A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Organizations - Literature review Example

? A Review of Chris Grey’s Book “A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Organizations” 12 December 2011 A Review of Chris Grey’s Book “A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Organizations” The topic of A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Organizations is the study of organisations or organisation studies. The author of the book is Christopher Grey. He is part of the Judge Institute of Management Studies in Cambridge University. In general, the parts of the book are bureaucracy and scientific management, human relations theory and people management, organisation culture and self-management, and post-bureaucracy and change management. Grey (2009) also describes and examines how business schools define and study organisations. These parts intend to promote a historical approach to organisation studies, where the context of political forces impact how organisations are studied and interpreted. This essay aims to review this book and provide personal perceptions about Grey's arguments and approach. Grey is writing the book, because (as he explains in the “Introduction” of the book) he wants to present an alternative text for people who are interested in studying organisations, a text that transects popular language and scholarly frameworks. This book emerges from the field of organisation and management studies. It belongs to the genre of popular literature on organisation and management, but with a critical thinking perspective. The title of the book alone shows that it is meant to be “reader-friendly,” but not in a less scholarly way. Grey stresses that his book might be an introductory material to the study of organisations, but it does not include obvious ideas and theories about organisations. He stresses that his book is not for people who are not ready to question what they know about organisations. Other books that belong to this field are books on organisation studies, organisation theory and culture, and management. These books generally hold a mainstream or traditional view of organisations as something formed by a group of people with collective goals. The strategic management and economic perspectives, in particular, focus on the organisational goals of effectiveness and efficiency. These books are also fairly written from the perspective of the management, although some human resource management books study organisations from the viewpoints of employees and customers too. Grey (2009) provides an important point that these books are for managers who aim to control their people and other factors, so that they can attain organisational goals and strategies. For him, they are books that hide power values and structures, because they might seem too Marxian or Weberian, as if Weber and Marx are outdated authors with no relevance in the modern world. Grey (2009) does not find anything inherently wrong with these mainstream textbooks, but for him, they are incredibly heavy and boring, and that despite their supposed comprehensiveness, they do not emphasise and recognise the importance of politics in forming the organisation's definitions, structures, and goals. Grey's book challenges the traditional definition of organisations and he presents a critical analysis of how and why organisations are made. His analysis of organisation studies, however, is not entirely seminal, because other authors, such as Long (2008), have examined the political causes and processes of organisations in a more exhaustive degree. Long (2008) also believes that politics shape organisational behaviour and culture, and she argues that organisation studies scholars should also examine the often-neglected aspects of organisational behaviour and processes, such as politics and ethics. Fournier and Grey (2000) further expand Grey's perspective on organisations by examining the conditions and opportunities for Critical Management Studies (CMS). They conclude that critical management studies is reflective and critical of existing management and organisation frameworks. They argue that scholars should view “engagement” as decisive to the study of organisations and management approaches. Grey (2009) supports a growing strand of organisation and management studies that argues for a more critical analysis of organisations, especially their nature, processes, systems, and outcomes. I would describe Grey's approach to the subject as a sociological one, because he examines the social, economic, political, and cultural context that influence how organisations are defined, studied, and interpreted. He also works on the theories of Marx and Weber, because their works are still relevant up to now, especially in criticising the rise of global capitalist systems that multinational, transnational, and global corporations produce and reinforce. He writes in a conversational tone, so that he can present the topic in a more interesting manner than other organisation textbooks, but his non-traditional ideas also discuss organisations in a compelling manner. He essentially asks readers to analyse and criticise the political implications and nature of organisations and organisation studies. For Grey, critical organisation studies should not be done for the sake of increasing knowledge alone, because scholars, students, and managers should use this knowledge to advance diverse stakeholder interests and to improve corporate social responsibility. The main argument of Grey's book is that organisations should not be defined and studied through its economic goals alone, but should be understood also as a product of political forces that shape its formation and analysis. One basic and powerful idea that Grey (2009) wants readers to get from the book is that organisations are political and those in power define what is efficiency and who it should serve. If this is the case, organisation studies can never aspire to be a science, because organisations are not value-free, since people are not value-free. Political goals, among others, impact people's identities and behaviours, which also affect how they define and operate within organisations. Grey (2009) says that it is important to understand the politics of organisations, because it will help people unmask why and how organisations work. And if people want to change organisations, they should start with this analysis, and use it to promote a new organisational politics that will promote social responsibility among organisations. Grey (2009) supports his arguments by explaining the political forces that influence the dominant movements in organisation studies. He covers bureaucracy and scientific management, human relations theory and people management, organisation culture and self-management, and post-bureaucracy and change management. At the same time, he shows that business schools also study organisations as if they are value-free, and that organisation studies is a science that is also value-neutral. Grey (2009) rejects the positivist approach to science, because it overlooks that organisations are institutions that people make and