Monday, December 29, 2008

Professional Development or New Directions for Organization Theory

Professional Development: The Dynamics of Success

Author: Mary Wilkes Hull

This book provides the essential foundation necessary for the aspiring professional. It covers personal appearance, money management, job campaigning, values, ethics, and other key topics.



Table of Contents:
Preface
Ch. 1The Job Campaign4
Ch. 2The Interview33
Ch. 3The Look of Success66
Ch. 4Personal and Professional Poise90
Ch. 5Planning and Buying a Wardrobe121
Ch. 6Maintaining Good Health147
Ch. 7Communicating: The Lifeline of Business176
Ch. 8Personal Effectiveness200
Ch. 9Group Dynamics221
Ch. 10Personal Values and Business Ethics247
Ch. 11Set Your Goals - Manage Your Time272
Ch. 12Courtesy and Common Sense289
Ch. 13When You Travel311
Ch. 14Managing Your Money333
Ch. 15Taking Charge362
Ch. 16Management as a Career380
Glossary393
Index414

Interesting textbook: Noticia de un secuestro or Afeni Shakur

New Directions for Organization Theory: Problems and Prospects

Author: Jeffrey Pfeffer

In New Directions for Organization Theory, Jeffrey Pfeffer offers a comprehensive analysis and overview of the field of organization theory and its research literature. This work traces the evolution of organization studies, particularly its more recent history, and highlights the principle concepts and controversies characterizing the study of organizations.

Pfeffer argues that the world of organizations has changed in several important ways, including the increasing externalization of employment and the growing use of contingent workers; the changing size distribution of organizations, with a larger proportion of smaller organizations; the increasing influence of external capital markets on organizational decision-making and a concomitant decrease in managerial autonomy; and increasing salary inequality within organizations in the US compared both to the past and to other industrialized nations. These changes and their public policy implications make it especially important to understand organizations as social entities. But Pfeffer questions whether the research literature of organization studies has either addressed these changes and their causes or made much of a contribution to the discussion of public policy.

New Directions for Organization Theory provides a clear, accessible summary of the current state of organization studies, skillfully synthesizing diverse research and presenting it in an orderly, insightful manner. It offers suggestions for the development of the field, including a call to focus more on issues of design and to use the ability to understand real phenomena to help distinguish among theoretical approaches. A major scholar in the field oforganization theory, Jeffrey Pfeffer offers a perspective on its current state that will be of interest and value to scholars and graduate students interested in organizations.


"Jeffrey Pfeffer's book is a real contribution to the field. It is a masterful blend of rigorous literature review and synthesis along with provocative ideas and challenges for scholars of organizations. Pfeffer manages to not only span multiple literatures and levels of analysis, but he also steps back to inject his own critical opinions on where the field of organizations has been and, even more importantly, directions in which it should proceed. This book deserves to be required reading for any individual seriously interested in understanding how and why organizations work the way they do".--Michael Tushman, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University

"...a concise but comprehensive coverage of the main trends in the field.[...]Given the author's well-deserved reputation, I believe that this book...will influence the thinking of researchers in all domains of organizational theory."--Academy of Management Review

"An even-handed, eclectic, at times critical discussion. [. . .] Pfeffer has gathered a significant evidential base that shores up our efforts to translate theory into practice. [. . .] New Directions is vintage Pfeffer scholarship, which means he samples richly, articulately, and knowingly from a vast literature, supplies a reasonable representation of lines of work, and provides an informed pretext for seasoned scholars of organization to ask, 'Is this what I signed on for?' [. . .] This is a good read!"--Administrative Science Quarterly



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