| Edition |
4th ed. |
| Physical description |
xvi, 416 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 364-400) and indexes. |
| Contents |
1. The Subject Is Organizations -- 2. Organizations as Rational Systems -- 3. Organizations as Natural Systems -- 4. Organizations as Open Systems -- 5. Combining the Perspectives -- 6. Conceptions of Environments -- 7. Creating Organizations -- 8. Boundary Setting and Boundary Spanning -- 9. Sources of Structural Complexity: The Technical Core -- 10. Sources of Structural Complexity: The Peripheral Components -- 11. Goals, Power, and Control -- 12. Organizational Pathologies -- 13. Organizational Effectiveness. |
| Summary |
This clear, intellectually engaging introduction reviews the field of organization studies -- its past, its present and its likely areas of significant future development. |
|
Specifically, it surveys the development of rational, natural and open systems -- from earlier to contemporary forms -- and provides a framework to allow students to comprehend past and present theories and to understand current controversies. While attending to the contributions of other disciplines to the understanding of organizations, the approach taken is primarily sociological. The arguments are addressed not only to current and future managers, but to anyone who is obliged to live and work in a society dominated by organizations. |
| Subject |
Organizational sociology.
|
| ISBN |
0132663546 |
|