change, and so people can also challenge the organisation's definitions, biases, and assumptions. They can transform how managers, management scholars, and management students view and practice organisational management. Grey (2009) uses evidence that come from anecdotal and empirical studies on history, society, management, politics, and economics. He includes stories about political leaders, not just organisational leaders, because the organising principles and practices of bureaucracies directly shape public organisations, and they also affect private organisations, which are subject to the former's laws and directives. For instance, Hitler applies what Grey defines as formal rationality in conducting the Holocaust. Grey stresses that it takes an organisational system to persuade people who will do the work for Hitler, specifically “collecting” and transporting the Jews, prostitutes, and other “marked” groups to ghettos and other “final” destinations, and doing what they have to do to achieve organisational objectives, no matter how inhumane or substantively irrational they might be. This is a strong example of how organisations serve political ends, not in the sense of politics per se, but in the sense of how power is allocated and used to serve someone's or some group's particular ends. I find this evidence convincing, because I also agree that power is a frequently overlooked, but equally dominant, aspect of organisations. Numerous textbooks define and discuss organisations as if they are scientific phenomena that have no political dimensions or ethical implications. In reality, merely the choice of several words that define organisations underlies the values and assumptions of whoever does the defining. The evidence is also more qualitative than quantitative, and for me, this is crucial evidence, since we are studying people and their organisations. I approve Grey's belief that organisation studies cannot be a science in the positivist way, because it should follow a more sociological approach in its studies. Grey's (2009) definition of organisations do not neatly fit mainstream organisation literature, because the latter mostly define organisations without highlighting the political aspects of organising people. Cole and Cole (1995) define “work organisation” as a group of people who “collaborate in a structured and relatively permanent way in order to achieve one or more goals which they share in common” and cannot attain individually (pp.5-6). This definition uses the word “collaborate” as if it is a given process for all organisations. It does not include the reality of conflict, explicit or implicit, within organisations and which affect how people in organisations interrelate with each other and form their goals. It lacks Grey's analysis of organisations as politically and socially formed too, and not just economically determined. Daft (2008) defines organisation as “social entities” that have goals, “designed as deliberately structured and coordinated activity systems,” and related to its environment (p.11). His further elaboration does not actively highlight the political nature of organisations, although as “social entities,” organisations underlie its political systems too. Durand (2006) promotes the kind of definition that Grey find to be too economic in framework. Durand (2006) states that an organisation can be seen as “purposive social collections of controlled resources, building exchange relations and interacting with other entities, and developing strategies for reaching objectives” (p.13). His definition is framed from the strategic management perspective, which also focuses on managing people and resources in the most effective and efficient manner. Like Cole and Cole (1995) and Daft (2008), Durand (2006) does not also deconstruct the political dimensions of work organisations, especially in modern society, where multinational, transnational, and global corporations powerfully impact how organisations are defined, operated, and studied, as well as how these organisations influence national and local political, economic, social, and cultural environments. Grey (2009) structures his argument by providing his claims and supporting it with organisational theories, examples, and empirical studies. Then he presents his own claims and interpretations. For instance, when he defines bureaucracies as not caring about “about substantive rationality, they don't care about ethics, they are just about getting the job done as quickly as possible,” he follows it with definitions of bureaucracies from other scholars (p.26). He then provides his own ideas and claims, such as saying that du Gay's definition of organisations is right from the ideal type of bureaucracy that Weber provides. For me, Grey's argument makes sense, because it is true that politics is an often unseen aspect of organisation studies. Grey (2009) effectively persuades me to consider the “other,” sometimes “dark” side of organisations- its politics. I find his approach effective, because he explores not just the human side of organisations, but more of the socio-political nature of organisations, because human beings are also social and political beings. I have already read about the politics of organisations in other textbooks, and it is true that this aspect is rarely included in the thick textbooks on organisations. When it is included, it is written as if an appendix to organisation studies, instead of being recognised as a critical part of how organisations are defined, structured, and maintained. Grey's (2009) book challenges how students and managers see organisations and persuades them to use the political factor of organisations to benefit more stakeholders, instead of the usual benefactors of the traditional definition of organisations, who are the owners or shareholders and the management. The book, for me, has accomplished the important goal of helping students form critical thinking skills, so that they can see and manage organisations in a different light, a light that will hopefully turn work organisations into socially responsible entities. This book departs from its genre because it emphasises the socio-political nature and outcomes of organisations. It is a book that introduces readers to not only know what organisations are, but how they are made and why, because Grey wants his readers to know that they are empowered to change organisation studies and management, so that the literature and its practice can be redefined to achieve a better world too. References Cole, G. A. and G.A. Cole 1995, Organisational behaviour, Thomson, UK. Daft, R.L. 2008, Organization theory and design, Southwestern Cengage, Ohio. Durand, R. 2006, Organizational evolution and strategic management, Sage, London. Fournier, V. and Grey, C. 2000, 'At the critical moment: conditions and prospects for critical management studies,' Human Relations, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 7-32. Grey, C. 2009, A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book About Studying Organizations, Sage, London. Long, S. 2008, The perverse organisation and its deadly sins, Karnac, London. Read More