Samenvatting
C.
GREY
A
very
short,
fairly
interesting
and
reasonably
cheap
book
about
STUDYING
ORGANIZATIONS.
By:
Amber
Verhagen
Introduction:
Why
Studying
Organizations
Matter
to
Me
Purpose
book:
evaluate
the
study
of
organizations,
AND
the
field
of
managements
studies
to
which
it
relates.
Fundamentally
organizations
are
all
forms
of
collective
activity
–
politics,
the
family,
as
well
as
work.
Usually
the
term
organization
in
textbook
contexts
is,
on
the
other
hand,
used
for
institutions
or
corporations
where
people
work.
Organizations
(the
way
we
think
about
organizations
OR
what
we
recognise
as
organizations
<-‐>
Organizations
theory
(is
used:
not
to
“
think
about”
but
to
act
within
and
upon).
(closely
related)
The
distinction
(onderscheid)
between
organization
theory
+
organizations
and
management
is
what
he
(C.
Grey)
focusses
on
to
be
interesting.
Management:
an
important
part
of
the
organizational
life
and
therefore
also
of
the
organization
theory.
Critical
orientation
à
when
organizations
are
simply
thought
about
in
terms
of
‘getting
the
job
done’
instead
of
how
is
the
job
done?
how
are
people
affected?
People
who
study
organizations
Organization
theorists:
the
people
who
study
organizations
for
a
living.
Camp
1:
Positivists
–
Positivism
(numerically-‐inclined
scientists)
Those
who
believe
that
the
organization
theory
is
a
science.
Believe
there
exists
an
oberservable,
objective
organizational
reality
which
exists
independent
of
the
organization
theory.
Managerialists,
are
interested
in
organizations
from
a
particular
point
of
view:
that
of
how
to
manage
them
more
effectively.
-‐
Political
interest:
whose
side
they
take
-‐
Intellectiual
interest:
what
is
analytically
important
tot
hem
Link:
the
goal
of
providing
fact-‐based,
reliable
organizational
predictions.
Contradiction:
the
traditional
model
of
science
has
it
as
a
value-‐neutral
(to
1
, require
or
depend
on
something
that
is
true)
rather
than
believing
in
a
politically
member
of
a
enterprise
commited
to
a
certain
politcs.
Camp
2:
Interpretivists-‐
constructivists
–
relativists
(description-‐inclined
interpreters)
Those
who
believe
organizational
reality
does
not
have
an
objective
existince
based
on
science.
It
is
constructed
by
people
in
an
organization
by
an
organizational
theory.
Critics,
concerned
with
an
understanding
of
the
organization
as
a
whole,
with
some
partisan
(commited
member
of
political
party)
preferences
for
the
managed
rather
than
the
managers.
Link:
because
they
do
not
hold
out
hope
of
organizational
predictions.
Contradiction:
with
what
managerialists
want
and
see
useful
in
an
organization.
Where
I
am
coming
from
C.
Grey
studied
economics
in
1984.
Economics
seemed
to
assume
that
people
somehow
formed
individual
preferences
and
that
they
could
and
did
calculate
how
to
maximise
the
satisfaction
of
those
preferences.
But
that
was
too
rational
for
his
believes,
he
found
himself
assuming
people
were
not
that
rational
including
himself.
Link:
many
of
the
core
subjects
take
on
board
the
assumptions
of
economics,
including,
organization
theory.
Finance,
marketing,
operation
research,
economics
form
the
basis
for
management
degrees.
Took
on
some
social
and
political
theory
classes
in
which
he
studied
the
difference
and
other
side
to
management
which
led
him
to
believe
organizational
studies
were
core
to
understand
management
decisions.
Theory
and
practice
Theory,
in
social
science,
is
best
understood
as
a
way
in
which
people
try
to
pursue
particular
agendas.
A
weapon
used
to
bludgeon
(club
weapon)
others
into
accepting
a
certain
practice.
Example:
Darwinian
theory
–
used
to
justify
something
or
state
certain
affairs
to
happend
logically.
Now,
theory
advances
change.
But
in
practice
it
is
always
about
change.
Fundamentally
theory
is
about
mobilizing
ideas,
arguments
and
explanations
to
try
to
make
sense
of
practice,
but
also
to
influence
practice.
Practice,
is
always
based
one
some
kind
of
theory.
Much
organization
theory
is
very
closely
allied
to
management
practices.
It
also
pursues
a
particular
2
C.
