Synopses & Reviews
This landmark case study presents the first full-fledged examination of work organizations in Arab society. The author has chosen two organizations for study--a commercial bank and a tax bureau--focusing on organizational characteristics, employee attitudes, employee behaviors, similarities and discontinuities in societal values, and cultural context. His analysis vividly demonstrates that the values and behaviors displayed in work environments have implications for societal values, organization theory, and development theory.
Divided into three sections, the book first offers a detailed picture of each organization within its cultural setting. The study also compares and contrasts the two organizations, paying particular attention to their structures. Successive chapters explore how each organization reflects or deviates from the wider cultural context in which it operates, and assess each in terms of a life cycle theory of organizational evolution. Concluding chapters utilize theories of change and economic development to help explicate each organization's particular dynamics and pattern of evolution.
Synopsis
This landmark case study presents the first full-fledged examination of work organizations in Arab society. The author has chosen two organizations for study--a commercial bank and a tax bureau--focusing on organizational characteristics, employee attitudes, employee behaviors, similarities and discontinuities in societal values, and cultural context. His analysis vividly demonstrates that the values and behaviors displayed in work environments have implications for societal values, organization theory, and development theory.
About the Author
ROBERT B. CUNNINGHAM is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Table of Contents
The Bank
The Bank and Its Customers
The Organization and Its Officers
The First Floor: Checking and Savings, Transfers
The Second Floor: Fixed Term Loans and Internal Audit
The Third Floor: Accounting, Diwan, and Runners
Cycles, Profits, Outside Linkages, and Wholes
The Bureau
Income Tax: National System and Local Bureau
The Taxpayer's Perspective
Files and Information
The Audit
Notification, Collection, Records
The Court
Management
Of Cycles and Seasons
Similarities, Differences, and Organizational Development
The Bank and the Bureau--A Comparison
Organizations and Middle Eastern Culture
Life Cycle Theory and Organizational Effectiveness
Organizational Development and Economic Development
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index