TY - JOUR AU - Galaskiewicz, Joseph PY - 2010/04/26 Y2 - 2024/03/19 TI - Organizational Theory JF - TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology JA - TRAILS VL - IS - SE - DO - UR - https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/organizational-theory-galaskiewicz SP - AB - The purpose of the course is to provide graduate students with an overview of the work in Sociology on formal or complex organizations. The course is built on the premise that there is a constant dialogue between theory and empirical research and across the generations and disciplines. Our basic purpose is to explore and evaluate - and possibly even contribute to - the development of theoretical knowledge of macro organizational behavior. The course begins with a review of rationalist theories of organizations. Here we are introduced to Weber's bureaucratic ideal type and theories of scientific management. Next we discuss naturalist theories and review the work of the human relations school. Much work today is still influenced by this school. We then turn to open systems models and examine resource dependency theory, neo-institutional thought, and organization ecology. We finish with the embeddedness approach. In particular we examine the network literature and the cultural comparative approach. ER -