The book by Gareth Morgan "Images of Organization: An Introduction to Organization Theory" is perhaps the best manual ever written in this academic field. Its originality lies not so much in its vast content, but in its approach.

The author, a professor at York University in Canada, believes that the modern organization (in the form of either a business or public administration in its broad sense or voluntary and non-profit organizations) is not a monolithic phenomenon, but its essential features depend on the perspective from which we approach it.

To this end, the author distinguishes 8 different perspectives, each of which represents a metaphorical way of approaching the organization. Organization, says Morgan, is many things at once. We can view it as a machine, as a biological organism, as a brain, as culture, as a political system, as a mental prison, as flow and transformation, and as a tool of domination.

Consequently, to understand organizational phenomena (e.g., an industrial accident, the failure of changes and reforms, employee motivation, power struggles, etc.), we must practice "reading" them - that is, acquiring the ability to use all the aforementioned perspectives simultaneously and synthesizing the different interpretations we gain.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]