Organizations and Archetypes

Monika Kostera, Professor Ordinaria, Faculty of Sociology, University of Warsaw, Poland, Södertörn University, Sweden and and Université Paris-Saclay, LITEM, France

Archetypes are common patterns containing hidden images of human motivations, offering inspiration and awakening imagination. This book is a collection of such tales, connected to twelve organizational archetypes, where each is illustrated by more general theoretical reflections, current management and organization theory literature, as well as practical examples. Monika Kostera proposes an imagery and language for self-management and self-organization for non-corporate use including entrepreneurs and multipurpose NGOs.

'Excitement, elation and even joy – these are not the sentiments that one often has as one reaches the end of a management monograph or indeed most management research texts these days. And yet, these were precisely my feelings as I reached the end of Monika Kostera's Organizations and Archetypes. It is clearly a labour of love and it shows in every page which is full of with energy and ideas.'
– Yiannis Gabriel, University of Bath, UK and yiannisgabriel.com

‘Professor Kostera is a consummate writer whose studies stand out for originality of approach. Her contribution to our knowledge of the inner mechanisms and wider effects of organizations is impossible to over-value: indeed without Kostera’s input, our knowledge of organizations, the successive reincarnations and strategy changes would be so much poorer. The book is pursued with exquisite consistency and sense of purpose. It is presented in all its enormous cognitive potential and exceptional analytical utility. A study of great value to both students and practitioners of organization.’
– Zygmunt Bauman, University of Leeds, UK