The Poetic Logic of Administration: Styles and Changes of Style in the Art of Organizing (Routledge Studies in Management, Organizations and Society) - Hardcover

Skoldberg, Kaj

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0415270022 ISBN 13: 9780415270021

Publisher: Routledge, 2002

Synopsis

The Poetic Logic of Administration is an investigation of the most important organizational forms of our time, theoretically as well as practically. Central to the presentation are four main trends: the rational bureaucracy, the human network, the harmonious system and the strong culture.
The book provides a new and challenging picture of these organizational forms. Difficult to capture in common logical terms, they appear to follow a certain pattern: a 'poetic logic'. They are, for example, enacted as various literary dramas: comedy, tragedy etc. They are also marked by different conceptions of the world - such as the metaphorical and the ironic - and by different explanatory ideals.
Kaj Skoldberg's book contains a rhetorical analysis of the styles of modern administration and the changes they have undergone. This is a groundbreaking work, offering new interpretations and critical re-evaluations of the individual approaches to organization, including their 'gurus' and current importance, within the framework of a highly-original, overarching analysis. No previous book has tried to capture the major forms of organizing, and their dynamics, in terms of their rhetorical master tropes, main narrative genres, and explanatory ideals, and also uses this as an interpretive scheme for understanding individual organizational theories and practices within those main approaches. Examples are given from both the private and the public sectors and various forms of efficiency and effectiveness are also discussed.

About this title

About the Author

Kaj Sköldberg is Professor in Business Administration at the School of Business, Stockholm University.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0415270022
• ISBN 13: 9780415270021
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288