of succeeding in a meaningful career while living a happy, well-balanced life. Key Features Bridges theory and application: While the book helps readers gain a better understanding of theories on careers, work life, and human resources, it also guides them to develop a tailored, personalized career strategy for themselves. Offers a rigorous self-assessment process: Serving as the book′s foundation, this self-assessment guide gives readers a wealth of information and insight regarding their own career priorities and strategies. Provides a more thorough experiential view than existing books: This book integrates work from both the career management and the work life field while most academic literature treats these two areas separately. Intended Audience Career Management & Work/Life Integration is a great resource for employers and career planning offices. This book will also by ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in Career Management; Leadership Development; Organizational Behavior; and Human Resource Management in the departments of business, management, and organizational psychology. Instructor′s Resources Available upon request, an instructor′s resource CD accompanies the book and includes such teaching aids as PowerPoint slides, and teaching notes for each chapter, as well as assignments, key concepts, and terms for each chapter.
