Uncommon Sense About Organizations: Cases, Studies, and Field Observations

By Geert Hofstede

Book Overview

"Geert Hofstede writes very clearly and engagingly. His interest in people is deep and genuine, and he enjoys the variety of their habits and motivations. His sympathy is usually with the underdogs in any situation, rather than those in authority, but he sees the humanity of both. His studies are carefully done. . . . His insights are nicely expressed. . . .The greatest value of Uncommon Sense About Organizations will probably be as a resource for management teaching, in its human behavioral aspects. --Systems Research "This is a worthwhile collection. . . . His work is notable for its international and cross-cultural approach. . . . Hence this book deserves a place on the bookshelves of serious students of organizations, particularly those with an international orientation." --Work, Employment, and Society "As the author takes us on an international journey, his writing covers a wide range of situations, from the shop floor, and the staff and management of multinational corporations, to the scene in a Swiss high school graduating class. The material, even when academic, holds the reader′s interest because he writes about real events and people. . . . I enjoyed the international flavor of the cases and the freshness of the articles because the author revisits and analyzes the material, with the benefit of hindsight and continued scholarship. . . . I was impressed by the wide range of interests of the author." --Borje O. Saxberg, Graduate School of Business Administration, University of Washington Hofstede′s lifetime of research into organizational behavior has yielded a considerable number of studies using a variety of methodologies. Uncommon Sense About Organizations assembles 17 of the author′s superlative articles and case studies, grouping them within three main themes: the impact of jobs on people, power and control in organizations, and studies in training sessions. Hofstede further divides and examines these subjects in relation to their sizes, categorizing studies of the individual or small group as belonging to organizational psychology, for example, while attributing the study of a single, larger, and more complex organization to the discipline of organizational anthropology. The combination of the author′s careful and informed scrutiny and his thoughtful juxtaposition of these topics reveals organizational realities that might not otherwise be discerned. Encompassing such wide-ranging disciplines as sociology, psychology and anthropology, Uncommon Sense About Organizations is a tour de force of behavioral science research.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803953666
• ISBN13: 9780803953666
• Release Date: April 1994
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.3" x 6.5"