Publisher Description

A growing number of contemporary organizations have management structures that are less centralized and hierarchical than the traditional bureaucratic model. This book takes a close look inside one such organization: an employee-owned manufacturing corporation. It addresses the question of how conflicts are handled when bureaucracy is greatly reduced--and its findings will surprise and enlighten many readers. Therapy, a behavior or practice normally thought to beconfined to the offices of psychiatrists and the wards of mental hospitals, turns out to be the most common way of handling conflict in the postbureaucratic work environment. James Tucker reveals thatthis therapeutic system of social control contrasts sharply, and tellingly, with the more authoritative--often violent--systems of social control found in more centralized and hierarchical work settings, especially those of the past.

Review

"A clearly organized and well-researched enthnographic analysis of a high-tech company (given the pseudonym HelpCo) located outside a small city in the eastern U.S.... Tucker's work is a welcomed and important contribution to the growing literature documenting these developments."--Social Forces

Long Description

A growing number of contemporary organizations have management structures that are less centralized and hierarchical than the traditional bureaucratic model. This book takes a close look inside one such organization: an employee-owned manufacturing corporation. It addresses the question of how conflicts are handled when bureaucracy is greatly reduced--and its findings will surprise and enlighten many readers. Therapy, a behavior or practice normally thought to be
confined to the offices of psychiatrists and the wards of mental hospitals, turns out to be the most common way of handling conflict in the postbureaucratic work environment. James Tucker reveals that this therapeutic system of social control contrasts sharply, and tellingly, with the more
authoritative--often violent--systems of social control found in more centralized and hierarchical work settings, especially those of the past.

Review Text

"A clearly organized and well-researched enthnographic analysis of a high-tech company (given the pseudonym HelpCo) located outside a small city in the eastern U.S.... Tucker's work is a welcomed and important contribution to the growing literature documenting these developments."--Social Forces

Review Quote

"A clearly organized and well-researched enthnographic analysis of ahigh-tech company (given the pseudonym HelpCo) located outside a small city inthe eastern U.S.... Tucker's work is a welcomed and important contribution tothe growing literature documenting these developments."--Social Forces

Feature

A fascinating case study of how a modern organization has taken on therapeutic strategies
Full of original insights about how organizations reflect what is taking place in the larger society

Details