If you want an excellent introduction to organization theory – I recommend Pfeffer’s New Directions in Organization Theory: Problems and Prospects. The book nicely covers key micro-issues, which many org theory books don’t do, and more generally the book is an excellent lay-of-the-land introduction (for a different angle on the matter – see Peter Abell’s excellent Organisation Theory: An Interdisciplinary Approach). » (Via orgtheory.net.)
Je suis d’accord, tout à fait : Pfeffer a produit un petit bouquin très stimulant. Et Karl Weick en fait ici une bonne présentation. Bon, ce n’est pas un livre récent (1997) mais qui a dit que la théorie des organisations évolue si vite ?
Je cite ici quelques phrases de la présentation de Weick, qui me rappellent bien ce qui m’avait plu à la lecture de Pfeffer : Reading Pfeffer is a bit like reading a book-length Annual Review of Sociology chapter on organizations.
Translated into the language of the chapters of this book, the field is about understanding the causes of behavior (chap. 2), models of behavior, the effects of composition, mechanisms of social control, the exercise of power and influence, organizational performance, a critical look at managerialism, and new directions. Alternatively, it could be argued that the field is about the five models of behavior discussed in chapter 3: economic, social, retrospective rational, moral, and interpretive.
