Handbook of Organization Studies

This handbook presents a major retrospective and prospective overview of the field of organization studies.

The text moves from the general to the specific, from the past to the present and from the present to the future.

Addressing the established traditions, it examines the questions that the "fin de siecle" poses for organizations, and for ourselves as organization members and researchers.

Central to the enterprise has been a concern to reflect and honour the manifest diversity of the field - including recognition of the extent to which the very notion of a single field of organization studies is itself debated - while also directing attention to the points of intersection and potential dialogue across the numerous "conversations" that make up this area of study. Part One analyzes the historical development of the study of organization before examining some of the most significant theoretical paradigms in the field, including organizational ecology, organization economics, institutional theory, and feminism and postmodernism.

Part Two addresses a number of the most significant research topics emerging from these broad perspectives, including leadership, decision-making and innovation in organizations, alongside such themes as diversity, globalization and ecology.

Part Three reflects on the relationships between theory, research and practice in organization studies.