The Art of Organisational Problem Solving: How to Think About What We are Doing in Management - Hardcover

Kawalek, John Paul

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773456155 ISBN 13: 9780773456150

Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press Ltd, 2006

Synopsis

This book focuses on one of the most illusive and difficult
areas of management practice - the process of `organizational
problem-solving'. It provides a much-needed discourse in management, which
links theory and practice together. Its goal is to present an holistic set
of unpinning principles which integrates inquiry as a integral component of
management action in practice. As such, it is a discourse which is deeply
intellectual, and yet entirely pragmatic. These principles are applicable
and usable in any context. As such, it provides a radically new way of
seeing the discipline of management, because it provides the intellectual
basis for bringing together theory and practice in a way that has never
been considered before.

About this title

Review

"... this is a book about use of method, and not a book of methods; the author leads readers through a series of 'typical' stages in method usage, encouraging the reader to reflect upon both the what and why of their own practice. It is in this area that the book may add the most value..." - Dr. Keith Horton, Napier University"

From the Author

This book is the product of some personal anxieties and
observations about the current nature and status of the management
discipline, and in particular the separation of inquiry from managerial
action in practice. For example, what if we asked two simple questions: (i)
Is there currently a chasm between `management theory' and `management
practice'? and, (ii) Is the `science' of management clearly defined and
understood? If we concluded that management theory does not, or only
weakly, guides management practice, then we are implying some things that
are very significant. For example, (i) that management development
programmes that rely on the `theory' are not going to be terribly useful to
the management practitioner; (ii) that the body of knowledge that we refer
to as `management' is not `good enough' in some manner of speaking, (iii)
that some of the research that generates the body of knowledge is flawed to
some extent, and/or (iv) that the `science' upon which management knowledge
is based is not sufficient to guide the generation of knowledge for the
practice of `management'.

The implication is that there is a need for change!

Edition details

• Publisher: Edwin Mellen Press Ltd
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0773456155
• ISBN 13: 9780773456150
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 340