Designing Organizations for the Betterment of Society

“This excellently researched and written book provides an overview of recent trends in the field of Organizational Design. It is well structured, coherent, and organized in a meaningful way. The writing is clear and well referenced and provides fresh perspectives on how this field of study should develop into the future. This subject area is certainly timely, as business organizations struggle with broad philosophical questions concerning their social role and primary goals in this era of ‘late’ capitalism.” --John Dobson, Professor of Finance, Orfalea College of Business, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. There is an urgent need for the repositioning of organization design in today’s fast-moving technological, social and political environments. Building on the theory of human-centred design as a new foundation of the study of organization, this book offers a detailed model and approach that brings organization design to a new era of ethical and aesthetic concerns for the role of organizations in society. A new managerial role is put forward, the organization designer, as a unique set of responsibilities aimed at ensuring that the principles and values behind the organization’s purpose are not only upheld, but also permeate the entirety of the organization. The book contains a number of concepts that offer a unique contribution to the management literature and which can be applied in practice, perhaps as part of the organization’s regular staff development programs. It will be of great interest to academics and students of organization studies, business ethics, sustainability and strategic management. Rodrigo Magalhães is Professor of Management and Dean of Business Management at Kuwait College of Science and Technology, Kuwait, and Researcher at the Institute for Computer Systems and Engineering-Research and Development, Lisboa, Portugal. He has written extensively on organization design.