Beverly R. Fletcher - Böcker

Beverly Fletcher takes an inside out look at Organization Transformation (OT). OT is a new area of theory and practice which effectively helps organizations make large-scale changes in purpose, structure, culture, and strategy. The past decade has seen rapidly changing environmental conditions which have made previously successful organizational practices ineffective. Economic, cultural, social, and political trends have combined to create a critical need for theories and practices that aid transformative changes in organizations. Fletcher's book explores this topic by studying fourteen selected theorists and practitioners of Organization Transformation. This study has implications not only for organizational behaviorists but for business firms; government agencies; and community, human services, and educational organizations who need assistance with their own transformations.Fletcher has gathered extensive data through in-depth interviewing. She explores this new field by studying the motives and philosophical assumptions of current OT theorists and practitioners. What do they have in common that makes them an identifiable group? On what points do they differ? What do they consider as important contributions of OT? What are their predictions of OT's future impact on organizations? Fletcher focuses on her participants' organizational concepts, beliefs, values, and practices to create a fascinating profile of great use to any agency or organization.

From the Foreword by George Henderson: Perhaps nothing captures the debilitating effects of sexism more vividly than [this] in-depth study of women incarcerated in our correctional institutions. Beneath the statistics lie a human tragedy of a magnitude most people cannot fully comprehend. A disproportionate number of women are wasting away in non-rehabilitative institutions that perpetuate rather than correct criminal behaviors. The editors and contributors to this book capture cogent slices of life of some of the role players in the prison drama. And they do so with the sensitive touch of social surgeons who carefully lift and examine one layer of human behavior and then another. But they do not stop there. They also examine some of the attitudes, beliefs, and values of incarcerated women and their keepers (prison staff). The total work is an insightful glimpse of a neglected subculture.One of the unique features of the book is the diversity of the contributors in terms of disciplines such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, social work, communication, and organization and management. Another feature that makes this work different is the multi-ethnic and cross-cultural diversity of the contributors. Finally, there are no other studies that look at women offenders holistically.