The Ropes to Skip and the Ropes to Know: Studies in Organizational Behavior

Now in it's seventh edition, this OB reader continues to both instruct and entertain the current generation of students and professionals about workplace realities. This book consists of a series of short, interwoven stories about the operations at a single, mythical company seen through the eyes of an employee. It reveals the psychological processes and social mores at work in a company, and it is uniquely valuable for helping to bridge the gap between theory and practice. It immerses readers in the "real-world" workplace as no other text does, and provides just enough theory to make sense of it. The new edition will continue with the same premise and will contain updated stories and chapters.

Hello, My Name Is Stanley

This story is about me, and some fellow employees in The Company. When I graduated from school and started working for The Company, I never thought it would be so hard––not only learning my job, but also making sense of the everyday events happening all around me. As I soon discovered, learning the ropes at any organization takes time.

Organizations have their own myths, rituals, cultures, and most importantly, their own people. You have to be able to decipher the unwritten rules. I hope my story will provide you with a new way of looking at organizations, and help you analyze, interpret, and understand the everyday realities of organizational life.

This Seventh Edition of The Ropes to Skip and the Ropes to Know is updated and revised to give you a feel for what it’s like to currently work for The Company. The new edition includes several new boxes and a new tale, and a significantly rewritten prologue. Also, a new and expanded Instructor’s Manual on the website features discussion starter questions related to issues addressed in each of the tales. Extensive notes on these issues are also provided for instructors.

Whether you are a new-comer or an old-timer in the business world, I hope my story will help you on your journey as you learn the ropes. 

“The interpretive/cultural approach of The Ropes provides a distinct competitive advantage. Students learn about the living world of organizational behavior through simple concepts, definitions, and short cases. The Ropes provides a more meaningful alternative because of its rich real-life stories.”
––Dale Fitzgibbons, Illinois State University

“As a person with ten years of corporate experience and many years of academia, I have found past editions full of delightfully real characterizations. As I told my students then, ‘I wish I had read this book before I started my corporate career.’ I liked the book because it was real.”
––Peter B. Venuto, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania