1st Edition

The Anthropology of Organisations

Edited By Alberto Corsin Jimenez Copyright 2007

    The Anthropology of Organisations offers a critical overview of the work that for over sixty years anthropologists have been carrying out in and on organisations and of the contribution that this work has made to social theory at large. Moving beyond earlier preoccupations with ’culture’ and ’relationality’, the volume brings together a selection of classic and contemporary articles that cast new light on the relevance of ethnography for organisational and social theory. It offers an indispensable resource for students and scholars interested in the politics behind the institutionalisation of social life.

    Contents: Series preface; Introduction; Part I Human Relations: Methods for the study of human relations in industry, Burleigh B. Gardner and William Foote Whyte; The perspectives of Elton Mayo, Reinhard Bendix and Lloyd H. Fisher;The social structure of the restaurant, William Foote Whyte. Part II Social and Political Relations: 'Banana time': job satisfaction and informal interaction, Donald F. Roy; The politics of ritual secrecy, Abner Cohen; Beyond account: the personal impact of police shootings, John van Maanan. Part III Productive and Power Relations: Anthropology of the multinational corporation, June Nash;The production of possession: spirits and the multinational corporation in Malaysia, Aihwa Ong; The culture of production: aesthetic choices and constraints in culinary work, Gary Alan Fine; Factory, family and neighbourhood: the political economy of informal labour in Sheffield, Massimiliano Mollona. Part IV Bureaucratic and Administrative Relations: Managing the managers, Melville Dalton; Moral mazes: bureaucracy and managerial work, Robert Jackall; Penetrability of administrative systems: political 'casework' and immigration inspections, Janet A. Gilboy; The anthropology of power-wielding bureaucracies, Josiah McC. Heyman. Part V Organizational Culture: Concepts of culture and organizational analysis, Linda Smircich; A cultural theory of information bias in organizations, Michael Thompson and Aaron Wildavsky. Part VI Anthropological Cultures: Methods: The fact of fiction in organizational ethnography, John van Maanen; Persons and Places: Creating an ideal self: theories of selfhood and pedagogy at a Japanese ethics retreat, Dorinne K. Kondo; The significance of meetings in an American mental health centre, Helen B. Schwartzman; Theories: A classification of occupations and their associated fiddles, Gerald Mars; Terrorism: a positive feedback game, Mary Douglas and Gerald Mars. Part VII Anthropological Institutionalisations: Consuming, science: public knowledge and the dispersed politics of reception among museum visitors, Sharon Macdonald. Part VIII Re-Institutionalisations of the Contemporary: Technological: Reconstructing technologies as social practice, Lucy Suchman, Jeanette Blomberg, Julian E. Orr and Randall Trigg; Political: Is good policy unimplementable? Reflections on the ethnography of aid policy and practice, David Mosse; The tyranny of transparency, Marilyn Strathern; Work: Changing scripts at work: managers and professionals, Gideon Kunda and John van Maanen; Working out personhood: notes on 'labour' and its anthropology, Alberto Corsín Jiménez; Theoretical: On time, space, and action nets, Barbara Czarniawska ; Real time: unwinding technocratic and anthropological knowledge, Annelise Riles; Name index.

    Biography

    Dr Alberto Corsin Jimenez is Lecturer in the Anthropology of Organisations at the University of Manchester, UK.

    '...it is eminently coherent in what it sets out to do, and would make an excellent course handbook, or overall refresher.' Anthropology in Action .'...provides a very good resource for scholars interested in ethnography and organisational and social theory...places together within easy reach both classic and more contemporary essays.' Social Anthropology