Rethinking Organization

New Directions in Organization Theory and Analysis

Over the past two decades, organization studies has become increasingly pluralistic with a series of highly charged debates across intellectual "divides." It is these debates and their consequences for the current position and future development of organization studies that Rethinking Organization addresses. The first section reviews and evaluates the most significant theoretical developments of the last two decades, focusing in particular on the various ways in which "organization" has been conceptualized as the basis for organizational analyses. The second section examines a range of issues dealing with the major transformations in organizational forms currently occurring throughout advanced industrial societies. Final contributions outline a range of emergent new perspectives which present challenges both to the old and new orthodoxies of the field. This stimulating volume is provocative reading for students and academics in management, organization studies, sociology, and social psychology. "The chapters provide a useful examination of both 'hard' and 'soft' development theories and issues. . . . There is a wealth of material. . . . It will provide an invaluable teaching and learning resource for students following final year courses and Master's programmes and as such should be warmly received. . . . The book is obviously an important contribution to an under-researched area and readers will have much with which to argue." --Sociology "All [the chapters] are interesting and all add something unique to the various debates that the book deals with. . . . The book achieves its objectives of indicating new directions well. . ." --The Occupational Psychologist