Barbara Czarniawska

What does a stockbroker in Istanbul navigating the rush of incoming trading figures have in common with a mother in Stockholm trying to organize a growing pile of baby clothes? They are both coping with excess or overflow. This book explores the ways in which institutions, corporations and individuals define and manage situations of 'too much' - too much information, too many choices, too many commodities or too many tasks. By analyzing a wide range of settings - from corporate firms and public administration to everyday domestic routines - the book offers an in-depth understanding of the complexities of overflow phenomena. It questions when, where and why overflow emerges and for whom this is a problem or a blessing. This broad introduction to a striking contemporary phenomenon will prove an enlightening read for a wide-ranging audience including academics and researchers in the disciplines of business and management, political science, economic history and sociology.

This book explores the notion of the three-dimensional organization, where symbolic, political and practical aspects of organizational life constitute and influence one another. Applying a constructionist viewpoint, the author revisits well-known organizational topics such as organizational control, leadership, power, rationality, technology, change and learning in order to establish what new insights can be engendered by adopting the three-dimensional perspective, to conclude with a review of research methods useful in an attempt to capture the three-dimensionality of modern organizations. The book is intended for undergraduate and graduate students with interest in organization studies.

"The collection of essays in Good Novels, Better Management demonstrates how novels are not only comparable, but often superior to the case histories used in business education. As many novelists have had personal experience of working in organizations, their work combines subjective insight with practical understanding and skill." "Fiction overcomes the drawbacks of organizational theory and economics: it combines the subjective and the objective, the fate of individuals with that of institutions, and the micro events with the macro systems." "Many parts of Europe are now in danger of splitting into societies that draw energy from dark sources obscured by a century of rationalist ideology. It is on this subject that the novels studied in this book, by authors as diverse as Zola, Conrad, Musil and Strindberg, make their greatest contribution. They describe the provenance and impact of modernity." "The essays published in this volume relate novels to economics, business administration and public management. They range across different cultures and historical periods, focusing mainly on the realist novel. At the same time, they argue that many kinds of fictional literature are of help in understanding the complexity of today's organizations."--Jacket.