In discussing a management topic, scholars, educators, practitioners, and the media often toss out the name of a theorist (Taylor, Simon, Weber) or make a sideways reference to a particular theory (bureaucracy, total quality management, groupthink) and move on, as if assuming their audience possesses the necessary background to appreciate and integrate the reference. This is often far from the case. Individuals are frequently forced to seek out a hodgepodge of sources varying in quality and presentation to provide an overview of a particular idea. This work is designed to serve as a core reference for anyone interested in the essentials of contemporary management theory. Drawing together a team of international scholars, it examines the global landscape of the key theories and the theorists behind them, presenting them in the context needed to understand their strengths and weaknesses to thoughtfully apply them. In addition to interpretations of long-established theories, it also offers essays on cutting-edge research as one might find in a handbook. And, like an unabridged dictionary, it provides concise, to-the-point definitions of key concepts, ideas, schools, and figures. Features and Benefits: Two volumes containing over 280 signed entries provide users with the most authoritative and thorough reference resources available on management theory, both in terms of breadth and depth of coverage. Standardized presentation format, organized into categories based on validity and importance, structures entries so that readers can assess the fundamentals, evolution, and impact of theories. To ease navigation between and among related entries, a Reader’s Guide groups entries thematically and each entry is followed by Cross-References. In the electronic version, the Reader’s Guide combines with the Cross-References and a detailed Index to provide robust search-and-browse capabilities. An appendix with a Chronology of Management Theory allows readers to easily chart directions and trends in thought and theory from early times to the present. An appendix with Central Management Insights allows readers to easily understand, compare, and apply major theoretical messages of the field. Suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each entry guide readers to sources for more detailed research and discussion. Key themes include: Nature of Management Managing People, Personality, and Perception Managing Motivation Managing Interactions Managing Groups Managing Organizations Managing Environments Strategic Management Human Resources Management International Management and Diversity Managerial Decision Making, Ethics, and Creativity Management Education, Research, and Consulting Management of Operations, Quality, and Information Systems Management of Entrepreneurship Management of Learning and Change Management of Technology and Innovation Management and Leadership Management and Social / Environmental Issues PLUS: Appendix of Chronology of Management Theory PLUS: Appendix of Central Management Insights

This book explains how to bridge the divide between theory and practice in a specific, concrete, and easy-to-relate manner, drawing on real-life personal accounts of how students have used classroom-taught theories and skills in their jobs. Practical guidelines are included to help the reader use these lessons in their everyday lives.

The second edition of this flagship business and management reference work is divided into 12 individual subject volumes and an index and includes a brand new volume on Entrepreneurship: Comprises over 6500 specially commissioned and carefully edited entries Written and edited by international teams of over 1500 of the world's best scholars and teachers Features extended bibliographies of relevant, wider, international literature and the foremost global scholarship in each field Flexible, multi-level use, maintained and further extended by sophisticated cross-referencing both among individual encyclopedia entries and between volumes and external sources Available online, for the first time, via the EBSCO database and linked to wider literature and to an associated Blackwell Library Online, consisting of a selection of Blackwell Handbooks and Journals in the field. Register with us to receive updates on this landmark project at www.managementencyclopedia.com where you will find further details, a special pre-publication offer and, coming soon, contributor browsing features.

Covers numerous topics in management theories and applications, such as aggregate planning, benchmarking, logistics, diversification strategy, non-traditional work arrangements, performance measurement, productivity measures, supply chain management, and much more.

Describing the field, spanning individual, organisation societal and cultural perspectives in a cross-disciplinary manner, this is the premier reference tool for students lecturers, academics and practitioners to gather knowledge about a range of important topics from the perspective of organisation studies.

Looking at the roots of contemporary political theory, this three-volume set examines the global landscape of all the key theories and the theorists behind them, and provides concise, to-the-point definitions of key concepts, ideas, schools and figures.

The Encyclopedia of Communication Theory provides students and researchers with a comprehensive two-volume overview of contemporary communication theory. Reference librarians report that students frequently approach them seeking a source that will provide them with a quick overview of a particular theory or theorist - just enough to help them grasp the general concept or theory and its relation to the discipline as a whole. Communication scholars and teachers also occasionally need a quick reference for theories. Edited by the co-authors of the best-selling textbook on communication theory and drawing on the expertise of an advisory board of 10 international scholars and nearly 200 contributors from 10 countries, this work finally provides such a resource. More than 300 entries address topics related not only to paradigms, traditions, and schools, but also metatheory, methodology, inquiry, and applications and contexts. Entries cover several orientations, including psycho-cognitive; social-interactional; cybernetic and systems; cultural; critical; feminist; philosophical; rhetorical; semiotic, linguistic, and discursive; and non-Western. Concepts relate to interpersonal communication, groups and organizations, and media and mass communication. In sum, this encyclopedia offers the student of communication a sense of the history, development, and current status of the discipline, with an emphasis on the theories that comprise it.