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How do individuals, groups and organizations function? Exploring this question, the noted sociologist William Foote Whyte develops a comprehensive theory of individual motivation, social interaction and organizational learning by drawing upon research on social settings, industrial organizations and agricultural development.

Committed to the concept of participation as a strategy both for organizational functioning and for research, Whyte convincingly demonstrates the efficacy of his views in examples as diverse as Peruvian potato farmers, Spanish work cooperatives and Fortune 500 corporations.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Introduction
• Part 1 Participation In AgricultuRE
• Discovering What Ain't So in Agricultural Research and Development
• The Context for Organizational Learning in Agricultural Research and Development
• Developing the Guatemalan Model
• Potatoes, Peasants and Professionals
• International Diffusion in Agricultural Participation
• Part 2 Participation in Industry
• Discovering What Ain't So in Industrial Relations
• Social Research On Organizational Behavior in Industry
• Organizational Learning Internationally
• Organizational Learning in North American Industry
• Coping with the New Manufacturing Organization
• Analyzing an Organizational Culture
• American Diffusion in Industrial Participation
• Part 3 Theoretical Foundations
• Why and How Do Participatory Practices Work?
• Motivation in a Socio-Economic Context
• Costs and Benefits in Elementary Transactional Relationships
• Costs and Benefits in Complex Transactional Relationships
• Combining Joint-Payoffs with Multi-Objective Planning
• Determinants of Meaning of Rewards and Penalties
• Part 4 Integrating Theory and Practice
• Theory and Practice in Agriculture and Industry
• Theory and Practice in Applied Social Research Methods

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CHOICE Review

Whyte presents insights from 50 years of industrial relations and of fieldwork and community studies of agricultural development in Latin America. These essays challenge mainstream academic sociological theory and research, calling for a revitalization of sociology through ethnography. In Whyte's experience, abstract-formal theories in economics, management, and sociology falter when applied to cultural and historical settings. Whyte argues that theories must be grounded in the specificities of actual cultural settings, in the meanings, intentions, and interests of the groups under investigation. He calls this "participatory action research [PAR]," a variety of applied and advocacy sociology that incorporates the intellectual contributions of ordinary people and endeavors to promote their interests while increasing organizational efficiency. Chapters on the Green Revolution in Latin America, worker's cooperatives in Spain, employee involvement and the "new manufacturing organization" in Japan, the US, and Scandinavia offer fascinating case studies of how grounded theory sensitized to the expertise of ordinary workers and farmers overcomes the deficiencies of formal theory. Yet, Whyte departs from his agenda by attempting a formal theory of action that seems at cross-purposes to PAR. Only future study will determine whether, as Whyte maintains, social scientists can simultaneously achieve new theoretical insights through PAR, improve the technical efficiency of agriculture or industrial organizations, and empower new groups. This book is the summation of a life in the field by a sociological pioneer whose plea for the revitalization of sociology through PAR merits careful consideration. Upper-division undergraduates and above.-J. H. Rubin, Saint Joseph College

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

William Foote Whyte, a sociology professor known for his work with urban gangs, died July 16. He was eighty-six. A 1936 graduate of Swarthmore, he earned a PhD in sociology from the University of Chicago. He began teaching on the Hill in 1948 as one of the first ILR professors. The title of his autobiography, Participant Observer, reflects his approach to academia--that a researcher can be a positive force for social change. "If there is a common theme in my work, it is my commitment to social exploration," he wrote. "Fieldwork fascinates me. I want to explain what is out there."Whyte, who became an emeritus professor in 1979, published twenty books, including the ground-breaking Street Corner Society, a 1943 study of Italian gangs in Boston′s North End. He is survived by his wife of sixty-two years, Kathleen King Whyte, four children, twelve grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.