Decoding organization [electronic resource] : Bletchley Park, codebreaking and organization studies / Christopher Grey.

9781139338400
1139338404
9781139336666 electronic bk.
1139336665 electronic bk.
9781107005457
1107005450

Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2012.

English

1 online resource (xviii, 322 pages)

9786613571830

D810.C88 G74 2012eb

940.54/8641 940.548641

"How was Bletchley Park made as an organization? How was signals intelligence constructed as a field? What was Bletchley Park's culture and how was its work co-ordinated? Bletchley Park was not just the home of geniuses such as Alan Turing, it was also the workplace of thousands of other people, mostly women, and their organization was a key component in the cracking of Enigma. Challenging many popular perceptions, this book examines the hitherto unexamined complexities of how 10,000 people were brought together in complete secrecy during World War II to work on ciphers. Unlike most organizational studies, this book decodes, rather than encodes, the processes of organization and examines the structures, cultures and the work itself of Bletchley Park using archive and oral history sources. Organization theorists, intelligence historians and general readers alike will find in this book a challenge to their preconceptions of both Bletchley Park and organizational analysis"-- Provided by publisher.
"As its title implies, this book has two purposes. One is to explicate the 'decoding organization' at Bletchley Park, the place most famous for the breaking of Enigma ciphers in conditions of complete secrecy during the Second World War. The other is, in the process, to develop a certain approach to the analysis of organizations; a way of making sense of, or 'decoding', organization which points to a way of reviving organization studies as currently commonly conducted. In this sense it is a contribution to the social science of organizations and will primarily be of interest to academics working in that field. However, it should also have a value to those working in the area of intelligence studies and history, and an appeal to general readers with an interest in Bletchley Park "-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Access limited to authorized users.

Description based on print version record.

Online Access
Cover image

Online Resources > Ebooks
All Resources