Organization Theory: Challenges and Perspectives (Paperback)

Organization Theory brings a fresh approach to long-standing questions and is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students for whom the study of organizational theory or analysis is an integral part of their degree programme.

This book is to my knowledge, the most comprehensive and reliable guide to organisational theory currently available. What is needed is a text that will give a good idea of the breath and complexity of this important subject, and this is precisely what McAuley, Duberley and Johnson have provided. They have done some sterling service in bringing together the very diverse strands of work that today qualify as constituting the subject of organisational theory. Whilst their writing is accessible and engaging, their approach is scholarly and serious. It is so easy for students (and indeed others who should know better) to trivialise this very problematic and challenging subject. This is not the case with the present book. This is  abook that deserves to achieve a wide readership.
Professor Stephen Ackroyd, Lancaster University, UK

This new textbook usefully situates organization theory within scholary debates on modernism and postmodernism, and provides an advanced introduction to the heterogeneous study of ogranizations, including chapters on phenomenology, critical theory and psychoanalysis. Like all good textbooks, the book is accessible, well researched and readers are encouraged to view chapters as a starting point for getting to grips with the field of organization theory.
Dr Martin Brigham, Lancaster University, UK

McAuley et al provide a highly readable account of ideas, perspectives and practices of organization. By thoroughly explaining, analyzing and exploring organization theory the book increases the understanding of a field that in recent years has become ever more fragmented. Organization theory is central to managing, organizing and reflecting on both formal and informal structures, and in this respect you will find this book timely, interesting and valuable.
Peter Holdt Christensen, Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

McAuley et al's book is thought-provokingm witty and highly relevant for understanding contemporay organisational dilemmas. The book engages in an imaginitive way with a wealth of organisational concepts and theories as well as provides insightful examples from the practical world of organisations. The authors' sound scholarship and transparent style of writing set the book apart, making it an ingenious ready which invites reflexivity, critcalness and plurality of opinion from the audience. This is a book that will become a classic in organisation studies.
Mihaela L.Keleman, Professor of Management Studies, Keel University, UK

An unusually rich and deep philosophical book on organization theory with several new thinkers and ideas. Pedagogically a well-structured book with many clear learning objectives, cases, examples and good summaries for every chapter.
Professor Martin Lindell, Hanken Business School, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland

This book makes it easier to understand the current stand of organization theory. I strongly recommend it to anyoneseriously interested in the different intellectual traditions that contribute to our understanding or organizations.
Professor Tomas Müllern, Jönköping International Business School, Sweden

McAuley, Duberley and Johnson's Organization Theory takes you on a joyful ride through the developments of one of the great enigmas of our time - How should we understand the organization?
Jan Ole Simil™, Assistant Professor, Nord-Trøndelag University CollegeNorway

I really enjoyed this new text and I am sure my students will enjoy it, too. It combines rigorous theoretical argument with application and consideration of how management practice is formed and shaped by ideas and concepts. The authors have brought their wealth of experience and understanding and provided the field with an imaginative resource to address the dynamics theory and practice.
Dr Susanne Tietze, Bradford University, UK

The key to success for manager is not only to be result orientated but also to be wise in their decision making. This requires that they have a deeper than superficial understanding of management and organisation issues. McAuley et al helps student and managers understand organizational performance without having to go through extensive reading. It deepens their understanding of issues with which they are confronted in practice, by putting them into a larger context. This book really helps students and managers to become wiser.
Professor René Tissen, Nyenrode Business University, The Netherlands

This book will appeal to the student who seeks a thorough and critical understanding of organization theory. It is both rigorous and accessible, clearly and unashamedly pitched for readers who wish to engage with theoretical issues whilst also maintaining a practical focus on why organization theory matters. I felt in good hands here, confident that I was being offered a deeply informed, reliable and intelligently constructed account. The opening chapter carefully and helpfully explain terms inlcuding 'theory' and 'epistemology', that can form an unexploded bedrock  to texts in the field. It then offers thoughtful, scholarly and well-illustrated discussions of prominent theoretical perspective, including managerialism and postmodernity, supported by specified learning outcomes and guides to further reading.
Dr Paul Tosey, University of Surrey, UK

The field of organization theory is extremely fragemented and there is no agreement concerning the underlying theoretical dimensions nor the methodological approach to be employed. With the recognition of different approaches to organization theory, there is a widely perceived need to bring some order to the field. This textbook offers a well-integrated synthesis of approaches to organization theory. It will be welcomed by organization theory scholars and reflective practitioners and is valuable companion for scholars and students of organization theory.
Professor Henk W. Volberda, Chair of the Department of Strategic Management & Business Environment and Vice-Dean of the RSM Erasmus University, The Netherland

At last a text that brings organization theory into the 21st century! This is the first Organization Theory textbook to provide full informed coverage of a range of comtemporary development in the field. Notably, it includes diverse contributions to organization theory made by critical management studies. It really is pathbreaking in terms of its inclusion of material that does not appear in other texts.
Professor Hugh Willmott, Cardiff Business School, UK

This is one of the most up-to-date and comprehensive texts in the field of organization studies. It takes the reader through different perspectives and various topics on management and organizing, discussing these in some depth and detail. It offers a historically grounded, critical-reflexive approach to studying organizations that will prove to be extremely helpful guidance to students.
Dr Sierk Ybema,  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

What is organization theory and why does it matter? Where did it start, how has it developed, and what impact does it have on today’s organisations? What challenges does it pose, what solutions can it offer, and how can it be used to make sense of contemporary management and organization?

This book addresses these questions and explores organization theory from its origins right up to present-day debates. The authors pay sceptical respect to different schools of thought, encouraging the reader to engage in a critical dialogue between varying perspectives. In addition, the frequenl reality.

A rich set of pedagogical features to support the reader includes:

• Stop and Think boxes to invite personal or group reflection
• Brief Biographies of seminal thinkers
• Case Studies on organizations such as ….
• Ideas and Perspectives to introduce and summarize key theories

John McAuley is Head of Programmes: Research Degrees at Sheffield Business School, Sheffield Hallam University. Joanne Duberley is Senior Lecturer at Birmingham Business School, University of Birmingham. Phil Johnson is Principal Lecturer in Organizational Behaviour at The Management School, Sheffield University.

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