In this book, leading organization theorist Gibson Burrell presents a provocative and challenging approach to the study of organizations, aiming to move beyond the two-dimensionality of much organizational thinking and present more complex 3-D models, which allow for the 'intractions' of apparently disparate perspectives. The book aims to illuminate organization theory by discussing its interrelationship with key features of economics, architecture, aesthetics, design of the built environment, and associated artwork. He argues that by their shared 'definitions', these areas of social science and the humanities are struggling with the same issue - 'the will to form'.The author suggests that, whilst there are a huge number of possibilities for the process of organizing, the constraints of the human body, our cognitive limitations in space and time, and our relationship to nature, mean that these are necessarily limited to an 'envelope' of possibilities. He then outlines the basic parameters of the 'design envelope', analysing it through discussion of 'styles', and examines the hidden assumptions of these styles with regards the origins and potentialities of human knowledge. Burrell argues that the envelope of organizational, politico-economic, and architectural design possibilities may be seen as a cube, thus taking forward the geometrical notions of 'lines' of fight, 'points' of difference, and 'planes' of agreement to discuss the huge range of, and massive constraints upon, human organizing that are reflected in the 'will to form'. Key differences in assumptions demarcate distinct 'styles of organizing' which every reader possesses - whether they are aware of them or not.

Styles of Organizing: The Will to Form

Politics & Social Sciences

Burrell, Gibson

Sociology

Oxford University Press

Organization Theory (State of the Art in Business Research)

Business & Money

Management & Leadership

Routledge

The authors argue in this book that social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four broad paradigms, based upon different sets of meta-theoretical assumptions with regard to the nature of social science and the nature of society. The four paradigms - Functionalist, Interpretive, Radical Humanist and Radical Structuralist - derive from quite distinct intellectual traditions, and present four mutually exclusive views of the social work. Each stands in its own right, and generates its own distinctive approach to the analysis of social life. The authors provide extensive reviews of the four paradigms, tracing the evolution and inter-relationships between the various sociological schools of thought within each. They then proceed to relate theories of organisation to this wider background. This book covers a great range of intellectual territory. It makes a number of important contributions to our understanding of sociology and organisational analysis, and will prove an invaluable guide to theorists, researchers and students in a variety of social science disciplines. It stands as a discourse in social theory, drawing upon the general area of organisation studies - industrial sociology, organisation theory, organisational psychology, and industrial relations - as a means of illustrating more general sociological themes. In addition to reviewing and evaluating existing work, it provides a framework for appraising future developments in the area of organisational analysis, and suggests the form which some of these developments are likely to take.

Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis: Elements of the Sociology of Corporate Life

Social Sciences

Heinemann

Pandemonium: Towards a Retro-Organization Theory

`A truly bizarre and sometimes filthy historical canter through abatoirs, satyriasis and Noel Edmonds′ House Party, among other things, towards a theory of organisation′ - The Times ′The author pursues a vigorous polemic on organisational development′ - Financial Times In this irreverent and inventive book, Gibson Burrell seeks to circumvent the established frameworks which have defined our understanding of organization and organizations. He brings us tales from under the edge which enmire us in the nether side of modernist organization. By looking backwards deep into the history of Western societies, and sideways across the broad domain of social and cult

Sage Publications Ltd.

Organization Theory

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, Ny : Routledge, 2022

For Robert Cooper: Collected Work (Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society)

Robert Cooper, who died in 2013, was the leading theorist of organization working in England over the past few decades. Describing himself as a ‘social philosopher,’ he was one of the first writers to introduce post-structuralist and post-modern thought into theories of organization but was always reluctant to reduce what he did to being part of ‘Management.’ Instead, he concentrated on thinking about organizations and organizing, working with ideas about entity and process views of organizations, and also the dualisms of organization/environment, organization/disorganization, and concentrating particularly on ideas of the boundary or seam which divides and conjoins. He wrote about, and was influenced by systems theory and post-structuralist philosophy, particularly Whitehead, Bateson, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault and Simmel.  Cooper has already been the subject of much commentary but much of his work is not well known, and it deserves a wider readership. The purpose of this collection is to gather together a body of essays which are widely dispersed in journals and edited collections. This is a repository of pieces and extracts which stand the test of time, and scholars will benefit from a collection which pulls together some of his most influential work. The collection also contains two essays, one biographical and one intellectual, about Cooper and his work.

For Robert Cooper (Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society)

Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis: Elements of the Sociology of Corporate Life (Routledge Revivals)

Originally published in 1979. A classic in its field, Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis argues that social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four broad paradigms, based upon different sets of meta-theoretical assumptions with regard to the nature of social science and the nature of society. The four paradigms - Functionalist, Interpretive, Radical Humanist and Radical Structuralist - derive from quite distinct intellectual traditions, and present four mutually exclusive views, which stand in their own right, and generate their own distinctive approach to the analysis of social life. In this revised edition, Burrell and Morgan provide extensive reviews of the four paradigms, tracing the evolution and inter-relationships between the various sociological schools of thought within each. They then proceed to relate theories of organisation to this wider background. This book covers a great range of intellectual territory and makes a number of important contributions to our understanding of sociology and organisational analysis. Since publication it has been an invaluable guide to theorists, researchers and students in a variety of social science disciplines. It stands as a discourse in social theory, drawing upon the general area of organisation studies as a means of illustrating more general sociological themes and provides a framework for appraising future developments in the area of organisational analysis.

Morgan, Gareth

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