Showing papers by "Lex Donaldson published in 1989"
TL;DR: Reed as discussed by the authors has written an analysis of developments in organisation theory which charts the redirections of the past twenty years and offers indications of likely and beneficial future directions, including a post-interregnum organisational studies, which involves further critique of the functionalist orthodoxy in both societal and organisational theory through renewed socio-political consciousness stirred by the ebb of the affluence and false optimism of the sixties.
Abstract: M ichael Reed has written an analysis of developments in organisation theory which charts the redirections of the past twenty years and offers indications of likely and beneficial future directions. The book opens with the structural-functionalist, systems, science-building perspective of the fifties and sixties, which is related by Reed to technocratic and managerialist interests. A key issue here is the tension between the requirement for coordination and the inherent recalcitrance of human actors, which opens the door to managerial manipulation. Reed then charts the subsequent "revolt against science" (p.44) and the rise of the alternative approaches of action theory, the negotiated order view of organisations and ethnomethodology. While reasserting the necessity for organisational analysis to deal specifically with human cognition and interaction, Reed sees in these approaches an excessive focus on minutire and neglect of larger structures. This in tum leads to the next phase of organisational analysis charted by Reed, radical structuralist and critical theory. This is followed by a discussion of what Reed calls "post-interregnum organisational studies". This involves further critique of the functionalist orthodoxy, in both societal and organisational theory, through renewed socio-political consciousness stirred by the ebb of the affluence and false optimism of the sixties. Moreover, there is fresh attention paid to the problem of human agency, as structural determinism is rejected in favour of a more dialectical conception of the interplay of structure and actor. There are several inherent dilemmas such as functionalism/actionism and determinism/voluntarism. The path forward, as seen by Reed, is the adoption of the "social practice framework". This combines notions of organisation as imperatively coordinated bureaucracy with the concept of an institutional web of social norms, and as a level of primary production controlled by a secondary administrative level responsive to the interests of a dominant class. There is a tension between instrumental needs and morality, as well as inherent ambiguity and conflict. And there is a degree of
27 citations