Ropes to Skip and the Ropes to Know: The Inner Life of an Organization

College faculty members Ritti (Penn State) and Funkhouser (Rutgers) have combined to produce a decidedly unacademic look at the world of business, featuring lively writing and irreverence. Their thesis is that organizations can be viewed in either of two ways: from a technical/rational viewpoint or a cultural/interpretive one. They concentrate on the latter, based on the notion that any business is a closed culture, a society unto itself. They introduce a cast of individuals who play archetypal roles in a firm they call ""The Company'': Stanley, a Candide-like figure who wises up as he climbs the corporate ladder; a CEO; a male executive who knows what he's doing, and another who doesn't; a woman executive; a black on the way up; a consultant, etc. This is a business milieu that MBA programs don't teach. (January 6)