Company Man : The Rise and Fall of Corporate Life - Hardcover

Sampson, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 000255271X ISBN 13: 9780002552714

Publisher: Harper Collins, 1995

Synopsis

This work tells the story of the evolution of the social phenomenon of the 20th century - company man. The business corporation has become not only the engine of economic power, but the dominant community in much of the industrial world. Its executives have become enclosed in their own hierarchies and bureaucracies which have dominated their careers and their families' lives. The book shows how this new breed emerged and developed across the world, through successive industrial changes, and how different versions of company men - in America, Europe and Asia - are now competing for survival. Anthony Sampson is the author of "The Anatomy of Britain", "The New Europeans", "The Sovereign State of ITT", "The Seven Sisters", "The Arms Bazaar", "The Money Lenders", "Black and Gold", "The Midas Touch" and "The Essential Anatomy of Britain".

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

In this provocative and incisive social history of the corporation, British journalist Sampson observes that the "organization man" of the 1950s and '60s?a loyal worker confident of annual raises and a growing pension?is virtually extinct. Today's company men and company women face insecurity in offices that seem placeless networks of telecommuters and data banks, with short-term specialists and consultants increasingly replacing lifetime employees. Drawing on an array of writers, including H. G. Wells, G. B. Shaw, Franz Kafka, Sinclair Lewis, Thorstein Veblen, Kurt Vonnegut and John Kenneth Galbraith, Sampson explores the often dehumanizing fabric of corporate life and charts the history of corporations from 17th-century European merchant companies and Rockefeller's Standard Oil to the present, with profiles of IBM, Microsoft, General Motors, Sony, Toyota and Shell, among others. While middle managers and clerical employees are being squeezed and are more vulnerable to layoffs, top bosses have become more powerful and better-paid than ever, and Sampson urges safeguards to protect both shareholders and employees against the lack of corporate accountability.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

With downsizing, home offices, global competition, and other shocks, the traditional white-collar worker is being transported to an alien work environment. British author Sampson (The Essential Anatomy of Britain, Harcourt, 1993) traces here the development of company workers and then examines the forces transforming the workplace. He reviews American companies as well as European and Japanese organizations. The author focuses on some specific examples, such as IBM and Exxon, to demonstrate the changes in corporate structure from early family businesses to corporate bureaucracy to raiders and international conglomerates, emphasizing how this progression has affected company loyalty and job security. Although Sampson constructs an interesting narrative about corporate growth and change, he offers few predictions about the future. A good selection for larger business collections.?Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. System, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harper Collins
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 000255271X
• ISBN 13: 9780002552714
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 353