Sociology and Industrial Behaviour

Abstract

Why and in what ways is a sociological perspective important to students of the business world? The argument here will be that the sociological perspective can be useful in two ways. First, certain concrete problem situations within the context of business organisations are only understandable in the light of the social context of the participants and their pictures of the social world. Second, the sociological perspective suggests that the methods of producing goods and services are not totally determined by criteria of technical efficiency but are also critically affected by the historical period in which they emerge, the systems of ideas, priorities and values present in the wider social setting and by the interests of the parties who benefit from these particular arrangements. It is not the purpose of this book to write a critique of current business practices or, equally, a defence of those practices, but rather to examine the way these practices are related to other factors in society. Why and how far profit-maximisation has become important as a principle of economic organisation is the problem from the sociological viewpoint, not whether it is morally right or wrong. The problem of the values of sociologists and in particular of the authors of this introduction to sociology will be returned to after the attempt has been made to communicate a feel for some of the problems sociology can help illuminate, and some of the different styles sociologists use in their analyses.