Managing Understanding in Organizations

‘An excellent and much needed contribution to the management literature’

• Gareth Morgan

‘Trough accurate examples and instructive accounts of what constitutes understanding at work, the Author leads us to the core link between understanding and managerial practicing. It is deeply informative, often witty and always elegant!’

• Silvia Gherardi Research Unit on Communication, Organizational Learning, and Aesthetics dipartimento di sociologia e ricerca sociale

‘The book provides an interesting, accessible and important contribution to the interpretive understanding of management and leadership and clearly shows its relevance also for practitioners’

• Mats Alvesson

Bringing a fresh perspective to the evaluation of management problems, this book draws upon interpretative research and builds upon existing interpretative studies to scrutinise the influence managers have on employees’ understanding.

It considers how managers use ideas and visions to frame their employees’ internalised understanding of the external rules and instructions that govern their work. The book brings an interpretative perspective to the question of individual and group competence and look at how this is linked with understanding.

Throughout Managing Understanding in Organizations refers to international case studies and considers the cross-cultural impact on management and understanding at work.