During a Pegasus conference presentation a year or so ago, Peter Senge
stated that: "we have no theory of organization". I am not sure who was
the "we" referred to, or whether Peter was referring to the fact that
there is no one(1) theory of organization that guides all our actions.
The Academy of Management has an entire division on 'organization theory',
and there are many theories and different schools of thought about what an
organization is. Subscribers here have already listed the work of Gareth
Morgan and Karl Weick, and there are many others whose work is well worth
reading.
What helped me to understand 'organization theory' as a field of study was
"Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay" by Charles Perrow. The book
considers the relative contributions of a variety of theories and has an
excellent bibliography. It is thorough and provides a critical overview
of the field.
regards,
Tony DiBella
co-author, "How Organizations Learn"
www.orgtransitions.com
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