In this comprehensive and scholarly book, the essential critical strands in organizational analysis are explained. It examines how central traditions have realigned in relation to the challenge of postmodernism and the new reflexive turn in organizational studies. Judicious, innovative and written with the needs of students in mind, this book offers a renewed and revitalized critical accent in organization studies - one that focuses on existing and emerging social tendencies, contestations and struggles. It will be essential reading for senior students of organization studies and sociology.
`Catherine Casey has written an excellent book that provides a lucid and comprehensive critical analysis of organizations....[It] extends in reach and relevance beyond the specific field of organization studies and the sociology of organizations to encompass broader intellectual developments that have had a significant impact on contemporary sociology and cultural studies′ - Barry Smart, Professor of Sociology, University of Portsmouth `I anticipate that it will prove to be an attractive book in organization studies, industrial sociology and general sociology. I am sure that this will be a book that will make a major impact′ - Mike Reed, Professor of Organization Theory, Lancaster University In this comprehensive and scholarly book, the essential critical strands in organizational analysis are explained. It examines how central traditions have realigned in relation to the challenge of postmodernism and the new reflexive turn in organizational studies. Judicious, innovative and written with the needs of students in mind, this book offers a renewed and revitalized critical accent in organization studies - one that focuses on existing and emerging social tendencies, contestations and struggles. It will be essential reading for senior students of organization studies and sociology.
This book takes up a question that has rarely been raised in the field of management: 'Could modern Western colonialism have important implications for the practices and theories that inform management and organizations?' Employing the frameworks of postcolonial theory, an international group of scholars addresse this question, and offer remarkable insights about the implications of the colonial encounter for management. Wide-ranging in scope, the book covers major topics like cross-cultural management, control and resistance, corporate culture, the discourse of exoticization in museums and tourism, and stakeholder issues, and sheds new light on the troubling legacy of colonialism. Scholars and practitioners searching for a new idiom of management will find this book's critique of contemporary management invaluable.
Instances of wrongdoing in and by organizations have featured heavily in news headlines in recent years. Why do organizational participants—employees, managers, senior officials—engage in illegal, unethical, and socially irresponsible behavior? The dominant view of wrongdoing as an abnormal phenomenon assumes that the perpetrator is a rational, proactive actor, working in isolation. However, Palmer develops an alternative approach in this book, examining wrongdoing as a normal occurrence, produced by boundedly rational actors whose behaviour is shaped by the immediate social context over a period of time. The book provides a comprehensive critical review of the theory and research on organizational wrongdoing. By using rich case study material, it illuminates different perspectives, potential explanations, and policy suggestions for the reduction of organizational wrongdoing.
In response to the needs of lecturers, the acclaimed Handbook of Organization Studies has been made available as two major paperback textbooks. In this, the first of a two-volume paperback edition of the landmark Handbook of Organization Studies, editors Stewart Clegg and Cynthia Hardy survey the field of organization studies. Studying Organization is an ideal textbook around which to build courses on organization theory and research methodology. Central to the enterprise has been a concern to reflect and honour the manifest diversity of the field, including recognition of the extent to which the very notion of a single field of organization studies is debated. Part One locates the study of organization by reviewing some of the most significant theoretical paradigms to have shaped our understanding. The second part reflects on the relationships between theory and research in organization studies.
Understanding of the history and development of organization theory has recently made advances through work emerging on the history of management thought as well as through the institutionalization of critical approaches to organizations and organizational knowledge. This book provides a new reading of the historical development of organization.
This collection highlights a number of directions in which organization theory could develop. It also argues the need for an historical analysis of the sociology of organizations. Other issues discussed are the ideological stance of contemporary organization theory and the limiting framework that tends to ignore the wider social context in which organizations exist.
To strategically plan the future of a business, it is necessary to thoroughly understand the business and its position in the marketplace. This knowledge must be gathered through a comprehensive analysis of the organization, its suppliers, and customers. It is critical to review the tools and techniques that are available to develop a complete picture of the strength and value of a company and its internal interactions and relationships, together with the surrounding environment of competition and other factors that will enable planners to reliably assess the possibilities for the strategic direction for the organization. Insufficient attention is currently being given in business studies to achieve critical, useful information for the strategic development of an organization. Critical Analysis and Architecture for Strategic Business Planning seeks to fill current gaps in business and operations research by highlighting the need for greater focus on the research and analysis required to obtain the right kind of information pertaining to the effective business development of an organization. This publication examines the literature for best practices for business research and analysis, which would lead to obtaining the most advantageous information for guiding business and organizations. Covering topics such as business planning, information systems, and competitive advantage, it is an essential resource for managers, business leaders, business strategists, consultants, students and educators of higher education, researchers, and academicians.
The Theory and Philosophy of Organizations makes a major contribution to the debate on the status of organizational theory as a discipline. The volume is divided into three sections exploring issues under the headings `theory', `anasis' and `philosophy'. In each, the limitations of `traditional' or `scientific' organizational paradigms are illuminated and new forms of interpretation offered.
The concept of the 'learning organization' is one of the most popular management ideas of the last few decades. Since it was conceived as an idea in its own right, it has been given various definitions and meanings, such that we are still faced with the question as to whether any unified understanding of what the learning organization really is can be established. This Handbook offers extensive reviews of both new and traditional perspectives on the concept and provides suggestions for how the learning organization can best be defined, practiced, studied, and developed in future research. With contributions from long-standing scholars in the field as well as those new to the area, this book aims to bridge the gap between traditional and more critical perspectives, and in doing so find alternative features and angles to take the idea forward. In addition to elaborating on and developing older definitions of the learning organization and suggesting updated and even new definitions, the chapters also provide focused explorations on pertinent aspects of the learning organization such as ambidexterity, gender inclusivity, and systems thinking. They also survey organizations that have made efforts towards becoming learning organizations, how the learning organization can best be measured and studied, and the universality of the idea itself. Some of the questions raised in this book are answered, or at least given tentative answers, while other questions are left open. In this way, the book has the ambition to take the learning organization an important step further, whilst having no intentions to take any final step; instead, the intention is that others will endeavour to continue where this book stops.
