Logics of organization theory : audiences, codes, and ecologies / Michael T. Hannan, László Pólos, Glenn R. Carroll.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hannan, Michael T.

Contributor:

Pólos, László.

Carroll, Glenn.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Organizational sociology--Methodology.

Organizational sociology.

Nonmonotonic reasoning.

Categories (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (381 p.)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Building theories of organizations is challenging: theories are partial and "folk" categories are fuzzy. The commonly used tools--first-order logic and its foundational set theory--are ill-suited for handling these complications. Here, three leading authorities rethink organization theory. Logics of Organization Theory sets forth and applies a new language for theory building based on a nonmonotonic logic and fuzzy set theory. In doing so, not only does it mark a major advance in organizational theory, but it also draws lessons for theory building elsewhere in the social sciences. Organizational research typically analyzes organizations in categories such as "bank," "hospital," or "university." These categories have been treated as crisp analytical constructs designed by researchers. But sociologists increasingly view categories as constructed by audiences. This book builds on cognitive psychology and anthropology to develop an audience-based theory of organizational categories. It applies this framework and the new language of theory building to organizational ecology. It reconstructs and integrates four central theory fragments, and in so doing reveals unexpected connections and new insights.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. Language Matters

PART 1. AUDIENCES, PRODUCERS, AND CODES

Chapter 2. Clusters and Labels

Chapter 3. Types and Categories

Chapter 4. Forms and Populations

Chapter 5. Identity and Audience

PART 2. NONMONOTONIC REASONING: AGE DEPENDENCE

Chapter 6. A Nonmonotonic Logic

Chapter 7. Integrating Theories of Age Dependence

PART 3. ECOLOGICAL NICHES

Chapter 8. Niches and Audiences

Chapter 9. Niches and Competitors

Chapter 10. Resource Partitioning

PART 4. ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

Chapter 11. Cascading Change

Chapter 12. Opacity and Asperity

Chapter 13. Niche Expansion

Chapter 14. Conclusions

Appendix A. Glossary of Theoretical Terms

Appendix B. Glossary of Symbols

Appendix C. Some Elementary First-Order Logic

Appendix D. Notation for Monotonic Functions

Appendix E. The Modal Language of Codes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [339]-354) and index.

ISBN:

9786613379924

9781283379922

1283379929

9781400843015

1400843014

OCLC:

646517503