Understanding Organization Through Culture and Structure: Relational and Other Lessons From the African American Organization presents an innovative view of organizations and the communication processes that constitute them. Arguing that human beings are communicatively embedded in their cultures, Anne Maydan Nicotera and Marcia J. Clinkscales, working with Felicia R. Walker, examine issues concerning task and relational orientations and the ways they and other cultural dimensions connect with organizational structure and function for predominantly African American organizations. Utilizing the results of their own research on organizations, they develop a set of humanistically-based models that illustrate how hidden cultural processes suffuse organizational life and are manifest through communication. Emphasizing the development of alternative theories and models of organizing which are rooted in African-American culture, such as team-based versus hierarchy-based interactions, this book explores such organizational functions as leadership and management, power, authority and control, communication and interpersonal dynamics, and cultural identity and human development. Applying their findings in a broader analysis of contemporary practices in organizational restructuring, the authors present research that serves as the foundation for generating several emergent models with significant implications for organizational systems. Understanding Organization Through Culture and Structure stimulates and inspires current researchers of organizational communication, and is certain to raise greater awareness of the operation of culture in organizing. The text is intended for scholars and students in organizational communication, management, organizational psychology, African studies, and related areas.

Regarded as one of the most influential management books of all time, this fourth edition of Leadership and Organizational Culture transforms the abstract concept of culture into a tool that can be used to better shape the dynamics of organization and change. This updated edition focuses on today's business realities. Edgar Schein draws on a wide range of contemporary research to redefine culture and demonstrate the crucial role leaders play in successfully applying the principles of culture to achieve their organizational goals.

The concept of culture is a key issue within management and organization studies. Understanding Organizational Culture provides a useful and comprehensive guide to understanding organizational culture, from a range of angles, contexts and sectors. The book answers questions of definition, explores alternative perspectives, and expands on substantive issues (such as leadership and change), before discussing key issues of research and providing a new framework for this topic. Mats Alvesson synthesizes for students the advances in the field of organizational culture, drawing upon the range of relevant literature within Organization Studies. The author also uses examples to develop and illustrate ideas on how cultural

An examination of organizations and the communication processes within them. Presenting research conducted by the authors, it explores problems related to task and relational orientations as they relate to organizational structure and function within predominantly African-American organizations.

øIt would be unusual for a framework as powerful and predictive as the Competing Values Framework to remain unchallenged and absent of criticism. In addition to updating the examples and references, this second edition provides a new chapter motivated

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.

Going far beyond previous empirical work, John Kotter and James Heskett provide the first comprehensive critical analysis of how the "culture" of a corporation powerfully influences its economic performance, for better or for worse. Through painstaking research at such firms as Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, ICI, Nissan, and First Chicago, as well as a quantitative study of the relationship between culture and performance in more than 200 companies, the authors describe how shared values and unwritten rules can profoundly enhance economic success or, conversely, lead to failure to adapt to changing markets and environments. With penetrating insight, Kotter and Heskett trace the roots of both healthy and unhealthy cultures, demonstrating how easily the latter emerge, especially in firms which have experienced much past success. Challenging the widely held belief that "strong" corporate cultures create excellent business performance, Kotter and Heskett show that while many shared values and institutionalized practices can promote good performances in some instances, those cultures can also be characterized by arrogance, inward focus, and bureaucracy -- features that undermine an organization's ability to adapt to change. They also show that even "contextually or strategically appropriate" cultures -- ones that fit a firm's strategy and business context -- will not promote excellent performance over long periods of time unless they facilitate the adoption of strategies and practices that continuously respond to changing markets and new competitive environments. Fundamental to the process of reversing unhealthy cultures and making them more adaptive, the authors assert, is effective leadership. At the heart of this groundbreaking book, Kotter and Heskett describe how executives in ten corporations established new visions, aligned and motivated their managers to provide leadership to serve their customers, employees, and stockholders, and thus created more externally focused and responsive cultures.