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For Positivist Organization Theory
- Lex Donaldson - Australian School of Business, Australia, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
October 1996 | 200 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Organization theory is presently dominated by theories of strategic choice and politics. Managers are seen as exercising a wide range of choices while maximizing their personal self-interest through complex power struggles. For Positivist Organization Theory challenges these views, arguing instead that managerial decisions are determined by the situation and serve the interests of the whole organization. Showing that all organizations follow the same universal laws across technologies and a variety of cultures, this intriguing volume rejects the model of organizational configurations and types. Author Lex Donaldson backs up his theory, offering a critical assessment of leading organization theorists such as Henry Mintzberg, John Child, Michael Hannan, and Danny Miller--along with the satirist Northcote Parkinson.
This important book will provide stimulating reading for academics and graduate students in organization, management, and administrative studies.
Positivist Organization Theory
For Determinism
For Determinism
For Functionalism
For Functionalism
For Cartesianism
For Generalization in Positivist Organization Theory
For Generalization of Organizational Size
Conclusions
`Organizations need to develop learning strategies to survive and develop in increasingly uncertain and changing markets. In this book, researchers from both Europe and the United States explore theories of strategic management and organzational behaviour to establish a link between learning processes and competitive advantage, within a variety of organizational settings. The book is organized in three main parts: learning processes and competitive advantages; organizational learning and strategic capability; and strategic change and organizational learning. Charts and tables clarify the theories and an excellent bibliography completes the work' - International Review of Administrative Sciences
