Book, Sociology of Organizations 02/12[LS]

Organizations are fundamental in current human societies, to the point that we can say that without them our civilization would have little chance of survival. They constitute, alongside individuals, social agents who intervene in different ways in our daily lives. In this sense, they are the object of study in the Sociology of Organizations in their interaction with other organizations, with other individuals and in the internal social relationships that give them their reason for being. This book approaches organizations as complex social units, which have some universal characteristics and which can therefore be studied in general. Although the approach adopted here has had its main focus on business organizations, the basic concepts and relationships that are presented can be applied to any organizations that present some complexity. The work innovates by addressing numerous, relatively new themes in the Sociology of Organizations and in organizational analysis in general, such as pre-capitalist economic organizations – guilds, manufacturers and trading companies –, Fordist organizations related to post-Fordist ones, cluster theory, systemic competitiveness, stakeholder theory, organizational social responsibility, social capital, cooperatives and the third sector. In addition to dealing with the traditional themes of organizational theory such as the different approaches – classical, humanistic, systemic, contingency; the organizational structure; power and conflict; organizational culture and climate; change and innovation and organizational environment, among others. Textbook for the subjects Sociology of Organizations, Sociology Applied to Administration, Organizational Theory, Organizational Analysis and Organizational Culture, among others, and complementary reading to the main subjects of Administration courses. It can be adopted as a basic bibliography for postgraduate courses in Administration and others aimed at studying organizations. It is also of relevant interest to small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, executives, consultants and professionals from these organizations interested in obtaining updated information on organizational theory and fundamentals for managing internal and external processes in the companies in which they operate.