Description

Book Synopsis
The modern world is dominated by complex organisations. In this book Mark Bovens analyses the questions associated with the search for responsibility within such organisations. The analysis is multidisciplinary, combining law, social science, ethics, and organisational design, and provides a number of suggestions for institutional reform.

Trade Review
"...The Quest for Responsibility is thought provoking and demands careful reading. It may well serve as a springboard for organization theorists to develop research propositions." Marcia P. Miceli, Administrative Science Quarterly

Table of Contents
Part I. The Quest for Responsibility: 1. Complex organisations and the quest for responsibility; 2. Complex organisations as corporate actors; 3. Two concepts of responsibility; Part II. Passive Responsibility: 4. Accountability: the problem of many hands; 5. Corporate accountability: the organisation as a person; 6. Hierarchical accountability: one for all; 7. Collective accountability: all for one; 8. Individual accountability: each for oneself; Part III. Active Responsibility: 9. Virtue: active responsibility in complex organisations; 10. Exit: resignation and refusal; 11. Voice: whistleblowing and leaking; 12. Loyalty: responsibility as a by-product.

The Quest for Responsibility

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    A Paperback by Mark Bovens

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      Book details

      Publisher Cambridge University Press
      Published 3 December 1998
      ISBN-13 9780521628983
      978-0521628983
      ISBN-10 0521628989
      Also in:
      Organizational theory and behaviour

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      The modern world is dominated by complex organisations. In this book Mark Bovens analyses the questions associated with the search for responsibility within such organisations. The analysis is multidisciplinary, combining law, social science, ethics, and organisational design, and provides a number of suggestions for institutional reform.

      Trade Review
      "...The Quest for Responsibility is thought provoking and demands careful reading. It may well serve as a springboard for organization theorists to develop research propositions." Marcia P. Miceli, Administrative Science Quarterly

      Table of Contents
      Part I. The Quest for Responsibility: 1. Complex organisations and the quest for responsibility; 2. Complex organisations as corporate actors; 3. Two concepts of responsibility; Part II. Passive Responsibility: 4. Accountability: the problem of many hands; 5. Corporate accountability: the organisation as a person; 6. Hierarchical accountability: one for all; 7. Collective accountability: all for one; 8. Individual accountability: each for oneself; Part III. Active Responsibility: 9. Virtue: active responsibility in complex organisations; 10. Exit: resignation and refusal; 11. Voice: whistleblowing and leaking; 12. Loyalty: responsibility as a by-product.

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