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

Grid series in management.

This OB reader continues to both instruct and entertain the current generation of students and professionals about workplace realities. Going beyond the usual technical/rational analysis of books on organizational behavior, each chapter is a fictionalized account of actual workplace happenings, and involves a continuing cast of characters whom readers come to know. Each account makes a point of its own, or illustrates theoretical material covered in the introductions to parts and sections. For instance, why would a plant manager call a continuing series of 6:30am meetings about coordination of efforts, and then cancel them after a short while? (He effectively used negative reinforcement to reward the coordination that resulted from imposing the inconvenient meetings; aside from whatever the participants may have discussed.) The "realness" of this text continues to draw a kind of fan mail from both students and others. As one Vice President of Sales for a nationally known corporation put it: "After 18 years in business life I only wish I had read it much earlier. Your book should be required reading for anyone embarking into any kind of organizational life.

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