Understanding Organizations Through Language

`Makes fascinating reading and at the same time provides a good grounding in the study of the language of organizations, both for those who know little of the area and for those who are looking for a comprehensive overview of the field. Overall I would warmly recommend this book as an asset for students and teachers of organizational behaviour and for those with a general interest in the way in which language shapes our lives and work′ - Organization Studies `The book is extremely clear in its explanation of how language works.... The authors treat their readers as curious, intelligent and concerned to find new and powerful tools to come at the workings of organizations from a lateral and newly illuminating perspective′ - Virginia Valentine, Semiotic Solutions, London `The authors are able to apply their personal fascination with language to give students insights into organisational behaviour that significantly surpasses what is normally achieved by the tired old rituals of standard organizational behaviour texts and teaching′ - Tony Watson, Nottingham Trent University Taking issue with functional approaches to communication, Understanding Organizations through Language offers a viable alternative based on `webs of meaning′. Instead of viewing communication as a thing that can be unproblematically controlled and managed, the authors use semiology as a theoretical bedrock to develop a new metaphor for communication. Understanding Organizations through Language applies this approach to areas of interest, including: metaphor, story-telling, discourse, gender, leadership and electronic communication. Spanning the gap between highly theoretical organization studies texts and highly prescriptive communication texts, the book talks to the reader in a sophisticated yet approachable style. This style is complemented by a range of examples, activities and mini case studies. Also included are chapter summaries and further reading suggestions, making this a useful text for both academics and students. Advanced undergraduates and postgraduates will utilize this book for any course dealing with communication, particularly courses in HRM and organizational behaviour.

`The book is extremely clear in its explanation of how language works.... The authors treat their readers as curious, intelligent and concerned to find new and powerful tools to come at the workings of organizations from a lateral and newly illuminating perspective' - Virginia Valentine, Semiotic Solutions, London Offering a viable alternative to `functional' approaches to communication based around the metaphor of `webs of meaning' and using semiology as its theoretical bedrock, the authors provide examples and argue how and why this approach is useful in understanding communicative processes. This approach is applied to areas of interest, including: metaphor, story-telling, discourse, gender, leadership and electronic communication.

Understanding Organizations: Theories and Images introduces students to the key principles of understanding, designing, and managing organizations in an accessible and practical way. The book provides a conceptual toolkit containing the essential models, theories and concepts needed for working in, managing and evaluating organizations. Key Features: Insightful anecdotes discuss how for- and not-for profit organizations fit within our current society from a social and economic perspective. Theoretical framework and multi-perspective approach focuses on economics, institutionalism and evolution theory highlighting the relationship between organizations, employees and the broader society. Research-focused approach analyses organizational phenomena in light of recent studies. This textbook is ideal for undergraduates and postgraduates studying general management, organizational theory, organizational design, and organizational sociology.

Charles Handy's revolutionary 1989 bestseller The Age of Unreason catapulted him into the ranks of the top management consultants. Now, in this new edition of his acclaimed study Understanding Organizations, he solidifies his reputation as a seminal business thinker, offering a brilliantly insightful, wide-ranging look at business organizations.Long a bestseller in the United Kingdom, this classic text offers an illuminating discussion of key concepts of concern to all managers: culture, motivation, leadership, power, role-playing and working in groups. Ever mindful of actual business practice, Handy directly addresses how managers can translate the six main concepts into invaluable tools for effective management. He discusses how all organizations need to select, develop and reward their people; to structure and design their work; to resolve political conflicts; to lay down guidelines for their managers; and to plan for the future. In each case, the approaches and techniques described here are invaluable.Equally important, Handy excels at presenting his ideas in colorful, immediately accessible ways, filling the book with illuminating examples and inventive metaphors that range from Tolstoy's ideas on the concept of self, to the many meanings of "good morning," to the conversations that occur in a stopped elevator, to the proper size for a vineyard or an elephant. He shows, for instance, how an optical illusion experiment sheds light on interdepartmental relations, and how the way schoolchildren are typecast by their peers helps explain corporate hierarchies. And along with case studies, graphs, charts, and questionnaires, Understanding Organizations is peppered with boxed sections that offer advice and stimulate thought, brimming with provocative quotations from business wizards such as Peter Drucker, Tom Peters, Warren Bennis, Alvin Toffler, and Rosabeth Moss Kanter, as well as from Aristotle, Shakespeare, Gilbert and Sullivan, Gail Sheehy, and Joseph Heller.What the successful manager knows intuitively, Charles Handy puts into words. His powerful interpretive schemes will help managers grasp the underlying dynamics of their company, make sense of its past, and assess--and shape--its future.

Social life is a collective process, virtually all shaped in contemporary industrial nations by formal organizations and recognized social institutions. Understanding Organizations takes a fresh look at the sociology of organizations, blending classic theories with contemporary studies and debates.

Communication in organizations has changed drastically since the release of the first edition of this bestselling textbook. This fully revised and updated edition delves into state-of-the-art studies, providing fresh insights into the challenges that organizations face today. Yet this foundational resource remains a cornerstone in the examination of classic research and theory in organization communication.

With the growing influence of discursive and narrative perspectives on organizing, organizational scholars are focusing increasing attention on the constitutive role that language and communication play in organizational processes. This view conceptualizes language and communication as bringing organization into being in every instant and is therefore inherently sympathetic to a process perspective. However, our understanding of the role of language in unfolding organizational processes and as a part of organizational action is still limited. This volume brings together empirical and/or conceptual contributions from leading scholars in organization and communication to develop understanding of language and communication as constitutive of work, and also analyze how language and communication actually work to achieve influence in the context of organizations. It aims to elucidate the role language, communication, and narrativity play as part of strategic and institutional work in and around organizational phenomena. In keeping with the preceding volumes in the Perspectives on Process Organization Studies series, this collection demonstrates why we need to start thinking processually and offers a range of theoretical and methodological approaches to studying these 'works in process' that we call organizations, companies, businesses, institutions, communities, associations, or NGOs