Summary

`A valuable guide to major issues in the field′ - Gareth Morgan, University of York

` The Handbook of Organization Studies completes the trilogy begun by two previous pathbreaking handbooks - March′s Handbook of Organizations (1965) and Nystrom and Starbuck′s Handbook of Organizational Design (1981). Like the earlier two handbooks, the editors have recruited an international group of up-and-coming junior scholars, as well as seasoned veterans, and the result is stunning... a gold mine of ideas. I wholeheartedly recommend this book′ - Howard E Aldrich, Kenan Professor of Sociology, University of Northern Carolina at Chapel Hill

`A marvellous collection of up-to-date scholarship on organization studies from a whole array of perspectives. A must for any organization researcher′s bookshelf′ - Koya Azumi, Professor of Sociology, International Christian University, Tokyo

` The Handbook of Organization Studies provides a much-needed synthesis of the literature and knowledge about organizations and organizing.... I recommend it as an essential reference book for business schools as well as social science departments′ - Professor Jean-Claude Thoenig, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France

`This book is the most significant contribution to the study of organizations to have appeared in one volume since the classic Handbook of Organizations which James March edited thirty years ago.... This Handbook of Organization Studies should remain relevant for at least as long as its predecessor′ - John Child, Guinness Professor of Management Studies, The Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge

`The Handbook of Organization Studies is a stunning accomplishment. The volume forces relics of an earlier era, like me, to rethink the fields of organizations and organization studies. It captures the exciting differences that are part of our literature in one place. The volume undoubtedly will stimulate new enquiries which will require another such handbook in another three decades′ - Richard H Hall, Distinguished Service Professor, Department of Sociology and Management, State University of New York, Albany

`This book will stimulate many exciting conversations among readers that would not have occurred without it. It is creative in design and conception and the quality... is superb. Definintely, it will appeal to those who wish to celebrate the diversity of perspectives and issues in the field and outflank those who wish to imagine that there is nothing of value outside the mainstream′ - Professor John M Jermier, University of South Florida, Tampa

This unique handbook presents a major retrospective and prospective overview of the field of organization studies. Drawing on the talents of an outstanding team of international contributors, the editors have assembled, assessed and synthesized the key strands in past and current theory.

The text moves from the general to the specific, from the past to the present and from the present to the future. Addressing the established traditions, as well as newer foci of inquiry, it examines the questions that the fin de si[gr]ecle poses for organizations, and for ourselves as organization members and researchers. Central to the enterprise has been a concern to reflect and honour the manifest diversity of the field - including recognition of the extent to which the very notion of a single field of organization studies is itself debated - while also directing attention to the points of intersection and potential dialogue across the numerous `conversations′ that make up this area of study.

Choice Review

The editors frame this text on organization studies (OS) as one which is "to map the terrain" of organization research and enable "conversations" between different research paradigms and traditions. The book consists of three major sections: frameworks for analysis (theoretical paradigms); current issues (e.g., deconstruction, leadership, innovation); and reflections on research, theory, and practice (e.g., action research, images of time). Both well-known OS writers and newer "other voices" are included. The book is anchored by an extensive introduction and a summary that urges researchers to be more reflective about their theoretical paradigms and their roles as researchers. The editors argue that neither the structuralist nor the postmodernist paradigm is sufficient unto itself and that the practical, and not just the theoretical, implications of research must be considered. Even the target audience--graduate students and researchers--will find some of the material hard going given the considerable variance in readability from chapter to chapter. Some chapters are better than others, but overall this excellent resource delivers what it promises--a look at the past, current, and future state of OS research that will stimulate conversations between researchers and scholars. B. J. Keinath; Metropolitan State University