Organizations: Structures, Processes, and Outcomes (9th Edition)

Im a doctoral student of organizations and I felt challenged but enlightened by this text. It may not be the most lucid or entertaining work you'll ever read. But organizational theory in sociology is fragmented and complex--thats reflected in the book. Those "hundred of various studies and papers" should be expected because the book generally covers decades of theory and research in the field. The book begins with a discussion about the nature of organizations and examines themes such as power, structure, change and culture throughout. The reason why this book may read like an "opinion" or essay is that Hall is an academic who decided to write in conversational/exploratory style meant to engage his thoughts with the reader--but backed up with an enormous amount of references.

This is not a book for people who want freshman-level textbook answers to the question, "what is an organization?" This book is an extended intellectual exercise for a more sophisticated student/thinker. Even so, its often considered an easier-to-read classic, an accessible primer for org. graduate students (its in its 9th edition since 1972, for crying out loud). The reviewer who scratches their head may need something more rudimentary---look to some business school or management books or organizational behavior; those are pretty watered down. Org. theory only becomes more complicated with the other classic writers (Selznick, Powell and Dimaggio, Blau, Pfeffer etc.)

Do not get this book! It is confusing and boring. I had to buy this tiny book for a class taught, you guessed it, by Dr. Hall himself. It was painful and unclear (both the class and the book). Do not waste $62 on this book...unless you have to get it for the class, in which case I feel for you.

I have recently begun an Organizational Behavior class as part of my Masters Degree Program in which this book is used as the primary text. As I have read this book I have come to the belief that it should not be used as a text of any sort. It is much less of a text than it is a very poorly written book report. Granted as the description notes it does take a sociological standpoint, though my opinion of Sociologists is very low, being that they are extremely non-committal in stating or taking any position what so ever on a topic. At any rate, the book is 50% commentary and another 25% vague reference to the hundreds of various studies and papers written on the topics being discussed. As for the remaining 25%, the writer has scrounged the bottom of the vocabulary barrel in writing a book that has the reader continuously looking up words in an effort to translate the very few points the book ever actually makes. At the end of the day you are left with the idea that the entire book has been spent telling you that nothing is nothing and everything is everything nobody knows why.