This is a comprehensive, systematic casebook which demonstrates the contribution of research to the formulation and resolution of organisational problems actually faced by managers. The cases are presented in clusters which centre on a particular aspect of organisational behaviour: motivation, groups, technology, leadership, structure, change and development. Each cluster is introduced by comments on the cases and references to the theoretical literature. The introduction reviews the case method and provides suggestions for using it.

Organizations do not have goals – only people do. Furthermore, people within the same organizations have different goals. This book takes this as its starting point, recognizing that organizations are a dynamic coalition of individuals and groups competing and co-operating as they each pursue their various objectives. Power is a fundamental part of organizational behaviour but many previous studies failed to recognize its centrality. This book remedies this.

This volume contrasts the life and problems of organizations in many parts of the world and highlights the differences between those societies as reflected in their different institutional sectors such as manufacturing, commerce, social services and government administration. In so doing, the book contributes to the theoretical foundations of the sociology of organizations by revealing previously unseen relationships between societies and institutions, offering an original synthesis of available research.

In this book the author develops a theory of power and organization, derived from a critical consideration of a literature extending across sociology, political science, philosophy and organization theory. The book raises and answers some of the issues which are important in the construction of a theoretical apparatus for the analysis of power and at the same time it proposes an alternative concept of organization, centred around the themes of power and control.

In this volume the authors develop a systematic and chronologically based critique of the major concepts, figures and schools in organization. Themes discussed include: the development of scientific management and the responses of Gramsci and Lenin to it the meaning of Mayo and the Human Relations School the development of typological systems and contingency models of the organization key concepts of goals, environment and technology.

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.

Getting strategies and structures right for changing market conditions and successfully matching strategies and structures with each other, are crucial. This volume reviews and develops the extensive literature in the areas of business policy and organizational behaviour, taking the subject further by breaking down boundaries between subject areas within management studies; by adopting a dynamic approach to organizational issues; and by synthesizing the disparate, often confusing research findings in this area into a general theoretical approach which can be assimilated by managers faced with the problems of the real world.

This textbook provides first-hand, inside accounts of the process of doing research in organizations. It is intended both for students of research methods in sociology and social psychology, and for students of organization studies, organizational behaviour and management. The contributors tackle such problems as: gaining access to organizations, ‘getting on’ in organizations, quantitative and qualitative styles of investigation, the use of historical materials, the effects of resources on the context of research, the part played by political factors in organizational research, the relevance of grounded theory and conducting research within a cross-cultural framework.

The book brings together in a single volume material and issues normally treated separately, such as management studies, organisation theory, personnel management, industrial relations and motivation theory. Traditional topics such as the Hawthorne Experiments, Weber’s ideal type of bureaucracy and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs are put into perspective, along with ideas about organisational cultures, the labour process and the idea of corporate employment strategies.

In this important MBA text the authors adopt a highly integrated approach. Using the three conceptual lenses of power, meaning and design they explore fully the many different ways in which technology and organizations interact. They highlight the major debates within these competing perspectives and argue that the flow of knowledge and ideas within and between organizations is crucial in shaping technologies and organizations alike.