A Process Theory of Organization
Summary
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A Process Theory of Organization by Tor Hernes
This book presents a novel and comprehensive process theory of organization applicable to 'a world on the move', where connectedness prevails over size, flow prevails over stability, and temporality prevails over spatiality.The framework developed in the book draws upon process thinking in a number of areas, including process philosophy, pragmatism, phenomenology, and science and technology studies. Salient ideas from these schools are carefully woven into a process theory of organization, which makes the book not only a thought provoking theoretical contribution, but also a much-needed glimpse into the challenges of organizing in a complex and moving world. Taking a distinctly temporal view of organizational life the author shows how actors continually carve out their temporal existence from being in the flow of time. This on-going work, in which technologies, concepts, and social actors take part, is crucial for the making of any type of organizational formation. A key construct of the book is that of events, which provide force, movement, and historicity to organizational life. The book is suitable for scholars and advanced level students in organization studies, management studies, technology studies, and sociology. It contains a number of practical examples to illustrate the theoretical framework.
The remarkable insights offered in this book provide a language and a style of analysis that help us move from process and reality to process as realityTor Hernes has captured the elusiveness of organizing in motion in a way that is unmatched. This book is a major accomplishment that enables all of us to be more observant and more skillful analysts who can now ask better questions about fleeting structures in an on-going present. * Karl Weick, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan *
The time of structures is gone, but much of organization theory - and practice - holds compulsively to it. Tor Hernes' book will help theoreticians and practitioners to let go - and enter the world where fluid processes cross through the global economy. * Barbara Czarniawska, GRI, School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. *
This book is a refreshingly bold attempt to provide a genuinely alternative approach to the study and analysis of organization as precarious and temporary accomplishments; time and temporality feature significantly in its theoretical agenda. Hernes takes a step back and attempts to theorize organization on the basis that process itself is constitutive of reality. Hernes is to be complemented for undertaking such an ambitious endeavour in making us aware of the consequences of taking process and becoming seriously. * Robert Chia, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow *
A world on the move and how to catch it without making it static; this is the big challenge that the book addresses. The author offers a great introduction to a process theory of organization since it makes evident how temporality is at the heart of organizational life, and how it should be studied. * Silvia Gherardi, Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Trento University *
The time of structures is gone, but much of organization theory - and practice - holds compulsively to it. Tor Hernes' book will help theoreticians and practitioners to let go - and enter the world where fluid processes cross through the global economy. * Barbara Czarniawska, GRI, School of Business, Economics and Law at the University of Gothenburg. *
This book is a refreshingly bold attempt to provide a genuinely alternative approach to the study and analysis of organization as precarious and temporary accomplishments; time and temporality feature significantly in its theoretical agenda. Hernes takes a step back and attempts to theorize organization on the basis that process itself is constitutive of reality. Hernes is to be complemented for undertaking such an ambitious endeavour in making us aware of the consequences of taking process and becoming seriously. * Robert Chia, Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow *
A world on the move and how to catch it without making it static; this is the big challenge that the book addresses. The author offers a great introduction to a process theory of organization since it makes evident how temporality is at the heart of organizational life, and how it should be studied. * Silvia Gherardi, Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale, Trento University *
Tor Hernes is Professor of Organization Theory at Copenhagen Business School and Vestfold University College, Norway, where he teaches and carries out research on process thinking and organization. He has published a dozen books as well as process related articles in top tier European and American journals. He is a leading figure in the emerging field of process thinking in organization studies. He is co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Process Philosophy and Organization Studies and co-chair of the EGOS Standing Working Group on process thinking and organization.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780199695089 |
| ISBN 10 | 0199695083 |
| Title | A Process Theory of Organization |
| Author | Tor Hernes |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press |
| Year published | 2014-05-15 |
| Number of pages | 256 |
| Prizes | Winner of Winner of the George R. Terry Book Award (2015). |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |