Dirty Business

Explores organizational deviance, its damaging consequences and the opportunities for organizational misbehaviour provided by deregulation and globalization. Ten major case studies are provided through which the practices, mechanisms and explanations of deviance can be analyzed. Drawing on both theory and major case studies, this book provides a much-needed sociological and comparative analysis of the world of the manager in the context of misconduct within business organizations. Organizational misbehaviour and crime have been relatively neglected in the social sciences, particularly in business studies. Analyses have tended to be fragmentary, overly slanted towards narrow external views - such as those of legal control and public policy - and predominantly North American. Dirty Business rectifies this by offering a broad sociological perspective related to work, organizations and management, supported by a range of key international case studies. In developing his arguments, Maurice Punch draws on primary and secondary sources as well as his extensive personal experience of teaching and interacting with managers and in developing courses on crisis and disaster management.