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Robert Cooper, who died in 2013, was the leading theorist of organization working in England over the past few decades. Describing himself as a 'social philosopher,' he was one of the first writers to introduce post-structuralist and post-modern thought into theories of organization but was always reluctant to reduce what he did to being part of 'Management.' Instead, he concentrated on thinking about organizations and organizing, working with ideas about entity and process views of organizations, and also the dualisms of organization/environment, organization/disorganization, and concentrating particularly on ideas of the boundary or seam which divides and conjoins. He wrote about, and was influenced by systems theory and post-structuralist philosophy, particularly Whitehead, Bateson, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault and Simmel. Cooper has already been the subject of much commentary but much of his work is not well known, and it deserves a wider readership. The purpose of this collection is to gather together a body of essays which are widely dispersed in journals and edited collections. This is a repository of pieces and extracts which stand the test of time, and scholars will benefit from a collection which pulls together some of his most influential work. The collection also contains two essays, one biographical and one intellectual, about Cooper and his work.

The authors argue in this book that social theory can usefully be conceived in terms of four broad paradigms, based upon different sets of meta-theoretical assumptions with regard to the nature of social science and the nature of society. The four paradigms - Functionalist, Interpretive, Radical Humanist and Radical Structuralist - derive from quite distinct intellectual traditions, and present four mutually exclusive views of the social work. Each stands in its own right, and generates its own distinctive approach to the analysis of social life. The authors provide extensive reviews of the four paradigms, tracing the evolution and inter-relationships between the various sociological schools of thought within each. They then proceed to relate theories of organisation to this wider background. This book covers a great range of intellectual territory. It makes a number of important contributions to our understanding of sociology and organisational analysis, and will prove an invaluable guide to theorists, researchers and students in a variety of social science disciplines. It stands as a discourse in social theory, drawing upon the general area of organisation studies - industrial sociology, organisation theory, organisational psychology, and industrial relations - as a means of illustrating more general sociological themes. In addition to reviewing and evaluating existing work, it provides a framework for appraising future developments in the area of organisational analysis, and suggests the form which some of these developments are likely to take.

Robert Cooper, who died in 2013, was the leading theorist of organization working in England over the past few decades. Describing himself as a 'social philosopher,' he was one of the first writers to introduce post-structuralist and post-modern thought into theories of organization but was always reluctant to reduce what he did to being part of 'Management.' Instead, he concentrated on thinking about organizations and organizing, working with ideas about entity and process views of organizations, and also the dualisms of organization/environment, organization/disorganization, and concentrating particularly on ideas of the boundary or seam which divides and conjoins. He wrote about, and was influenced by systems theory and post-structuralist philosophy, particularly Whitehead, Bateson, Deleuze, Derrida, Foucault and Simmel. Cooper has already been the subject of much commentary but much of his work is not well known, and it deserves a wider readership. The purpose of this collection is to gather together a body of essays which are widely dispersed in journals and edited collections. This is a repository of pieces and extracts which stand the test of time, and scholars will benefit from a collection which pulls together some of his most influential work. The collection also contains two essays, one biographical and one intellectual, about Cooper and his work.

`A truly bizarre and sometimes filthy historical canter through abatoirs, satyriasis and Noel Edmonds' House Party, among other things, towards a theory of organisation' - The Times 'The author pursues a vigorous polemic on organisational development' - Financial Times In this irreverent and inventive book, Gibson Burrell seeks to circumvent the established frameworks which have defined our understanding of organization and organizations. He brings us tales from under the edge which enmire us in the nether side of modernist organization. By looking backwards deep into the history of Western societies, and sideways across the broad domain of social and cultural theory, Pandemonium disconcerts and invigorates the domain of the study of organizations. Through his experimental device of the two-directional text, Burrell offers multi-layered meanings and a metaphor for the rejection of linearity. This is not an organizational behaviour textbook but an exploration that will take organization theory into a new era.

This exciting, critical text explores the pervasiveness of sexuality in organizations, and the interrelations of sexuality and power in the ongoing production and reproduction of organizational life.

Clearly and accessibly, the authors show various ways in which the very processes of organization reflect power relations suffused with dominant forms of sexuality. Specific subjects addressed include sexuality and the labour process, sexual harassment, men's sexuality, lesbians in organizations, and the experiences of women managers and secretaries.

`A truly bizarre and sometimes filthy historical canter through abatoirs, satyriasis and Noel Edmonds' House Party, among other things, towards a theory of organisation' - The Times 'The author pursues a vigorous polemic on organisational development' - Financial Times In this irreverent and inventive book, Gibson Burrell seeks to circumvent the established frameworks which have defined our understanding of organization and organizations. He brings us tales from under the edge which enmire us in the nether side of modernist organization. By looking backwards deep into the history of Western societies, and sideways across the broad domain of social and cultural theory, Pandemonium disconcerts and invigorates the domain of the study of organizations. Through his experimental device of the two-directional text, Burrell offers multi-layered meanings and a metaphor for the rejection of linearity. This is not an organizational behaviour textbook but an exploration that will take organization theory into a new era.