Sociology of Organizations

Sociology of Organizations: Structures and Relationships is a timely and unique collection of both classic and contemporary studies of organizations. Designed around competing theoretical frameworks, this cutting-edge book examines organizations with attention to structure and objectives, interactions among members and among organizations, the relationship between the organization and its environment and the social significance or social meaning of the organization. This volume sheds light on some of the most interesting changes and challenges facing organizations today: the integration of new media, the implementation of diversity and inclusion, and the promotion of sustainable workforce engagement. Lively and provocative, this textbook is theoretically rigorous, disciplinarily informed and representative of heterogeneity within organization studies.

Mary Godwyn teaches in the History and Society Division at Babson College. She holds a B.A. in Philosophy from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brandeis University. She has lectured at Harvard University and taught at Brandeis University and Lasell College, where she was also the Director of the Donahue Institute for Public Values. Godwyn focuses on social theory as it applies to issues of inequality in formal and informal organizations. She studies entrepreneurship as a vehicle for the economic and political advancement of marginalized populations, especially women and minorities. She has published in journals such as Symbolic Interaction (University of California Press), Research in Social Stratification and Mobility (Elsevier), and the Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Her books include Minority Women Entrepreneurs: How Outsider Status Can Lead to Better Business Practices (2011), co-authored with Donna Stoddard, D.B.A., published by Greenleaf Publishing and Stanford University Press, and Sociology of Organizations: Structures and Relationships (2011), co-authored with Jody Hoffer Gittell, published by SAGE Publications/Pine Forge Press. Godwyn served on the executive committee of the Critical Management Studies Division of the Academy of Management from 2008-2011, and was also the 2008 winner of the Dark Side Case Competition for her case "Hugh Connerty and Hooters: What is Successful Entrepreneurship?" Her research has been funded by the Coleman Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Harold S. Geneen Charitable Trust and the Babson College Board of Research Fund. In addition to scholarship and teaching, Godwyn consults to colleges and universities about the integration of entrepreneurship and liberal arts programs. Jody Hoffer Gittell teaches human resource management and organizational theory at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She serves as Director of the Relational Coordination Research Collaborative, and Acting Director of the MIT Leadership Center. Gittell’s research explores how coordination by front-line workers contributes to quality and efficiency outcomes in service settings, with a particular focus on the airline and healthcare industries. She has developed a theory of relational coordination, proposing that highly interdependent work is most effectively coordinated through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge and mutual respect, and demonstrating how organizations can support (or undermine) relational coordination through the design of their work systems. Gittell is the author of dozens of articles and chapters, and several books that translate her findings for practitioners. Her books include The Southwest Airlines Way: Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve High Performance (McGraw-Hill, 2003), Up in the Air: How the Airlines Can Improve Performance by Engaging Their Employees (Cornell University Press, 2009), High Performance Healthcare: Using the Power of Relationships to Achieve Quality, Efficiency and Resilience (McGraw-Hill, 2009), and most recently Sociology of Organizations: Structures and Relationships (co-authored with Mary Godwyn, Ph.D.) (SAGE, 2011). Gittell won the Outstanding Young Scholar of the Year Award in 2004 from the Labor and Employment Relations Association, a Best Book Award for Industry Studies in 2005 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a Best Paper Award in 2008 from the Human Resources Division of the Academy of Management, and the Douglas McGregor Award for Best Paper of the Year in 2008 from the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. Before joining the faculty at Brandeis University, Gittell received her PhD from the MIT Sloan School of Management and taught at the Harvard Business School.