Organization Theory and Design review:1 stars (Didn't receive what I paid for) - The seller advertised that they had a hardcover version and I recieved a paperback, international version.....False advertising!!!!!!5 stars (The learning book) - "Organization Theory and Design" is a book every corporate member that has aspirations to better understand and contribute to his organization should own.
I used this book studying a basic course of organizational behavior after the professor had referred to it as "the best text on the market". I found out he was right - the book is extremely well-written and its contribution to my understanding of the subject is invaluable.
As it happened, I partly read older versions of the book to find out how every few years Daft updates his analysis, insights and examples of the ever changing and evolving world of organizations; for instance, the past example of IBM that served as the major opening example of an organization that has gone from the top of the world to the brink of disintegration in the beginning of the 90's, is replaced in this 8th edition with Xerox. Daft continues and presents the most recent developments in organizations' design - structures and management methods that have only emerged lately in response to the turbulences in the environments and competition worldwide.
By making the changes in every edition "Organization theory and design" wins the title of this review - "the learning book" - that mirror images the main theme of this work - "the learning organization". Almost no organization can stand still in today's reality - managers and workers have to constantly think of better ways of doing things and learn from every source that bears knowledge and can give the organization a better competitive advantage. Things have never moved so fast and threats and opportunities have never been so immense. Competitors have to be efficient and different to survive and stay on the top.
The structure of the book is designed to convey its ideas in the best possible manner: Each and every chapter opens with an example illustrating its content, then comes an introduction to the subject, theory and examples from today's organizational world are interwoven throughout the text in the "in practice" section. A fascination section is "leading by design" in which Daft highlights top-of-the-line companies that materialize the theory and lead their industries. Yet another remarkable feature is "bookmark" in which Daft recommends and actually reviews the content of other books that further develop the subject the chapter dealt with. For me, the magnitude of this behavior is unprecedented; I haven't read a book that is so much interested in advancing and advertising works of fellow authors. This is a code of conduct every author can learn from in pursuing the ultimate end - to better inform and educate his/her readers.
Some of the material the book covers include the organizational environment, organizational structures, organizational decision making processes, ethics, organization decline and organizational politics.
As is the norm in many books, Daft integrates case studies directly connected to the content of each chapter in its end. They add all the more to the reality dimension that is so strong throughout the book.
Lastly, the price of this book is somewhat expensive but well worth the money and will certainly prove to be a wise investment. Years after reading it may serve as a reference source when the reader will stumble across situations covered in the book and learn to appreciate even more the study and insights daft offers.
5 stars (A Strong Guide in Organization Theory) - This is a well-designed and comprehensive book in the area of organization theory. From introduction to the end, this book aims to teach the foundations of organization theory to readers. There is a great awareness of new developments in the area of organization theory. The new developments such as team-based management models are integrated into the conventional wisdom wonderfully in the book. We are living in a world in which globalization and stiff competition dominates. We name this age as Information Age and corporations need new mentality and practices to adapt to challenging conditions this era brings about. This book presents some new approaches in global competition perspective to readers. A Look Inside, Bookmark, In Practice, The New Paradigm and Case for Analysis are excellent peculiarities of the book. Diagrams and other visual characterizations involved in the book give readers a big opportunity to digest topics recounted. Since this book is a detailed investigation of organization theory, you may miss some parts and feel confused. I can recommend another book, that is, Designing Organizations (Robey, D. and Sales, Carol A.), which is a summarized organization theory book with excellent cases.If you want to understand organization theory with its basic foundations and details, this book is a must. You must exploit the rich knowledge of Professor Daft. Strongly recommended.
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