The Workplace Within: Psychodynamics of Organizational Life

by Larry Hirschhorn

Overview

In this revealing study, Larry Hirschhorn examines the rituals, or social defenses, organizations develop to cope with change. Using extended ease studies from offices, factories, and social services, he describes why these often irrational practices that fragment and injure individuals within the workplace exist, how they operate, and how they can be reshaped to enhance people's work experience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262581011
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	01/24/1990
Series:	Organization Studies series , #8
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	278
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.56(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Larry Hirschhorn is principal and senior research manager at the Wharton Center for Applied Research.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The Workplace Within is a deeply ambitious book. It addresses practical human problems in organizations, drawing on solid case data, and at the same time it raises questions at a broad philosophical and policy level about good organizations, how to go beyond social defenses, and the scope of changes required in our political economy to build developmental work cultures... a major contribution toward understanding the felt experience of work in post industrial society... most importantly it represents a methodological breakthrough in that it tells the stories - successful and failed of organization consulting as a 'applied clinical' practice." J.M. Ryan , Human Resource Management

Editorial Reviews

The Workplace Within is a deeply ambitious book. It addresses practical human problems in organizations, drawing on solid case data, and at the same time it raises questions at a broad philosophical and policy level about good organizations, how to go beyond social defenses, and the scope of changes required in our political economy to build developmental work cultures...a major contribution toward understanding the felt experience of work in post industrial society...most importantly it represents a methodological breakthrough in that it tells the stories—successful and failed of organization consulting as a 'applied clinical' practice.—J.M. Ryan, Human Resource Management—

From the Publisher

The Workplace Within is a deeply ambitious book. It addresses practical human problems in organizations, drawing on solid case data, and at the same time it raises questions at a broad philosophical and policy level about good organizations, how to go beyond social defenses, and the scope of changes required in our political economy to build developmental work cultures...a major contribution toward understanding the felt experience of work in post industrial society...most importantly it represents a methodological breakthrough in that it tells the stories—successful and failed of organization consulting as a 'applied clinical' practice.

—J.M. Ryan, Human Resource Management

Reviews

The Workplace Within is a deeply ambitious book. It addresses practical human problems in organizations, drawing on solid case data, and at the same time it raises questions at a broad philosophical and policy level about good organizations, how to go beyond social defenses, and the scope of changes required in our political economy to build developmental work cultures...a major contribution toward understanding the felt experience of work in post industrial society...most importantly it represents a methodological breakthrough in that it tells the stories—successful and failed of organization consulting as a 'applied clinical' practice.

Human Resource Management - J.M. Ryan