The Ropes to Skip and the Ropes to Know: Studies in Organizational Behavior

I really appreciated that this book came in on time. It was also in very good condition. I emailed the previous owner and she emailed me right back. Thank you Jennifer for everything.

This is a great reference for anyone who is first starting out in business or for the seasoned employee or manager who wants to know why crazy, stupid things happen at work. This is an owner's manual for your job, especially if you work for a big company. The book is laid out in a series of small stories or tales. Each tale goes on to describe an event in the life of a fictitious employee and company. The tales will ring true to anyone who has spent time in the trenches. The book then goes on to explain these events from an organizational behaviorists point of view. You will be saying..."ah hah" alot.

This book is often touted as a great book for students, or for new workers just beginning their career. While I agree with that prescription, I think as well that this could be an important book for everyone, no matter what their age is or where they are placed in the corporate environment. Particularly in these difficult economic times, it's never a bad idea to remind yourself how organizations work, or how others may perceive you without your awareness. Updated with new stories for the 5th edition. Very useful bibliography of further reading.

"Ropes" is the only book that I read as part of my MBA course work from which I actually learned something useful. I apply its lessons at work everday. It reveals how organizations truly work. The various scenes played out in the book have been duplicated in my own career experience many times over. It is incredible. It was as if the author had studied the firm that I worked for and then wrote this book. I consider this book crucial in helping me in my career. Not only in advancement but in alleviating the frustration of not understanding why things happen the way they do in organizations. For example, "Ropes" helps answer the question, why does the idiot get put in charge of a project and not the person who is the most capable. It is also an excellent reference. I often turn back to it to see how a situation that I am experiencing now played out in the book. Not only is it instructive but it is also extremely entertaining. I could not put this book down and finished reading it in a day and a half. Since then I have read it several more times. This is the only edition that I have read, but since the different editions are significantly changed, I am sure that the earlier editions are just as worthwhile. I would highly recomend "ropes" to anyone who works in any type of organization and wants to understand what is going on in that organization.

I have been reading the Ropes to Skip since my MBA, nearly two decades ago. Each have so much to contribute that I would recommend buying or finding the other four editions rather than go on to another book. Dr. Ritti keeps changing the stories enough to keep your interest. But what is really interesting is how these new stories and his theory seem to be a part of his journey of learning. For example, if I was younger than I am, I might gain more from his first edition than his later editions, as we all drop what is of burning interest in one part of our lives and of less in another. I'd say that these editions track from his forties to his sixties and thus should be of special interest in people of those ages. The stories are easy to read but even after reading these stories ten or twenty times when teaching them to my students, I still keep learning from them. A true master of organizational culture. In the style of Robert Shrank's "Ten Thousand Working Days" done by another insightful sociologist.