Session 01: Introduction to Perspectives on Organization Theory

Topics

Welcome! Our first class will introduce the course and alternative perspectives on organization and management theory. Please read the required readings and come to our first class prepared to discuss them.

Discussants: Profs. Andy Van de Ven and Mary Benner – Course introduction, readings, resources, and procedures

Class Discussion Slides

Required Readings

• Scott & Davis (2007) “Organizations: Rational, natural, and open systems,” Chpts. 1-5, pp. 1-123.

• Aldrich & Ruef (2006) “Organizations Evolving,” Chpts. 1, pp. 1-15.

• Adler (2009) “Introduction: A social science which forgets its founders is lost” Chpt 1, pp. 3-19.

• Thornton (2009) “The value of the classics,” Chpt 2, pp. 20-36 in Adler (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Sociology and Organization Studies, pp. 20-36.

Supplementary Readings

• • Adler (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Sociology and Organization Studies, Oxford University Press

  • Burrell & Morgan (1979) Sociological analysis and organizational analysis, London: Heinemann.

  • Astley & Van de Ven (1983) "Central Perspectives and Debates in OT," ASQ, 28: 245-273.

  • Perrow (1986) Complex organizations: A critical essay, Third Edition, New York: Random House.

  • Clegg, Hardy, & Nord (1996) Handbook of organization studies, London: Sage.

  • Morgan (1997) Images of organization, Second Edition, Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

  • Pfeffer (1997) New directions for organization theory: Problems and Prospects, NY: Oxford U. Press.

  • Van de Ven (1999), “The buzzing, blooming, confusing world of OMT,” Jrnl. Mgmt Inquiry, 8: 118-125.

  • Baum (2001) “Companion to Organizations: An Introduction,” Chpt. 1, Blackwell, pp. 1-34.

  • Tsoukas & Knudsen (2003) The Oxford Handbook of Organization Theory, Oxford, U.K. Oxford U. Press.

  • Poole & Van de Ven (2004) Handbook of Organizational Change and Development, NY: Oxford U. Press.

  • Hatch and Sutcliffe (2006) Organization theory: Modern, symbolic, and postmodern Perspectives, 2nd ed. NY: Oxford U. Press.

  • Davis, (2009), “The rise and fall of finance and the end of the society of organizations, AMP, 27-44.

  • King, Felin & Whetten (2010), “Finding the organization in organizational theory: A meta-theory of the organization as a social actor,” Org. Sci. 21: 290-305.