The Logic of Organizations

By Bengt Abrahamsson

Innovative and challenging, The Logic of Organizations explores organizational theory by focusing on the genesis of organizations and the conditions for their continued existence. Abrahamsson draws upon the classic theories of Marx, Weber, and Michels as well as more contemporary developments in organizational theory, to present his unique theory--that organizations are deliberately designed social structures established by individuals, groups, or classes in order to implement specific goals. To effectively support his argument, the author concentrates on three critical areas of organizations: how to make organizations more efficient and more representative of the interests and objectives of their founders, and how to relieve the problems of bureaucracy, namely administrative groups working toward their own goals and objectives rather than those of the organization. Researchers, instructors, and students in organizational theory, management, sociology, political science and education will find Abrahamsson′s work illuminating and thought provoking. "His presentation is clear and direct. Organizations are structures created for the deliberate purpose of achieving goals. . . . The author ventures into the center of an intense and longstanding debate in organizational theory and industrial sociology about the conflict between participation and efficiency, but he carefully avoids the common practice of dealing with this issue through uninformed polemics or abstract model-building. His contribution is original but firmly grounded in the classic works of organization theory. . . . The presentation is notable for its fairness and rigor; theories are appraised in an evenhanded manner and practical and conceptual problems are prominently described in the proposal for a new research agenda. . . . The concluding chapters of this book provide a model that is broadly applicable and true to the reality of organizational life." --from the Foreword by Gary N. Chaison

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080395039X
• ISBN13: 9780803950399
• Release Date: December 1992
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc
• Length: 166 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"