Organization Theory and Design (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Practice provides real world examples that bring theory to life and make concepts more memorable. Book Marks stimulate interest and have spurred some students to read the books outlined. Briefcase provides some thought provoking tips and captures the essence of the topic described. These all enhance and add another dimension to the text."

"Daft's text is still the best in the field. I am using it every single year and have updated my thinking about design issues with every single edition since it was introduced into the market. What I like about Daft's text is the logic by which students learn to appreciate the complexity of organization-environment relationships and the enormous value of matching structures and strategies. Integrating theoretical approaches with practical examples allows students to gain new knowledge and improve understanding of the reciprocal relationship between strategy and structure." --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Description

Richard Daft's best-selling text, Organization Theory and Design, integrates the most recent thinking about organizations, classic ideas and theories, and real world practice, in a way that is interesting and enjoyable for learners. This edition includes many updates including a new chapter on international issues and revisions of other chapters to include the most recent ideas and events. While organization studies and real world examples are insightful for understanding organizations and solve real-world problems, Daft also integrates numerous features that give learners the opportunity to apply concepts and develop skills and insights.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 656 pages
• Publisher: South-Western College Pub; 8 edition (July 8, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 032415691X
• ISBN-13: 978-0324156911
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #190,716 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Strong Guide in Organization Theory, May 17, 2001

By	Tansu Demir (Springfield, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Organization Theory and Design (Hardcover)

This is a well-designed and comprehensive book in the area of organization theory. From introduction to the end, this book aims to teach the foundations of organization theory to readers.

There is a great awareness of new developments in the area of organization theory. The new developments such as team-based management models are integrated into the conventional wisdom wonderfully in the book. We are living in a world in which globalization and stiff competition dominates. We name this age as Information Age and corporations need new mentality and practices to adapt to challenging conditions this era brings about. This book presents some new approaches in global competition perspective to readers.

A Look Inside, Bookmark, In Practice, The New Paradigm and Case for Analysis are excellent peculiarities of the book.

Diagrams and other visual characterizations involved in the book give readers a big opportunity to digest topics recounted. Since this book is a detailed investigation of organization theory, you may miss some parts and feel confused. I can recommend another book, that is, Designing Organizations (Robey, D. and Sales, Carol A.), which is a summarized organization theory book with excellent cases.

If you want to understand organization theory with its basic foundations and details, this book is a must. You must exploit the rich knowledge of Professor Daft.

Strongly recommended.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The learning book, July 23, 2005

By	Eran Cohen (Israel) - See all my reviews

"Organization Theory and Design" is a book every corporate member that has aspirations to better understand and contribute to his organization should own.

I used this book studying a basic course of organizational behavior after the professor had referred to it as "the best text on the market". I found out he was right - the book is extremely well-written and its contribution to my understanding of the subject is invaluable.

As it happened, I partly read older versions of the book to find out how every few years Mr. Daft updates his analysis, insights and examples of the ever changing and evolving world of organizations; for instance, the past example of IBM that served as the major opening example of an organization that has gone from the top of the world to the brink of disintegration in the beginning of the 90's (and since then regained leading position in its areas of expertise), is replaced in this 8th edition with Xerox. Mr. Daft continues and presents the most recent developments in organizations' design - structures and management methods that have only emerged lately in response to the turbulences in the environments and competition worldwide.

By making the changes and improvements in every edition "Organization theory and design" wins the title of this review - "the learning book" - that mirror images the main theme of this work - "the learning organization". Almost no organization can stand still in today's reality - managers and workers have to constantly think of better ways of doing things and learn from every source that bears knowledge and can give the organization a better competitive advantage. Things have never moved so fast and threats and opportunities have never been so immense. Competitors have to be efficient and different to survive and stay on the top.

The structure of the book is designed to convey its ideas in the best possible manner: Each and every chapter opens with an example illustrating its content, then an introduction to the subject. Theory and examples from today's organizational world followa and are interwoven throughout the text in the "in practice" section. A fascinating section is "leading by design" in which Mr. Daft highlights top-of-the-line companies that have managed to materialize the theory and consequently lead their industries. Yet another remarkable feature is "bookmark" in which the autohor recommends and actually reviews the content of other books that further develop the subject the chapter dealt with. For me, the magnitude of this behavior is unprecedented; I haven't read a book that is so much interested in advancing and advertising works of fellow authors. This is a code of conduct every author can learn from in pursuing the ultimate goal - to better inform and educate his/her readers.

Some of the material the book covers include the organizational environment, organizational structures, organizational decision making processes, ethics, organization-decline and organizational politics.

As is the norm in many books, Mr. Daft integrates case studies directly connected to the content of each chapter in its end. They add all the more to the reality dimension that is so strong throughout the book.

Lastly, the price of this book is somewhat expensive but well worth the money and will certainly prove to be a wise investment. Years after its reaing and studying it may serve as a reference source when the reader will stumble across situations covered in the book and learn to appreciate even more the lessons insights Mr. daft offers.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, watch out..., May 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Organizational Theory and Design (Hardcover)

I'm using this text for my HRM course and it is, without a doubt, the most straightforward text I have ever read. Coming from a senior, whose read my share of textbooks, if you are teaching HRM, this book makes it conducive to learning the elementary ideas of HRM. This is one text I'll be keeping instead of selling back to the bookstore.