Gods of management: the changing work of organizations /

Best-selling author Handy (London Business School), author of The Age of Paradox (CH, Oct'94), offers a creative typology of organizations based on four Greek gods. A Zeus or "club" organization operates based on informal relationships with the top manager and on trust. An Apollo or "role" organization is the archetypical bureaucracy, highly formal and stable. An Athena or "task" organization has a process-oriented, problem-solving culture. The purpose of a Dionysus or "existential" organization is to serve its members' needs. In an entertaining and highly readable style, Handy describes the advantages, disadvantages, and work situations where each type would be appropriate. Implications for managers are also discussed. Although some readers may disagree with certain characteristics ascribed to each type, most will find the typology easy to remember and apply. A stimulating addition to upper-division undergraduate through professional business collections. L. J. Cumbo Emory and Henry College

Because British management guru Handy's works, such as The Age of Unreason (1990) and The Age of Paradox (1994), are becoming more frequently requested here in the U.S., Oxford University Press has decided to release a first American edition of a book Handy wrote in 1978, which has already been translated into many languages and updated and revised twice. Handy offers a unique approach to understanding different management styles. Starting with management theorist Roger Harrison's four types of organizations, Handy identifies four Greek gods (Apollo, Zeus, Athena, and Dionysus) that typify the organizational cultures of the four. He then matches godly attributes to each, in the hope that his analogy will spark insight and serve as a diagnostic tool for resolving conflicts that result from clashing styles. Handy says this is the book of which he is most proud, and that affirmation should arouse curiosity. --David Rouse