Images of Organization: The Executive Edition [Abridged] [Paperback]

Gareth Morgan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1998

Images of Organization shows managers how to break free of management fads by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of management metaphors and applying them to organizational life. Instead of looking for the "best theory" or the "best model", managers learn how to mobilize the insights of all dominant metaphors -- of the machine, the living organism, the learning organization, complexity, chaos, and flux -- as a creative force.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Gareth Morgan is well known for his creative contributions to management. He is the author of seven books, including Images of Organization, Creative Organization Theory, Imaginization and Riding the Waves of Change. He acts as consultant and seminar leader to numerous organizations throughout Europe and North America, and is Distinguished Research Professor at York University in Toronto. He has sat on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management, and Organization Studies; and is a Life Fellow of the International Academy of Management. Born in Wales, he now lives in Toronto with his wife, Karen and their children Evan and Heather. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 349 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; Abridged edition (June 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576750388
• ISBN-13: 978-1576750384
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #71,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #71 in Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior > Organizational Change

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Strengths and limitations of metaphors., November 8, 2000

By 

Turgay BUGDACIGIL (Istanbul, Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Images of Organization: The Executive Edition (Paperback)

"While managing and organizing are challenging in the best times, the difficulties are compounding in today's environment of rapid change. If you want to be the type of leader or professional who helps your organization adapt to the multiple demands of an increasingly turbulent world, you need to become aware of the images and assumptions that are shaping your current thinking and develop the capacity to use new ones. You need to develop competencies that allow you to see, understand, and shape situations in new ways. That is the focus of Images of Organization.It is not a 'quick fix' book. It is not a book that offers a simple recipe for tackling organizational problems...The basic thesis underlying the book is a very simple one: that all organization and management theory and practice is based on images, or metaphors, that lead us to understand situations in powerful yet partial ways. When we realize this, we learn to recognize that our favored ways of managing and organizing often lead us to miss out on other ways of managing and organizing. In addition, we recognize that since every metaphor has limitations as well as strengths, we must always be aware of the inherent blind spots that inevitably undermine our effectiveness" (pp.3-4).

In this context, Garet Morgan divides his book into three parts.

I- In this part, he focuses on the nature of metaphor and its role in understanding organization and management. Here, he argues that using multiple metaphors to understand organization and management gives us a capacity to tap different dimentions of a situation, showing how different qualities of organization can co-exist, supporting, reinforcing, or contradicting one another:

* In approaching the same situation in different ways, metaphors extend insight and suggest actions that may not have been possible before.

* The insights generated by different metaphors are not just theoretical. They are incredibly practical.

* Metaphors lead to new metaphors, creating a mosaic of competing and complementary insights.

II- In this part, he demonstrates how metaphor can be used to develop theories of organization and management. In this sense, he shows strengths and limitations of the following metaphors:machine metaphor, organismic metaphor, brain metaphor, culture metaphor, political metaphor, psychic prison metaphor, flux and transformation metaphor, and dominant metaphor.

III- In this part, by using theoretical ideas/metaphors, he presents a practical case study that illustrates how we can use the metaphors presented in this book as practical frameworks for reading and shaping organizations.

Finally, he argues that Images of Organization is very different from most management books. It has a clear point of view: that metaphor is central to the way we read, understand, and shape organizational life. But at no point will you find that view being brought down to advocacy of a single perspective. There are no right or wrong theories in management in an absolute sense, for every theory illuminates and hides.

Highly recommended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An outstanding and unique commentary on organizations, April 18, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Broome Western Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Images of Organization: The Executive Edition (Paperback)

What makes this book special is the approach. Morgan considers organizations using different metaphors such as organisations as brains. Each metaphors expands the reader's insight and understanding, and leads to ways of surviving organizational life. This book is a must read text for those studying management or organizational behaviour. All the chapters contain quality references to other work and are backed up by extensive research.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely fantastic., June 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Images of Organization: The Executive Edition (Paperback)

This book allows the reader to formulate his/her own opinion on each type of organization structure. Morgan brings in depth insights into the various forms of organizations through discussions of theories and examples. The book is concise and easy to understand, at the same it challenges readers by asking them to thoroughly exame each concept included in the book. Absolutely fantastic - a great leisure time book for the intelligent.