The Org:
The Underlying Logic of the Office
by Ray Fisman & Tim Sullivan
HD58.7 .F573 2013
New Arrivals, 2nd floor
As we look towards graduation, all of us for different reasons, many of you are probably starting to prepare for interviews or for the first job. This week’s featured title looks at the jump from the classroom to the cubicle [or corner office, depending on how high you’re aiming].
Fisman and Sullivan, professor at Columbia Business School and editorial director at the Harvard Business Reivew Press, respectively, team up to examine politics in a different setting, the office. The authors tackle the issue of why organizations exist in the first place, and why they are so complicated and inherently flawed. Does that mean that they’re pointless? Nope. They explain the bureaucracy of the organizations, make a case for the reason for the existence of meetings [and why CEOs spend so much time in them, as they should]. Of course, it’s not all theory, as the authors do integrate examples from the public and private sectors. Looking to understand how and why these machines, some well-oiled and some not-so-much, run? This book’s for you.
This sounds like a very interesting book. As someone who has worked at Tribune for 13 years, I find it very fascinating how office politics work. I’d love to read about the sociology of it.