Managing Human Resources by Exploiting and Exploring People's Potentials

This volume of Research in the Sociology of Organizations offers nine critical essays interrogating human resources approaches to management, both firm- and self-initiated. Their focus on 'exploitation and exploration' contributes to an exciting revival of sociological interest in the political economy of work and productive play. Several essays focus on the ideal of an ambidextrous individual who is both capable of following rules and knowing when to break them to an employer's or organization's advantage. Others look at self-development and self-organization habits as ways of creating an exploitable resource for future employers, as well as forms of control employers exert over workers. The populations they consider are mostly European, but include both manual and intellectual forms of work. One essay shows how by looking at Wikipedia we can better understand how a degree of "principles and guidelines of coordination" can be harnessed without succumbing to bureaucratization or other organizational control pathologies. More than one essay responds to James March's oft-cited 1991 article, "Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning," including one that argues a Marxist view for a political understanding of March's terms. The contributors are European organizational social scientists and professors of business and communication. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)