Overview

In Ghosts of Organizations Past, Dan Ryan asks, “Why are urban communities such hard places to implement community improvement programs?” Looking at New Haven, Connecticut, and a now-defunct program called Fighting Back, which was created to build community coalitions against the abuse of alcohol and other drugs, Ryan shows how the normal properties of organizations generate apparent pathologies. He shows how the “ghosts,” or artifacts, of past organizations, both inhibited and enhanced Fighting Back's chances of success. Ryan draws on concepts from the study of organizations, social capital, and social networks to re-think questions such as “What kind of thing is a community?” and “Why is it so difficult to build community initiatives out of organizations?” He provides a social organizational explanation for problems familiar to anyone who has been involved in community programs, issues that are usually understood as personal incompetence, turf wars, greed, or corruption. Ghosts of Organizations Past describes the challenges of using organizations to create change in places in dire need of it.

Full Product Details

Author:   Dan Ryan
Publisher:   Temple University Press,U.S.
Imprint:   Temple University Press,U.S.
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 2.00cm , Length: 21.00cm
Weight:   0.318kg
ISBN:  

9781439912553

ISBN 10:   1439912556
Pages:   232
Publication Date:   10 June 2015
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

PrefaceAcknowledgmentsPart I / From Opportunity to Disaster (and Back Again)1 The Ghosts of Organizations PastPart II / Disaster and Opportunity2 From Disaster to Opportunity 3 From Opportunity to DisasterPart III / Communities and Organizations4 What Kind of Thing Is Community?5 What Kind of Thing Is an Organization?6 Doing Things with Organizations in CommunitiesPart IV / Organizing Organizations7 Doing Things with Organizations: The Cost of Organizational Diversity8 Doing Things with Organizations: The Cost of System9 Networks of Garbage Cans: The Amplification of Irrationality10 Networks and Calendar NoisePart V / Social Organizational Junkyards11 Community as Organizational Junkyard12 Why Can’t Organizations Be Like Us?BibliographyIndex

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Author Information

Dan Ryan is Kathryn P. Hannam Associate Professor at Mills College in Oakland, California and Adjunct Professor of Technology and Social Science in the Iovine and Young Academy for Arts, Technology, and the Business of Innovation at the University of Southern California.

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