John Eastin Van Maanen (born 1943) is an American

organizational theorist Organizational theory refers to the set of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also attempts to explain how interrelated units of organiz ...

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...

of Organization Studies at the

MIT Sloan School of Management The MIT Sloan School of Management (MIT Sloan or Sloan) is the business school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT Sloan offers bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs ...

, and best known for his contributions to qualitative studies in

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

and to organizational

ethnography Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject ...

. His studies included longitudinal researches of

police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...

men,

fishermen A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreati ...

Disneyland Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envisio ...

operators, and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads th ...

s. His publications include also methodological studies on writing organizational ethnographies and on power relations in workplace. His ''Tales of the Field on Writing Ethnography'' (

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

Press, 1988) became a classic reading in many doctoral programs in

around the world. He also recently commented on "On the Run", by

Alice Goffman Alice Goffman (born 1982) is an American sociologist, urban ethnographer, and author. She was Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin and Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology at Pomona College. Goffman wrote ''On th ...

. His other contributions include studies of

high tech High technology (high tech), also known as advanced technology (advanced tech) or exotechnology, is technology that is at the cutting edge: the highest form of technology available. It can be defined as either the most complex or the newest te ...

industries.BestWebBuys list of Van Maanen's publications
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Selected publications

Books, a selection: * Van Maanen, John. ''Breaking in: A consideration of organizational socialization''. Defense Technical Information Center, 1972. * Van Maanen, John Eastin, and Edgar Henry Schein. ''Toward a theory of organizational socialization''. 1977. * Van Maanen, John, and Stephen R. Barley. Occupational communities: Culture and control in organizations. No. TR-ONR-10. ALFRED P SLOAN SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT CAMBRIDGE MA, 1982. * Maanen, John Van. ''Qualitative methodology.'' Beverly Hills: Sage 1983. * Van Maanen, John. ''Tales of the field: On writing ethnography''. University of Chicago Press, 2011.

References

1943 births Living people American business theorists American sociologists Postmodern theory MIT Sloan School of Management faculty {{postmodernism-stub