In today’s economic landscape, the success of a business or organization depends even more on effective management strategies than on up-to-date technology or efficient production. Organizational Theory provides a clear introduction to effective and tested methods of organizational management and can be downloaded here for free. The text examines the most common management mistakes made in today’s organizations and provides a simple historical and theoretical context for successful management strategies.

Readers are introduced to the four major schools of organizational theory: Taylor’s Scientific Management, Fayol’s Administrative Theory, Weber’s Bureaucracy and Organizational Structure, and Simon’s Administrative Behavior. Analyzing case studies of real organizations, Organizational Theory clearly explains management concepts such as expectancy theory, motivational theory, organizational learning, situational leadership, and appreciative inquiry with the use of helpful graphs and charts. Bibliographies for further reading are included at the end of each chapter.

This text provides a comprehensive introduction to leadership and organizational theory, and clearly demonstrates how best to mobilize an organization’s energy, utilize individual talents, and meet external challenges.

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1. Organizational theory in perspective
   1. Requirements of future organizations
   2. Levels and perspectives in organizational theory
   3. The connecting thread in organizational theory
   4. Chronological outline of organizational theories
2. Focus on task performance and structure
   1. Scientific Management – F.W. Taylor
   2. Administrative Theory – H. Fayol
   3. Bureaucracy Model – M. Weber
   4. Organizational structure
   5. Theory of Administrative Behavior – H. Simon
   6. Team organization
   7. Pitfalls in focus on task performance and structure
   8. Literature for chapter 2
3. Focus on motivation
   1. Theoretical approaches to motivation
   2. Inner motivation
   3. Motivational theory based on rational factors
   4. Motivational theory based on needs
   5. Outer motivation
   6. Motivation and money
   7. Motivation and absence due to illness
   8. Motivation and age
   9. Pitfalls in focus on motivation
   10. Literature for chapter 3
4. Focus on adjustments to the external environment
   1. Organizational model with loose couplings – K. Weick
   2. Organizational Learning – J.G. March and J. Olsen
   3. The Learning Organization – C. Argyris and P. Senge
   4. Organizational culture
   5. Rational adjustment with the Contingency theory – Lawrence and Lorsch
   6. External Environment Factors and Five Organizational Forms – Mintzberg
   7. Pitfalls in focus on adjustment to the external environment
   8. Litteratur til kapitel 4
5. Management 91
   1. Management is both management and leadership – Kouzes and Posner
   2. Continuum of Leadership Behavior – Tannenbaum-Schmidt
   3. Model for Situational Leadership – Hersey and Blanchard
   4. Value-based Leadership – Fairholm
   5. Leading Change – John Kotter
   6. Appreciative Inquiry – Cooperriders
   7. Lean Management
   8. Pitfalls in management approaches
   9. Literature for chapter 5
6. Endnotes