Inside Organizations: Understanding the Human Dimension

This is the first definitive volume on organizational ethnography, an emerging field in which organizations are studied as human phenomena. Unifying the volume is the thesis that organizing is a fundamental human enterprise that is social, symbolic and aesthetic as well as technological and utilitarian. Symbolic interactionism found in sociology, the notion of culture in anthropology, and stories and rituals of folklore and mythology are drawn upon; its adherents suggest that until organizing is understood as a symbolic activity, any theory of organization is incomplete. Inside Organizations is a collaborative effort of contributors from a variety of disciplines, including both practitioners and scholars who discuss various organizational settings in which they either participated or were participant observers. Using ethnographic techniques of documentation and analysis, they describe observed situations and behaviours in order to derive some universal principles and applications of leadership, culture change and the social and psychological functions of symbolic behaviour. Issues addressed include confronting and resolving conflict and stress through symbolic behaviour, the role of deviant symbolic expression, the role of aesthetics and play in organizational life and the practical use of organizational ethnography in research. Organizational Ethnography should be read by all those wanting to understand organizational culture and symbolism from both a practical and theoretical viewpoint.Jones, Michael O. is the author of 'Inside Organizations: Understanding the Human Dimension' with ISBN 9780803931985 and ISBN 0803931980.