Roots, Rituals, and Rhetorics of Change

Mie Augier is a social science research associate at Stanford University and Research Associate Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School where she works on research for the Director of Office of Net Assessment, Office of the Secretary of Defense. James G. March is Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, where he has been on the faculty since 1970. He is best known for his writings on decision making and organizations.

"In The Roots, Rituals, and Rhetorics of Change, Augier and March offer us a compelling discussion of the transformations [in education] that follow [the Second World War]. The reform story is a complicated one of course, but in their hands, it is easy to grasp. . . Augier and March wrote a terrific appraisal of the reformation and its legacy."—James P. Walsh, Administrative Science Quarterly "This is a great story that has never been told with such clarity, empirical support, and conceptual breadth. The book draws on the particular strengths and perspectives of each of the authors. Augier is a stunningly accomplished intellectual historian of business school culture. Meanwhile, March is the preeminent organizational theorist, who shares a story only he is fit tell—as story about how risky and foolish change is for organizations, how it happens more through arrogance and ignorance than skill and foresight."—David F. Labaree, Stanford University and author of Someone Has to Fail "This book has a distinct sensibility and depth that will make it important. The authors' nuance of ideas and range of perspective is excellent."—Anne S. Miner, University of Wisconsin