A Companion to Organizational Anthropology

The first comprehensive guide to anthropological studies of complex organizations

• Offers the first comprehensive reference to the anthropological study of complex organizations
• Details how organizational theory and research in business has adopted anthropology’s key concept of culture, inspiring new insights into organizational dynamics and development
• Highlights pioneering theoretical perspectives ranging from symbolic and semiotic approaches to neuroscientific frameworks for studying contemporary organizations
• Addresses the comparative and cross-cultural dimensions of multinational corporations and of non-governmental organizations working in the globalizing economy
• Topics covered include organizational dynamics, entrepreneurship, innovation, social networks, cognitive models and team building, organizational dysfunctions, global networked organizations, NGOs, unions, virtual communities, corporate culture and social responsibility
• Presents a body of work that reflects the breadth and depth of the field of organizational anthropology and makes the case for the importance of the field in the anthropology of the twenty-first century

Notes on Contributors viii

Abstracts xiv

Expanding the Field of Organizational Anthropology for the Twenty-first Century 1
Ann T. Jordan and D. Douglas Caulkins

Part I Critique and Theory 25

1. The Organization of Anthropology and Higher Education in the United States 27
Davydd J. Greenwood

2. The Changing Rhetoric of Corporate Culture 56
Allen W. Batteau

3. New Institutional Approaches to Formal Organizations 74
Marietta L. Baba, Jeanette Blomberg, Christine LaBond, and Inez Adams

4. Entrepreneurship Studies 98
Peter Rosa and D. Douglas Caulkins

5. Neurological Model of Organizational Culture 122
Tomoko Hamada Connolly

Part II Methods and Analysis 147

6. Social Networks and Organizations 149
Brandon Ofem, Theresa M. Floyd, and Stephen P. Borgatti

7. A Mixed-Methods Approach to Understand Global Networked Organizations 167
Julia C. Gluesing

8. Measuring Organizational Dynamics 193
Gerald Mars

9. Semiotics of Organizations 204
Joseph D. Hankins

10. An Ethnography of Numbers 219
Daniel Neyland

11. Managing Conflict on Organizational Partnerships 236
Elizabeth K. Briody

Part III Organizational Processes 257

12. Working on Work Organizations 259
Charles N. Darrah and Alicia Dornadic

13. Organizational Innovation Is a Participative Process 275
Morten Levin

14. Communities of Practice 289
Susan Squires and Michael L. Van De Vanter

15. Organizational Networks and Social Capital 311
Gunnar Lind Haase Svendsen and Christian Waldstrøm

16. American Labor Unions as Organizations 328
Paul Durrenberger and Suzan Erem

17. Virtual Organizations 346
Christina Wasson

18. Sustaining Social Sector Organizations 362
Joan A. Tucker and D. Douglas Caulkins

Part IV Globalization, Development, and Modernization 379

19. The Contemporary World of Finance 381
Allen W. Batteau

20. Globalization, Modernization, and Complex Organizations 399
Ann T. Jordan

21. Chinese Business Ventures into China 418
Heidi Dahles and Juliette Koning

22. Corporate Social Responsibility: Interaction between Market and Community 438
Bengi Ertuna

23. NGOs and Community Development: Assessing the Contributions from Sen’s Perspective of Freedom 455
J. Montgomery Roper

24. Why Are Indigenous Organizations Declining in Latin America? 471
Carmen Martínez Novo

25. Australian Indigenous Organizations 493
Sarah E. Holcombe and Patrick Sullivan

26. Organization of Schooling in Three Countries 519
Edmund T. Hamann, Saloshna Vandeyar, and Juan Sánchez García

Index 538

“Douglas Caulkins and Ann Jordan’s Companion represents an important framing of knowledge about organizations that combines insights from anthropology and organizational studies. Scholars in both disciplines should take note: Organizational anthropology has come of age!.” (Expofairs.com, 11 November 2014)

D. Douglas Caulkins is emeritus professor of anthropology at Grinnell College and emeritus director of the Donald L. Wilson Program in Enterprise and Leadership. His research encompasses voluntary organizations and social capital in Norway, entrepreneurship and regional development in the UK (Wales, Scotland, Northeast England), heritage sites and national identity in the UK and US, and anthropological contributions to management theory. He has published in various journals and books and currently is engaged in social entrepreneurship and organizational development projects.

Ann T. Jordan is professor of anthropology at University of North Texas. She is an applied anthropologist specializing in business anthropology, globalization and transnational organizations, Saudi Arabia, and North American Indian studies, and is the author of the books Business Anthropology and The Making of a Modern Kingdom: Globalization and Change in Saudi Arabia.

A Companion to Organizational Anthropology is a broad overview of the field that has evolved over the last few decades from the study of work and economic organizations to a broader research agenda of analyzing complex organizations that include government agencies, transnational corporations, supernational regulatory bodies and non-profit organizations.

The Companion outlines the historical development of the field, and surveys the rich variety of ethnographic methods and how they are used in the study of organizations. The authors illuminate such vital topics as organizational dynamics, entrepreneurship, partnerships, organizational innovation, social networks, cognitive models and team building, organizational dysfunctions, global networked organizations, NGOs, indigenous organizations, labor unions, virtual communities, as well as corporate culture and social responsibility.

The authors study processes in organizations and also the complex relationships among organizations and how those relationships impact and are impacted by market, societal and global issues.

The Companion demonstrates how the work anthropologists conduct in complex organizations is a body of work so large, broad-based and important to understanding of life in the twenty-first century as to constitute an important subfield in the discipline.

Leading scholars provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of developments in the field, to make this new companion the authoritative guide for researchers, instructors and students in anthropological studies of complex organizations.

“A timely compendium of illuminating breadth. Both reclaims and updates existing theories for understanding organizations and their effects and exposes and explores emergent currents. Demonstrates the benefits of viewing organizations anthropologically.”
- Melissa Cefkin, IBM Research - Almaden

“Douglas Caulkins and Ann Jordan’s Companion represents an important framing of knowledge about organizations that combines insights from anthropology and organizational studies. Scholars in both disciplines should take note: Organizational anthropology has come of age!”
- Simon Down, Anglia Ruskin University