Book Review: In Defence of Welfare
| Published date | 01 September 1986 |
| DOI | 10.1177/014473948600600210 |
| Date | 01 September 1986 |
| Author | David Barker |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
One
emphasis
over
the
past
25
years
(spanning
the
bulk
of
most
journal
readers'
teaching
careers)
that
Reed
reassesses
is
the
uncritical
priority
in
the
literature
on
organ-
isational
effectiveness.
This
may
be
a
commercially
useful
notion
but
it
has
obscured
an
examination
of
the
deep-seated
political
conflicts
of
interest
inherent
in
collective
effort
and
the
fundamental
moral
questions
of
human
choice
attendant
upon
social
action.
The
inability
of
.organisational
analysts
to
contend
with
the
essential
ambiguity
in
the
"paradox
of
human
agency",
Reed
concludes,
has
led
to
the
repeated
transition
in
organ-
isational
thinking
from
"creative
human
action
••.
to
imposed
institutional
order
••.
".
One
useful
theme
in
the
book
concerns
the
inadequate
account
of
the
themes
above:
in
their
studies
of
contemporary
work
organisations,
writers
on
organisational
analysis
conveniently
omit
a
consideration
of
the
intellectual
antecedents
of
these
and
other
themes.
Michael
Reed's
book
covers
much
ground
with
which
I
am
unfamiliar.
What I
do
understand
of
his
scholarship
makes
sense.
He
synthesises
enormous
patterns
of
thinking
in
clear
language.
For
me,
his
book
accelerates
my
questioning
of
formulations
that
I
find
increasingly
do
not
account
for
my
own
experience
of
organisational
life.
Redirections
in
Organizational
Analysis
will
not
make
my
teaching
any
easier,
but
that
kind
of
expectation
for
this
area
of
study
may
be
why
the
substance
of
his
contribution
ought
to
be
valued.
PETE
MANN
Department
of
Administrative
Studies.
University
of
Manchester
IN
DEFENCE
OF
WELFARE
Philip
Bean,
John
Ferris,
David
Whynes
(eds.)
(Tavistock
Publications,
1985,
282pp,
£8.95)
In
an
increasingly
congested
buyers'
market
the
defence
of
welfare
against
the
onslaught
of
the
New
Right
(NR)
has
108
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