Formal Organizations


Book Description

Upon its publication in 1962, this book became one of the founding texts of organizational sociology. Bringing together diverse approaches, it presented a new focus of interest: the formal organization. This reissue, which includes a new introduction by Scott, makes this seminal work accessible to a new generation of scholars and practitioners.




My Secret Life on the McJob: Lessons from Behind the Counter Guaranteed to Supersize Any Management Style


Book Description

Once upon a time, a Ph.D. went to work at Mickey D's... And what he found was illuminating. Jerry Newman, a college professor who has taught business courses for nearly 30 years, went undercover as a bottom-rung worker for the biggest names in fast food, including McDonald's and Burger King. Newman found that fast-food chains were the perfect petri dishes for covert research: High-pressure, high-volume businesses with high-employee turnover. The pecking order was also crystal clear, from fry cook all the way up to store manager. Of the seven restaurants where Newman worked, some were high-morale, high-productivity machines. Others were miserable, misplaced circles of hell. Yet one common trait stuck out from them all: Each restaurant's respective manager determined the climate of the work environment. Go behind the fast food counter with Newman and see what happens on an average day on the “McJob”... how the restaurants are run (for better or worse) how managers reward good employees when raises are impossible (believe it or not, bosses give 'em more hours-and it works!) how morale and motivation spring directly from the manager's office and how a few simple adjustments to your own management style-the “Supersized Management Principles” in this book-can transform and invigorate your workplace




Organization Theory by Chester Barnard


Book Description

This book helps undergraduate and graduate students understand Chester Barnard’s organization theory. Barnard’s book The Functions of the Executive is a classic that, along with Herbert Simon’s Administrative Behavior, is often considered to be essential reading for management students. However, it is well known to be difficult and abstract. Offering a systematic overview, this book provides an excellent introduction to Barnard’s organization theory. Chester Barnard’s concept of formal organization is often cited as a definitive opus on the subject of organization. However, he provided other concepts of organization, such as cooperative systems, complex formal organizations, and informal organizations. In his second book, Organization and Management, he added two more concepts, lateral organizations and status systems, allowing researchers to gain a better understanding of how Barnard developed his organization theory after his first publication. Barnard was a successful practitioner as well as a theorist, and his organization theory is full of practical insights gained from managing various types of organizations, including NGOs and NPOs. This book discusses how Barnard’s organization theory can be applied to business practices in the context of exploring a new style of management, and provides suggestions for business people seeking innovations for their own organizations.




Introduction to Sociology 2e


Book Description

"This text is intended for a one-semester introductory course."--Page 1.




Sociology of Organizations


Book Description

A collection of both classic and contemporary studies of organizations that is designed around competing theoretical frameworks, this book examines organizations with attention to structure and objectives interactions among members and among organizations, the relationship between the organization and its environment, and the social significance or social meaning of the organization.




Organization outside Organizations


Book Description

Describes the organizational aspects of contemporary society, explaining how organization occurs not only inside formal organizations, but also outside and among them.




Organizations and Society


Book Description

What are the costs and consequences of living in a society that has undergone an "organizational revolution"? To what extent is social life in the 21st century dominated by the rational control that is characteristic of bureaucratic organizations large and small? Organizations and Society addresses these broader human questions with a critical perspective, while at the same time explaining the main concepts and theories in the field. Students of all interests—those who wish to run organizations someday, study them, or simply understand their importance in the contemporary social order—will benefit from the insights and cogent arguments of this text for undergraduate classrooms.




The New Institutionalism in Organizational Analysis


Book Description

Long a fruitful area of scrutiny for students of organizations, the study of institutions is undergoing a renaissance in contemporary social science. This volume offers, for the first time, both often-cited foundation works and the latest writings of scholars associated with the "institutional" approach to organization analysis. In their introduction, the editors discuss points of convergence and disagreement with institutionally oriented research in economics and political science, and locate the "institutional" approach in relation to major developments in contemporary sociological theory. Several chapters consolidate the theoretical advances of the past decade, identify and clarify the paradigm's key ambiguities, and push the theoretical agenda in novel ways by developing sophisticated arguments about the linkage between institutional patterns and forms of social structure. The empirical studies that follow—involving such diverse topics as mental health clinics, art museums, large corporations, civil-service systems, and national polities—illustrate the explanatory power of institutional theory in the analysis of organizational change. Required reading for anyone interested in the sociology of organizations, the volume should appeal to scholars concerned with culture, political institutions, and social change.




Tva and the Grass Roots


Book Description

Excerpt from Tva and the Grass Roots: A Study in the Sociology of Formal Organization The files and the personnel Of the Tennessee Valley Authority were the primary sources Of research data. The unpublished record has been accorded the same status as personal interview materials, so that sources and quotations cannot always be given specific reference. I have en deavored to protect the anonymity of those in and out of the Authority who have helped me to an understanding of the tva's methods and pro gram. At the same time, informants on questions Of detail have been restricted to those within tva who have worked on the programs dis cussed. A check with the written record was made wherever possible. Interviews with Officials in Washington and in the Tennessee Valley states were also of assistance. It is hoped that a contribution has been made here toward the evolu tion of a theory of organization. In that sense, the study is not practical or programmatic. It is believed, however, that a practical relevance will be discerned by those involved in action who must take into account such general relations within and among organizations as are studied here. It must also be emphasized that what is presented here is only one aspect Of the total tva picture. For more general presentations of the Author ity's program, the reader is referred to such volumes as David E. Lilien thal's tva: Democracy on the March, C. Herman Pritchett's The Tennessee Valley Authority: A Study in Public Administration, and Herman Finer's tva: Lessons for International Application. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.




Organizational Sociology


Book Description

The readings collected in Organizational Sociology are organized so as to direct attention to the six major theoretical traditions which have emerged since the 1960s to guide research and interpretation of organizational structure and performance. The traditions reviewed are: Contingency theory, Resource dependence. Population and Community ecology, Transactions costs economics, Neo-Marxist theory and Institutional Theory. Major statements of each theory are presented together with examples of related empirical research. A concluding section provides examples of recent attempts to combine and integrate two or more of these theories, as analysts attempt to account for some aspects of organization. Rather than pitting one perspective against another, contemporary analysts are more likely to selectively combine elements from several theories in order to better understand the phenomenon of interest.