- Hardcover: 445 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books; 4th Edition edition (1993)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0195087321
- ISBN-13: 978-0195087321
- Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 16.7 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 801,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Charles Handy's revolutionary 1989 bestseller The Age of Unreason catapulted him into the ranks of the top management consultants. In Understanding Organizations, he solidifies his reputation as a seminal business thinker, offering a brilliantly insightful, wide-ranging look at business organizations.
This classic text offers an illuminating discussion of key concepts of concern to all managers: culture, motivation, leadership, power, role-playing and working in groups. Ever mindful of actual business practice, Handy directly addresses how managers can translate the six main concepts into invaluble tools for effective management. He discusses how all organizations need to select, develop and reward their people; to structure and design their work; to resolve political conflicts; to lay down guidelines for their managers; and to plan for the future. In each case, the approaches and techniques described here are invaluable.
Equally important, Handy excels at presenting his ideas in colourful, immediately accessible ways, filling the book with illuminating examples and inventive metaphors that range from Tolstoy's ideas on the concept of self, to the many meanings of "good morning," to the conversations that occur in a stopped elevator, to the proper size for a vineyard or an elephant. He shows, for instance, how an optical illusion experiment sheds light on interdepartmental relations, and how the way schoolchildren are typecast by their peers helps explain corporate hierarchies. And along with case studies, graphs, charts, and questionnaires, Understanding Organizations is peppered with boxed sections that offer advice and stimulate thought, brimming with provocative quotations from business wizards such as Peter Drucker, Tom Peters, Warren Bennis, Alvin Toffler, and Rosabeth Moss Kanter, as well as from Aristotle, Shakespeare, Gilbert and Sullivan, Gail Sheehy, and Joseph Heller.
What the successful manager knows intuitively, Charles Handy puts into words. His powerful interpretive schemes will help managers grasp the underlying dynamics of their company, make sense of its past, and assess--and shape--its future. --Jake Bond --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.
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First Sentence
I came to the study of people in organizations expecting certainty and absolute knowledge in the behavioural sciences. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
I came to the study of people in organizations expecting certainty and absolute knowledge in the behavioural sciences. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I first came across this book when studying for my MBA.Later I started teaching management classes(1992);the official reading lists for the courses I taught were long and full of difficult to read texts. Some of the students asked me to recommend an easy to read text; I recommended this book because I had found it so easy to handle. I've recommended it ever since. Over the years it has been revised and improved so it still remains fresh and stuffed with current management thinking. The summaries of different theories are really useful for struggling students.If you are a first year BA or a CMS/DMS student - buy it!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Charles Handy has been very influential shaping my attitudes to work, life styles and the management of organisations. This is a great primer for new students. I also highy recommend reading all his books and listening to his audio recordings.
His later works outline succinctly the demands changing corporations and globalization place on individuals and society. A very inspirational and thought provoking commentator, he positions the world of work in the larger context of ethics and morality. He also explores the human struggle to maintain individuality, spirituality, choice, freedom and dignity
His later works outline succinctly the demands changing corporations and globalization place on individuals and society. A very inspirational and thought provoking commentator, he positions the world of work in the larger context of ethics and morality. He also explores the human struggle to maintain individuality, spirituality, choice, freedom and dignity
36 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This book draws upon and analyses most modern management theories, and gives Handys well informed perspectives. The work does indeed contain pearls of wisdom, and should be essential reading for any open minded manager. The work is intended as a diagnostic tool, and would be essential for any of us prudent enough to use it as such. It is also well written enough to make a stimulating and interesting read for any intellectual person, something that cannot be said of many management books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The year is 2012 - 2012! and this book is still one of the better ones...
Such a good book to this this 4th ed is from 1993 and its still so good in to days world - love it! ive only just go this book and i can say its very "handy" for doing with (study... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Whitehawk
Great condition
I am very pleased with the condition of this item, considering the amount i paid for this item. Item was in great condition.
Published 15 months ago by Chi
Understandable and readable without lacking Information!
A comprehensive book on organizations, and how they work. The book has three parts.
Part one, 'The concepts', begins with the first chapter, about this book explaining... Read more
Part one, 'The concepts', begins with the first chapter, about this book explaining... Read more
Published 16 months ago by read4life
understanding organizations - a top book to buy
This book was purchased to complement my BSc(Hon). study materials. In general I found this book informative and easy to read and understand. Read more
Published on 19 Jan 2010 by D. Mcalpine
If you ony buy one book on Organisational Behaviour, make it this one
Charles Handy is arguably the UK's top business "guru", but in my opinion this title somewhat diminishes his life's work, which has gone beyond matters of simple business... Read more
Published on 7 July 2008 by Mr. N. Dougan
The Star
Easier to understand than other management books,
Excellent aptitude and examples
Down to Earth and Practical
When I got bored with the rest this... Read more
Excellent aptitude and examples
Down to Earth and Practical
When I got bored with the rest this... Read more
Published on 26 Sep 2006 by P. J. Tweedie
Essential, effortless reading
This is truly a remarkable book. Handy has compiled a great body of classic management theory and practice - and made it effortless to absorb. Read more
Published on 27 April 2006 by BikeMan
Overview of organisational behaviour
Handy's book is well-written and highly readable. By putting all litterature references at the end of the book the book becomes more readable as the book is free from reference... Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2003
An essential book on Organization Theory
Charles Handy's book is an essential reader of the most modern developments in organizational theory and organizational behaviour. Read more
Published on 12 Dec 1999
This book sets the foundations of strategic management
An in-depth read leaving no stones unturned. Have you ever thought for a minute that you have considered everything when dealing with people, projects and strategy... Read more
Published on 24 Sep 1999 by simon.allen@musicsales.co.uk
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