Organizations: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #264

by Mary Jo Hatch

Organizations are everywhere. We meet them on every street corner in the form of families and shops, study in them, work for them, buy from them, pay taxes to them. But we rarely give much thought to where they came from, what they are today, and what they might become in the future. How and why do they have so much influence over us, and what influences them? How do they contribute to and detract from the meaningfulness of our lives, and how might we improve them so they better serve our needs and desires? This Very Short Introduction addresses all of these questions and many more. Mary Jo Hatch introduces the concept of organizations by presenting definitions and ideas drawn from a dazzling array of subject areas, including the physical sciences, economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, literature, and the visual and performing arts. Drawing on examples from prehistory and everyday life, from the animal kingdom as well as from business, government, and other formal
organizations, Hatch provides a lively and thought provoking introduction to the process of organization.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Social Science, Sociology, Economics

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Bojan Tunguz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Organizations are everywhere. It is impossible not to be a part of at least one major organization, be it your place of work, worship, or education. Understanding what organizations are and how they operate, evolve, and dissolve are important topics that any educated person ought to explore. Unfortunately, it is impossible to glean any useful information about organizations from this very short introduction.

Most of the observations and ideas in this book are either abstract and theoretical or so concrete that they are downright trite. All the references are to 100+-year-old thinkers, with a special predilection for Marx. There are virtually no empirical evidences or testable hypotheses anywhere in this book. Nowhere are mentioned any of the recent developments in social sciences of organizations and organizational behaviors. This book is a quintessential product of armchair intellectualism and ivory tower navel-gazing. It may be well-suited for a humanities seminar or one of a myriad “studies” departments, but it is as far from serious relevant scholarship as they come. This is one of those rare books that may make you understand its subject less after you read it.

Unfortunately, over the past year or so the quality of the titles in the Very Short Introduction series has dramatically deteriorated. To be sure, the series still provides many worthwhile gems, but you can no longer be reasonably sure that picking any one of these slim volumes will provide you with unqualifiedly informative and educational experience. There seems to be a serious failure on the part of the editorial staff to properly vet and recommend appropriate books for the inclusion in the series. I would strongly encourage you to read up as many reviews as possible of the recent VSI books before you commit yourself to buying or reading any one of them.

[Everett Shupe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Jo Hatch rocks. This is one of the best primer's on organization theory.

[Emilee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate these VSI books, and the perspective of organizations was very interesting. I read this almost 10 years ago for my gradate degree and reading it again as I have continued to work on my career in public administration was more illuminating. I'm almost interested to read it again and see if I can soak up more theories and information in the 2nd (or I guess 3rd) time reading

[Daniel Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title does not look promising, but this turned out to be actually quite interesting, touching on a wide range of disciplines to make salient points about organizations of all types.

[Nitin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect: short, succinct, well-constructed and made me want to read further into this subject of organizational theories and studies.

[Theis Schæfer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book on organisation theory 101