Images of Organization . . . is very important to health care, where the field is changing so quickly that one of the critical ingredients for organizational success is creativity. I have enjoyed reading (and rereading) both Imaginization and the new edition of Images of Organization.
--Eric Williams, Assistant Professor, University of Missouri, Columbia
Images of Organization is an excellent resource to assist managers and other professionals in responding to rapidly changing work situations. This tool provides flexible, integrative processes to analyze our organizations in order to take those crucial next steps into the future.
--Joanne McNicol, Training and Development Manager
Gareth Morgan, a respected academic, author, and business consultant, develops the theme that all theories are partial, illuminating one aspect of organization while leaving the others in shadow. Moreover, managers are not passive, objective observers of events; instead, they perceive situations through the lens of existing viewpoints, and their fragmentary interpretations then prompt actions. To alleviate this unavoidable self-construction of reality, Morgan urges alertness to the dilemma and awareness of alternative images (or metaphors). The metaphors are described in considerable detail in chapters on organization as machine, organism, brain, culture, political system, psychic prison, flux and transformation, and instrument of domination. In the process of explaining these metaphors, the author also provides a quite useful and comprehensive review of the literature on organizations. This book represents the key fact of organization theory over the past two decades: No theoreticalperspective dominates the literature, so viewpoints must compete for attention in a marketplace of conceptual approaches. Though aimed at practitioners, students and teachers of organizational behavior will benefit from Morgan's insightful, well-written book on the troublesome, too-often unrecognized, issue of seeing what we believe. Graduate level collections and above.
--CHOICE
This volume updates what has become a true classic in management literature. Sprinkled with contemporary examples, it incorporates the most recent themes in cognitive approaches, chaos theory, self-organizing systems, and metaphor analysis. Retaining its provocative framework, it is essential reading for any scholar or practitioner who must act or seek to understand the paradoxes and shifting visions of organizational life.
--Linda L. Putnam, Texas A& M University
A fine, well-thumbed friend returns reborn and refreshed. No one who cares about organizations should miss this living classic.
--Curt Lindberg, President, VHA New Jersey
The new edition of Images of Organization leads the reader smoothly into the most recent debate among organizational scholars while preserving the elegance of the first edition. The reader is freed from compulsory and totalizing accounts of organizational life.
--Antonio Strati, Professor, University of Trento, Italy
Images of Organization is MUST READING for practitioners in the overlapping fields of organizational design, management, learning, and change. . . . In Images, metaphor becomes an extraordinarily accessible and pragmatic tool. Gareth Morgan challenges us to flex our innate capacity to imagine and create-to image and evolve. . .. He is one of the most thorough researchers and imaginative theorists in the domain of organization. This piece of work is rich with examples and down-to-earth frames. ENJOY!
--Bill Veltrop, The International Center for Organizational Design
Gareth Morgan's new edition of Images of Organization is a classic work that will stir the imagination of readers for years to come. I recommend this superb contribution with unreserved enthusiasm.
--Danny Miller, Professor of Business Administration, HEC, Montreal and McGill University, and author of The Icarus Paradox
Gareth Morgan has improved importantly on the new edition of Images of Organization. It contains many new ideas such as 'design principles' for creating learning in organizations. There are also fascinating suggestions for practitioners, challenging their assumptions and replacing them with ones that are more likely to lead to effective performance.
--Chris Argyris, James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior, Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University
There aren't enough superlatives to describe Images of Organization. I have used Gareth Morgan's first edition as the main text in my seminar on organizational studies for the creative insights it provides into the functioning of organizations. What was already a masterpiece is strengthened in its new edition. . . . Original, insightful, creative, meaningful, relevant, practical, scholarly, research-based. These descriptors only begin to describe this brilliant and challenging work.
--Eugene W. Ratsoy, Professor of Educational Administration, University of Alberta, Edmonton
Images of Organizationprovides powerful tools for understanding and analyzing organizations. The book forces us to extend our existing frames of reference. . . . The revisions to the first edition have been substantial.
--Pratima Bansal, Assistant Professor, Department of Management, Georgia State University
Images of Organization is an exciting book, demonstrating both the diverse perspectives and the limitations on our understanding of organizations. It is invaluable for teaching the future leaders of organizations.
