In Defence of Organisation Theory: A Reply to the Critics

by Lex Donaldson

This book provides a concise, clear survey and defence of organizational theory. That theory and its associated research has in recent years become subject to strong criticism. Rival perspectives on organizations have been put forward. One of these stresses that organizations need to be understood as made up of individual people. Another asserts the need to see organizations as part of the conflicts and radical struggles in society. These alternative views have led to a host of critiques of conventional organization studies. It is attacked as being tautological, philosophically naive, ideological, and managerially biased. To date there has been no substantial reply to these criticisms by a protagonist of organization theory. This volume uniquely fills that gap. In part one the author examines and rebuts each of the major lines of criticism. In part two the rival approaches suggested by the critics are themselves subjected to an analysis of their limitations. The book concludes with a new model of organizational design which provides a synthesis of previous research.

206 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 1985

About the author

Lex Donaldson ​holds a BSc in Behavioural Science (Sociology Specialism) from the University of Aston, a PhD in Organizational Sociology from the University of London and a DSc from the University of New South Wales. Formerly he worked for Philips Electrical Industries (U.K.) Ltd. He was a Senior Research Officer in the Organizational Behaviour Research Group of the London Graduate School of Business Studies.