Towards a new theory of organizations

First published in 1994, the essays collected in this book explore the impact and current status of the ideas put forth in David Silverman’s The Theory of Organizations, and how they relate to future directions in organization theory.

After opening with a chapter by Silverman himself, the subsequent chapters investigate key issues in the study of organizations, including structure and agency, the politics of organization theory, and the meanings of post-positivist organizational analysis.

Contemporaneous debates on postmodernism, the emotions, gender and structuration are discussed in the context of the development of organizational theory in the preceding twenty-five years — providing insights into the continuities within organizational theory and provoking thought about future directions.