--Brian Nichol, Visiting Associate Professor, Department. of Adult and Community College Education, North Carolina State University
In Images of Organization, Gareth Morgan demonstrates an uncanny ability to visualize organizational processes. The metaphorical images he creates provide a deep understanding of what organizations are and, more important, what they can become. Each of his organizational metaphors is a richly woven blend of classic organizational theory and new, often radically different, ideas from many diverse arenas. Further, he goes beyond simply creating explanatory metaphors. He makes it clear that metaphorical thinking is at the heart of effectively managing organizations during times of turbulence and change. This book is a must read for all serious students of organization, theory, behavior, and change. Gareth Morgan ranks alongside James Thompson and others as the elite scholars in the field. --W. Edward Stead, Professor of Management, East Tennessee State University
I have used Gareth Morgan's Images of Organization for many years. Morgan's approach to organizations is thought provoking. Students find the use of metaphors intriguing andinsightful. Through the use of metaphors, Morgan provides students with a variety of lenses to view the world differently. He provides an interesting method for exploring organizations that standard course textbooks do not offer. Images works well as a course text or as a supplementary text.
--Susan C. Aldridge, Director, Western Region, Troy State University
Gareth Morgan's Images of Organization and its companion, Creative Organization Theory, have changed the way I teach my course on organizations. My students really enjoy learning about organizations by discussing and debating the decision cases in Creative Organization Theory. The way Morgan uses images and metaphors stimulates students to 'reframe' and think about organizations in different ways. I have even found Morgan's images useful in helping me think about not just organizations but many other aspects of our social worlds.
--David Hachen, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Sociology, University of Notre Dame
Images of Organization is unique in its aim to open dialogue and extend horizons; there are no right or wrong theories in management. This book explores and develops the art of reading and understanding organizational life. It is based on a very simple premise: that all theories of organization and management are based on implicit images or metaphors that lead us to see, understand, and manage organizations in disctinctive yet partial ways. Each chapter invites you to engage in a mode of thinking that generates important insights while having major limitations. Images of Organization has already established itself as a classic that has influenced management thinking throughout the world. This New Edition takes Gareth Morgan's achievement one step further, providing a rich and comprehensive resource for exploring the complexity of modern organizations. In this monumental work, leading-edge theory is translated into leading-edge practice. The New Edition carefully preserves the qualities and strengths of the original, while delivering new insights on today's managerial challenges. Morgan shows managers how to view their organizations by using his renowned creative images and metaphors.
Images of Organization has already established itself as a classic that has influenced management thinking throughout the world. This New Edition takes Gareth Morgan's achievement one step further, providing a rich and comprehensive resource for exploring the complexity of modern organizations internationally. In this monumental work, leading-edge theory is translated into leading-edge practice. The New Edition carefully preserves the qualities and strengths of the original, while delivering new insights on today's managerial challenges. Morgan shows managers how to view their organizations by using his renowned creative images and metaphors.Images of Organization is unique in its aim to open dialogue and extend horizons; there are no right or wrong theories in management. This book explores and develops the art of reading and understanding organizational life internationally. It is based on a very simple premise: that all theories of organization and management are based on implicit images or metaphors that lead us to see, understand, and manage organizations in distinctive yet partial ways. Each chapter invites you to engage in a mode of thinking that generates important insights while having major limitations. *Now includes teaching notes accompany Images of Organization as well as Morgan's Creative Organization Theory and Imaginization
Gareth Morgan, a respected academic, author, and business consultant, develops the theme that all theories are partial, illuminating one aspect of organization while leaving the others in shadow. Moreover, managers are not passive, objective observers of events; instead, they perceive situations through the lens of existing viewpoints, andtheir fragmentary interpretations then prompt actions. To alleviate this unavoidable self-construction of reality, Morgan urges alertness to the dilemma and awareness of alternative images (or metaphors). The metaphors are described in considerable detail in chapters on organization as machine, organism, brain, culture, political system, psychic prison, flux and transformation, and instrument of domination. In the process of explaining these metaphors, the author also provides a quite useful and comprehensive review of the literature on organizations. This book represents the key fact of organization theory over the past two decades: No theoretical perspective dominates the literature, so viewpoints must compete for attention in a marketplace of conceptual approaches. Though aimed at practitioners, students and teachers of organizational behavior will benefit from Morgan's insightful, well-written book on the troublesome, too-often unrecognized, issue of seeing what we believe. Graduate level collections and above. --CHOICEImages of Organization . . . is very important to health care, where the field is changing so quickly that one of the critical ingredients for organizational success is creativity. I have enjoyed reading (and rereading) both Imaginization and the new edition of Images of Organization. --Eric Williams, Assistant Professor, University of Missouri, Columbia Images of Organization is an excellent resource to assist managers and other professionals in responding to rapidly changing work situations. This tool provides flexible, integrative processes to analyze our organizations in order to take those crucial next steps into the future. --Joanne McNicol, Training andDevelopment Manager