Understanding Organization as Process

'Here, finally we have a carefully traced process philosophical approach to the understanding of organization for a management and organization studies readership. It shows clearly how a 'strong' process view enables us to look at organization from a vastly different light. Instead of surface forms and definite boundaries we are introduced to a non-locatable and dispersive view of organization as a tangled web of precariously held events and relationships. Hernes traces this strain of thought from Heraclitus to Bergson, Whitehead and to key figures in contemporary social theory and organization studies. Seriously scholarly but accomplished with a light and easy touch using everyday examples to illustrate organization as constantly 'becoming', this book is set to redefine the parameters for thinking 'process' in organization and management studies. From Nike to Al Qaeda to the Grameen 'Bank' in Bangladesh we are led to see the labyrinthine nature of organizing and organization.'

Robert Chia, University of Aberdeen, UK

'This book represents a serious attempt to review the ideas of Alfred N. Whitehead as applied to the process of organizing. Here, in the one book, Hernes invites us to review the contributions of Latour, Luhmann, March, and Weick for understanding organisation through the lens of Whitehead's process philosophy. In so doing, he challenges us to think again about the nature of organisation and how we investigate it. Definitely one for the bookshelf!'

Neil Paulsen, University of Queensland Business School, Australia

'Hernes strives to ground contemporary organizational theories of process within an ancient debate about being and becoming. Along the way, he develops a mode of interpretation and analysis that has profound implications for organizational theorists as well as practicing managers.'

Matt Statler, NYU Stern School of Business, USA