The Sociology of Organizations; Classic, Contemporary, and Critical Readings

by Michael J Handel

• ISBN13: 9780761987666
• ISBN10: 0761987665
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-19
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

"Michael Handel has assembled an authoritative and wide-ranging collection of key articles in the organizations field, and complements these papers with a terrific critical survey of the literature. His introductory essays will benefit both students and researchers alike. This collection is a real service to the field." - Walter W. Powell, Stanford University "A unique reader and commentary with broad coverage of the classics, combined with a healthy skepticism about received theories and an emphasis on the impact of organizations on society. The lucid commentary brightens the field." - Charles Perrow, Yale University For the first time, a single volume offers a comprehensive selection of primary readings and companion overview essays on the sociology of organizations. These readings and essays provide incisive and guided coverage of the subjects normally included in a one-semester sociology of organizations course. The Sociology of Organizations covers the full range of theoretical perspectives and substantive topics through readings that are either classics in the field or widely discussed and debated "new classics." Section introductions explain key terms and concepts, provide illustrations, and summarize related debates and research in clear prose. The depth of these overview essays makes this book ideal for use as either as a stand-alone text or a supplementary reader. After reading this book, students will have a thorough understanding of central concepts and an appreciation of the primary texts that are the foundation of the field. Scholars and students in the fields of sociology, management, organizational behavior, and organizational psychology and those within political science and economics who are interested in how organizations function will find this work a welcome, invaluable resource.

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

Organizations as Rational Systems I: Classic Theories of Bureaucracy and Administration - Michael J. Handel

A. Early Definitions of Organization and Management

Bureaucracy and Legitimate Authority - Max Weber

Critique

B. Scientific Management and the Treatment of Labor

The Principles of Scientific Management - Frederick W. Taylor

Critique

The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century - Harry Braverman

Organizations as Rational Systems II: Contingency Theory and the Discover of Organizational Variation - Michael J. Handel

The Management of Innovation - Tom Burns / G.M. Stalker

Technology and Organization - Joan Woodward

The Measurement of Organization Structures - D.S. Pugh

Organizations as Human and Social Systems I: The Impulse to Reform Work - Michael J. Handel

A. The Early Human Relations Movement

The Hawthorne Experiments - George C. Homans

Critique

Hawthorne, the Myth of the Docile Worker, and Class Bias in Psychology - Dana Bramel / Ronald Friend

B. Humanistic Management and Contemporary Employee Involvement

The Human Side of Enterprise - Douglas McGregor

From Control to Commitment in the Workplace - Richard E. Walton

A Differnt Kind of Company: From Control to Commitment in Practice - Saul Rubinstein

Critique

Inside a Japanese Transplant: A Critical Perspective - Laurie Graham

Organizations as Human and Social Systems II: Informal Organizations as Shadow Structure - Michael J. Handel

Conflicts Between Staff and Line Managerial Officers - Melville Dalton

The World of Corporate Managers - Robert Jackall

Manufacturing Consent: Changes in the Labor Process Under Market Capitalism - Michael Burawoy

Rationality and Non-Rationality in Organizational Decision Making - Michael J. Handel

Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis - Graham Allison

Power Inside Organizations - Michael J. Handel

Organizations and Oligarchy - Robert Michaels

Organizations as Open Systems: Organizations and Their Environments - Michael J. Handel

A. Resource Dependency Theory

The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective - Jeffrey Pfeffer / Gerald R. Salancik

B. Institutional Theory

The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields - Paul DiMaggio / Wlater Powell

Organizational Ecology

Density-Dependent Processes - Glenn R. Carroll / Michael T. Hannan

Economic Theories of Organizations - Michael J. Handel

Theory of the Firm: Managerial Behavior, Agency Costs, and Ownership Structure - Michael C. Jensen /William H. Meckling

The Economics of Organization: The Transaction Cost Approach - Oliver E. Williamson

Critique

Markets, Hierarchies and Hegemony - Charles Perrow

The Evolution of Modern Business Organization: From Big Business to Post-Fordism - Michael J. Handel

A. Alfred Chandler's Account of the Rise of Big Business

The Emergence of Managerial Capitalism - Alfred D. Chandler, Jr.

B. Post-Bureaucratic Alternatives to Big Business

Neither Market Nor Hierarchy: Network Forms of Organization - Walter W. Powell

Critique

Lean and Mean: The Changing Landscape of Corporate Power in an Age of Flexibility - Bennett Harrison

Organizational Culture - Michael J. Handel

Engineering Culture: Control and Commitment in a Hihg-Tech Corporation - Gideon Kunda

Organizations and Society: Gender, Race, Class, and Politics - Michael J. Handel

Men and Women of the Corporation - Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Black Mobility in Corporations: Up the Corporate Ladder but Out on a Limb - Sharon Collins

Segmented Labor Markets - Richard Edwards

The Access Process: Loopholes as a System - Dan Clawson Alan Neustadtl, and Denise Scott

Organizational Deviance - Michael J. Handel

Normal Accidents: Living With High-Risk Technologies - Charles Perrow

Rational Choice, Situated Action, and the Social Control of Organizations:; The Challenger Launch Decision - Diane Vaughan

Democratic Alternatives to Capitalist Bureaucracy: Worker Ownerships and Self-Management - Michael J. Handel

The Collectivist Organization: An Alternative to Rational Bureaucratic Models - Joyce Rothschild-Whitt

Worker Ownership, Participation, and Control: Toward a Theoretical Model - William Foote/Joseph R. Blasi/Douglas Lynn Kruse

Government, Nonprofit Agencies, and Voluntary Associations - Michael J. Handel

Street-Level Bureaucracy - Michael Lipsky

References

Index