Introduce your students to the most progressive thinking about organizations today as acclaimed author Richard Daft balances recent, innovative ideas with proven classic theories and effective business practices. Daft's best-selling UNDERSTANDING THE THEORY AND DESIGN OF ORGANIZATIONS presents a captivating, compelling snapshot of contemporary organizations and the concepts driving their success that will immediately engage and inspire your students. Recognized as one of the most systematic, well-organized texts in the market, UNDERSTANDING THE THEORY AND DESIGN OF ORGANIZATIONS helps both future and current managers thoroughly prepare for the challenges they are certain to face in today's business world. This revision showcases some of today's most current examples and research alongside time-tested principles. Students see, firsthand, how many of today's well-known organizations have learned to cope and even thrive amidst a rapidly changing, highly competitive international environment. Featured organizations include BP, Disney/Pixar, Volvo, Barnes & Noble, and Cisco Systems. Organization studies, proven cases, and illustrations provide the insights necessary to better understand modern organizations, while new and proven learning features give your students important opportunities to apply concepts and refine their personal business skills and insights.

About the Author

Richard L. Daft Richard L. Daft, Ph.D., is the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr., Professor of Management in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. Professor Daft specializes in the study of organization theory and leadership. Professor Daft is a Fellow of the Academy of Management and has served on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Journal of Management Education. He was the Associate Editor-in-Chief of Organization Science and served for three years as associate editor of Administrative Science Quarterly. Professor Daft has authored or co-authored 13 books, including The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader’s Guide to Building Inner Excellence (Jossey-Bass 2010), Management (Cengage/South-Western, 2012), The Leadership Experience (Cengage/South-Western, 2011), and What to Study: Generating and Developing Research Questions (Sage, 1982). He also published Fusion Leadership: Unlocking the Subtle Forces That Change People and Organizations (Berrett-Koehler, 2000) with Robert Lengel. He has authored dozens of scholarly articles, papers, and chapters. His work has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organizational Dynamics, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Accounting Organizations and Society, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, California Management Review, and Organizational Behavior Teaching Review. Professor Daft has been awarded several government research grants to pursue studies of organization design, organizational innovation and change, strategy implementation, and organizational information processing. Professor Daft is also an active teacher and consultant. He has taught management, leadership, organizational change, organizational theory, and organizational behavior. He has been involved in management development and consulting for many companies and government organizations, including Allstate Insurance, American Banking Association, Bell Canada, Bridgestone, National Transportation Research Board, NL Baroid, Nortel, TVA, Pratt & Whitney, State Farm Insurance, Tenneco, Tennessee Emergency Pediatric Services, the United States Air Force, the United States Army, J. C. Bradford & Co., Central Parking System, USAA, United Methodist Church, Entergy Sales and Service, Bristol-Myers Squibb, First American National Bank, and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.