GREY
A
very
short,
fairly
interesting
and
reasonably
cheap
book
about
STUDYING
ORGANIZATIONS.
By:
Amber
Verhagen
Introduction:
Why
Studying
Organizations
Matter
to
Me
Purpose
book:
evaluate
the
study
of
organizations,
AND
the
field
of
managements
studies
to
which
it
relates.
Fundamentally
organizations
are
all
forms
of
collective
activity
–
politics,
the
family,
as
well
as
work.
Usually
the
term
organization
in
textbook
contexts
is,
on
the
other
hand,
used
for
institutions
or
corporations
where
people
work.
Organizations
(the
way
we
think
about
organizations
OR
what
we
recognise
as
organizations
<-‐>
Organizations
theory
(is
used:
not
to
“
think
about”
but
to
act
within
and
upon).
(closely
related)
The
distinction
(onderscheid)
between
organization
theory
+
organizations
and
management
is
what
he
(C.
Grey)
focusses
on
to
be
interesting.
Management:
an
important
part
of
the
organizational
life
and
therefore
also
of
the
organization
theory.
Critical
orientation
à
when
organizations
are
simply
thought
about
in
terms
of
‘getting
the
job
done’
instead
of
how
is
the
job
done?
how
are
people
affected?
People
who
study
organizations
Organization
theorists:
the
people
who
study
organizations
for
a
living.
Camp
1:
Positivists
–
Positivism
(numerically-‐inclined
scientists)
Those
who
believe
that
the
organization
theory
is
a
science.
Believe
there
exists
an
oberservable,
objective
organizational
reality
which
exists
independent
of
the
organization
theory.
Managerialists,
are
interested
in
organizations
from
a
particular
point
of
view:
that
of
how
to
manage
them
more
effectively.
-‐
Political
interest:
whose
side
they
take
-‐
Intellectiual
interest:
what
is
analytically
important
tot
hem
Link:
the
goal
of
providing
fact-‐based,
reliable
organizational
predictions.
Contradiction:
the
traditional
model
of
science
has
it
as
a
value-‐neutral
(to
1
, require
or
depend
on
something
that
is
true)
rather
than
believing
in
a
politically
member
of
a
enterprise
commited
to
a
certain
politcs.
Camp
2:
Interpretivists-‐
constructivists
–
relativists
(description-‐inclined
interpreters)
Those
who
believe
organizational
reality
does
not
have
an
objective
existince
based
on
science.
It
is
constructed
by
people
in
an
organization
by
an
organizational
theory.
Critics,
concerned
with
an
understanding
of
the
organization
as
a
whole,
with
some
partisan
(commited
member
of
political
party)
preferences
for
the
managed
rather
than
the
managers.
Link:
because
they
do
not
hold
out
hope
of
organizational
predictions.
Contradiction:
with
what
managerialists
want
and
see
useful
in
an
organization.
Where
I
am
coming
from
C.
Grey
studied
economics
in
1984.
Economics
seemed
to
assume
that
people
somehow
formed
individual
preferences
and
that
they
could
and
did
calculate
how
to
maximise
the
satisfaction
of
those
preferences.
But
that
was
too
rational
for
his
believes,
he
found
himself
assuming
people
were
not
that
rational
including
himself.
Link:
many
of
the
core
subjects
take
on
board
the
assumptions
of
economics,
including,
organization
theory.
Finance,
marketing,
operation
research,
economics
form
the
basis
for
management
degrees.
Took
on
some
social
and
political
theory
classes
in
which
he
studied
the
difference
and
other
side
to
management
which
led
him
to
believe
organizational
studies
were
core
to
understand
management
decisions.
Theory
and
practice
Theory,
in
social
science,
is
best
understood
as
a
way
in
which
people
try
to
pursue
particular
agendas.
A
weapon
used
to
bludgeon
(club
weapon)
others
into
accepting
a
certain
practice.
Example:
Darwinian
theory
–
used
to
justify
something
or
state
certain
affairs
to
happend
logically.
Now,
theory
advances
change.
But
in
practice
it
is
always
about
change.
Fundamentally
theory
is
about
mobilizing
ideas,
arguments
and
explanations
to
try
to
make
sense
of
practice,
but
also
to
influence
practice.
Practice,
is
always
based
one
some
kind
of
theory.
Much
organization
theory
is
very
closely
allied
to
management
practices.
It
also
pursues
a
particular
2
