Summary

Stewart Clegg offers a panoramic and stimulating criticaloverview ofthe modern organization and, in the process, challenges themajorschools of organization theory that contribute to ourunderstandingof today′s industrial enterprise. His wide-ranging analysis bothexplores current approaches to organization studies and relatestheconcepts of modernity and postmodernity to the realities oforganizational structure and function. In surveying alternativeperspectives on organizations in terms of ideal types, systems,contingencies, ecologies, cultures, markets, and efficiency, hevividly demonstrates that no single approach is adequate to dealwiththe real-world variety of organizations that exist today.Drawingupon unusual and revealing examples--the production of Frenchbread,the Italian fashion industry, and post-Confucian Asianenterprises--he argues that their success cannot simply be reduced toculture, butmust incorporate a broader understanding of the ways in whichorganizations are constructed and reproduced. His analysis isthenadapted to a detailed discussion on the debate over why Japaneseorganizations are so successful. As both a synthesis of currentperspectives and an innovative argument based on a comprehensiveinternational overview, Modern Organizations serves both as atextand important resource for all interested in organization andmanagement studies."The author gives a timely reminder of the influence of Weber,notonly as a significant figure in the development of organizationstudies but also as an eminent (reforming) theorist ofmodernity. . .. In this book we encounter significant parallels with Harvey. .. "--Administrative Science Quarterly". . . the (fifth) chapter on ′French Bread, Italian Fashion andAsian Enterprise′ is one of the most interesting treatment ofenterprise behavior I have read for some time. . . . The readinglistis very full, with a most up-to-date coverage of the field, andthereis a useful index. . . . The ′broad international sweep′ . . is,ofcourse, to be commended. . . "--Journal of General Management"Contributes to the major debates in organization theory fromtheperspective of a coherent, overarching framework, and isunmissableon that account alone. But the comprehensiveness of its surveyoforganizational theory qualifies it as a textbook as well, in arangeof disciplines. This book promises the reader as smooth a rideas theterrain permits."--APROS Bulletin"With style and panache . . . Clegg breaks free of the standardformat for organization theory books and establishes a new norm.Thevery freshness of the approach makes comparisons difficult. . .. Hiswork is both broader and more insightful than other more recentworks. Clegg′s work either represents the initial breakthroughto anew organizational theory perspective or a perspective so farfromthe bulk of the mainstream that it will be challenged. It iscertainly worth the attention of serious scholars in the field."--Choice"Stewart Clegg thrusts the study of organizations towards atrulyworld view in this tempered and scholarly work. United by itsthemeof the cultural relativity of organizational analysis, it usesintriguing material notably from Europe and from the nations oftheAsian Pacific Rim to take a wide view of ideas and ofinternationaldifferences in organizing and managing."--David J. Hickson, University of Bradford, England"Professor Clegg′s stylish, elegantly written work ModernOrganisations: Organisation Studies in the Postmodern World isa rewarding blend of theoretical argument and discussion ofconcreteexamples of organisations, which I am sure will be quickly seenasessential reading for students of organisation studies....hisdiscussof Weber is extrememly good, well read and accurate, as is hisdiscussion of some of the theories of organisations developedsince....the greatest value...to be found in this work is thediscussion of what Professor Clegg calls "postmodern"organisations."--New Technology Work and Employment"...the (fifth) chapter on ′French Bread′, Italian Fashion andAsianEnterprise′ is one of the most interesting treatment ofenterprisebehaviour I have read for some time....The reading list is veryfull,with a most up-to-date coverage of the field, and there is ausefulindex....The ′broad international sweep′...is, of course, to becommended..."--Journal of General Management