ESCP Europe

Organization theory is presently dominated by theories of strategic choice and politics. Managers are seen as exercising a wide choice and maximizing their personal self-interest through complex power struggles. For Positivist Organization Theory challenges these views, arguing instead that managerial decisions are determined by the situation and serve the interests of the whole organization. Showing that organizations follow laws which generalize across organizations of many different kinds in many different national cultures, the book rejects the model of organizational configurations or types. Lex Donaldson offers a critical assessment of leading organization theorists such as Henry Mintzberg, John Child, Michael Hannan and Danny Miller - and also of the satirist Northcote Parkinson. This book is important and stimulating reading for academics and senior students in organization, management and administrative studies.

TABLE OF CONTENTS -- Chapter 1: Positivist Organization Theory Chapter 2: For Determinism: Against Strategic Choice Chapter 3: For Determinism: Subjective Factors in Strategic Choice Chapter 4: For Functionalism: Against Politics and Parkinson's Law Chapter 5: For Functionalism: The Validity of Blau's Theory Chapter 6: For Cartesianism: Against Organization Types and Quantum Jumps Chapter 7: For Generalization in Positivist Organization Theory Chapter 8: For Generalization of Organizational Size Chapter 9: Conclusions.