Organization Theory: Tension and Change provides the most current and concise analysis of the development and evolution of organizational theories, forms, and practices, from the rise of the factory system to the emergence of the virtual global organization. Using a wide variety of examples and applications from private and public-sector organizations, the text emphasizes the tensions, contradictions, and paradoxes inherent in all organizational arrangements. In addition to the classic themes such as scientific management, human relations, rational bureaucratic models, and environmental models, the book explores emerging organizational forms based on lean and flexible production, post-bureaucracy, alliances, and networks, virtual organization and information technologies, corporate cultures, learning organizations, transnational commodity chains, and post-modernism.