John Van Maanen introduces qualitative research through examples of its application in organizational research. Each article serves as an exemplar of well-written, substantively focused and theoretically relevant qualitative research. The articles represent a broad range of research styles, methods, topics and level of analysis, and the studies cover four areas of research: organizational process; groups in organizations; organizational identity and change; and the societal and institutional environment. Organizations studied include factories, churches, universities, engineering groups, fisheries, voluntary organizations, basketball teams and pop music recording firms.

Foreword - Christine Oliver and Linda Johanson
Different Strokes - John Van Maanen
Qualitative Research in the Administrative Science Quarterly from 1956 to 1996
PART ONE: STUDIES OF ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESSES
The Role of Expectations in Business Decision Making - R M Cyert,W R Dill and J G March
Intense Loyalty in Organizations - Patricia A Adler and Peter Adler
A Case Study of College Athletics
In Search of Rationality - Ann Langley
The Purposes behind the Use of Formal Analysis in Organizations
PART TWO: STUDIES OF GROUPS IN ORGANIZATIONS
The Macropolitics of Organizational Change - Robert E Cole
A Comparative Analysis of the Spread of Small-Group Activities
Tightening the Iron Cage - James R Barker
Concertive Control in Self-Managing Work Teams
Status Degradation and Organizational Succession - Robert P Gephart Jr
An Ethnomethodological Approach
PART THREE: STUDIES OF ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTITY AND CHANGE
The Organizational Saga in Higher Education - Burton R Clark
The Reluctant Organization and the Aggressive Environment - John Maniha and Charles Perrow
From Evangelism to General Service - Mayer N Zald and Patricia Denton Wallace
The Transformation of the YMCA
The Creative-Destructive Process of Organizational Change - Nicole Woolsey Biggart
The Case of the Post Office
PART FOUR: STUDIES OF THE SOCIETAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
Organizational Effectiveness and the Institutional Environment - Paul M Hirsch
Authority,Organization and Societal Context in Multinational Churches - Reed E Nelson
The Dynamics of Institutionalization - Petter Holm
Transformation Processes in Norwegian Fisheries

Van Maanen holds a BA in political science from California State University, Long Beach, as well as an MS in social administration and a PhD in sociology from the University of California, Irvine.