Organizational Theory & Behaviour books

This volume attempts to build a bridge between POB and Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS). Similar to POB, but different from positive psychology, the primary emphasis of POS is on the workplace and on the accomplishment of work-related outcomes. The volume includes contributions from both fields, and theories and studies in which a positive individual perspective (POB) is combined with a positive organization perspective (POS).

This volume illustrates the breadth of questions and approaches that are amenable to qualitative research. The works have both theoretical relevance and pragmatic significance, holding important implications for organizational scholars and practitioners alike. Papers presented cover topics as varied as: examining how new institutions emerge and replace former ways of doing things; an insider/outsider approach to examine the emergence and spread of organization development activities in Boston's city government; an introduction of a methodology incorporating multidimensional scaling and repertory grid procedures to produce cognitive maps; conceptual distinction between justice and injustice; an examination of how representatives of several prominent US universities reacted to questions about hate speech policies implemented by their universities but banned by court order; linkages between leadership, organizational change, and managerial work; empirical systems modelling on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship; and an extension of a study considering issues of replicability and generalization in several Indian R&D organizations.

Consumers, producers, critics, and other market agents rely on socially constructed categories like 'craft' beers, houseware 'collectibles', and 'thriller' films for their understanding of products and producers in markets. Although organizational and sociological accounts often take such categories as given, researchers increasingly acknowledge that category emergence, development, and functioning represent key aspects of how markets work. Take, for example, the U.S. brewing industry, which has become segmented into mass versus specialty producers. Many beer lovers who appreciate the characteristics of a beer made by small, specialty breweries are not willing to buy an equivalent beer made by an integrated, major producer. Knowledge of what specialty beer has come to mean and represent to consumers as the product of an authentic, artisanal production process and delivery is crucial for our understanding of how this market and competitive dynamics within it have evolved. This volume focuses on how market categories shape processes of production and consumption and how these activities in turn shape category systems. This volume consists of original contributions to theory and empirical research by a diverse group of esteemed authors. Topics explored include how new categories emerge, become enacted and gain consensus, how categories are used by market agents (including as tools for interpretation, as mobilization frames, and as cognitive infrastructures for learning), and how category systems change over time. These topics are explored from a variety of perspectives: new institutional theory, organizational ecology, social movement theory, and socio-cognitive theories of markets. The breadth of perspectives in this volume attests to the importance of this topic to sociological studies of market processes.

This series considers theoretical, methodological and research issues relevant to organizational sociology. It is specifically concerned with trying to specify the unique contributions of broad sociological theories and research techniques to the analysis of organizations. Both micro and macro sociological approaches are emphasized. From a micro perspective an effort is made to bring to the forefront such perspectives as phenomenology, ethnomethodology and symbolic interaction. The macro analysis also places an emphasis on the institutional, historical and cultural examination of organizations. An effort is made to use this series as a forum for the presentation of theories and research which challenge conventional views of organizational sociology. This volume presents an examination of organizations which is cross-cultural, covering all areas of cultural diversity and spanning countries, generations and identities.

Endorsed by Geert Hofstede, the most-quoted author in the cross-cultural field, this is the only book that explains the relationship between national culture and national differences in crucially important phenomena, such as speed of economic growth, murder rates, and educational achievement. It explains differences in suicide rates, road death tolls, female inequality, happiness, and a number of other phenomena in an unprecedented way. It provides comprehensive coverage of these important cross-cultural differences while showing how they covary across the world and presents strong empirical/statistical evidence for the explanations. Chapters focus on culture and cross-cultural studies, economic dynamism, universalism versus exclusionism, risk-taking reproductive competition, monumentalism versus flexumility (flexibility + humility), and the world's cultural clusters. Each chapter contains a subchapter in which implications for international management and organizational behavior are discussed, making the book attractive not only to readers with a special interest in the social sciences, but also to management consultants, management educators and business executives.

Concerns about justice and fairness are ubiquitous within and between communities, social groups, organizations and states. People are concerned with the fairness of how decisions are made, how outcomes are allocated between and within groups, and how they are treated by authorities. This volume introduces cutting-edge justice theorizing and research at the intersection of justice and groups. Contributors to this volume explore topics such as: how group members come to have a shared understanding of the level of fairness within their group (i.e., justice climate), how social emotions influence justice judgments, the relationships between trust, respect, fairness, and group-serving behavior, resource allocation, reactions to injustice, appropriate ways to restore justice following transgressions, and perceptions of and remedies for intergroup inequality. "The Fairness and Groups" volume in the "Research on Managing Groups and Teams" series will be of interest to students and scholars in psychology, sociology, law and organizational behavior.

This book explores the possibility of a progressive and transformative management which, while grounded in the analytic tradition and values of CMS, also confronts practical demands of meeting social needs. The format of the book is a discussion between and among CMS scholars with diverse viewpoints on CMS and critical engagement, and with different subject positions and domains of engagement. In the critical tradition, the book also gives voice to those who question a simple translation of theory into practice, as well as raising questions around the potential and limits to a progressively transformative management.

Most of us have experienced change being ‘done’ to us – badly. It really doesn’t have to be that way! This book is for managers who have tried to deliver business change but felt frustrated and disempowered by the experience. It is for people who want to stand up and make a difference igniting and inspiring successful change but don’t know where to start. This book is a complete toolkit for aspiring Change Superheroes!Lucinda Carney C.Psychol uses her decades of business experience to: ·      explain the repeated, human causes of failed change·      uncover the secrets to delivering sustainable change·      provide prospective Change Superheroes with the confidence to deliver their own successful business change·      share case studies; downloadable tools and real-life examples of successful change.Let’s change the way we do Change!

Institutional theory has been used increasingly by international business and management researchers to explain the behavior and strategies of multinational enterprises. If early international business research was dominated by the application of transaction cost and neoclassical economics, reviews of recent publications and conference programs suggest that the past decade has been dominated by the application of institutional theory. The 2012 volume of the "Advances in International Management" series represents the collection of an eclectic mix of contemporary research by leading and emerging scholars working on institutional theory. The contributions present new theoretical frameworks of institutions and propose interesting ideas that will provide the foundation for doctoral dissertations and research projects.

As the business world becomes increasingly global, so increases the need to understand differences and similarities in work behaviour. This volume offers frameworks for analysis which will be needed to understand the dynamics of organizational behaviour in the international arena.