An organization is any group of persons with a common objective. Simply put, two or more people may band together to form an organization because they determine that working together is a more effective means for creating value than if each of them continued to work separately. This book provides a brief introduction to the theory and study of organizations, sometimes referred to as organizational studies. The field of organizational studies is based on pursuing a better understanding of the structured processes that emerge within organizations to guide how the members interact with one another to pursue their mutually agreed goals and objectives. Among the key topics covered are popular definitions of the term "organizations" and theories regarding the purposes of organizations; how organizations create value for the members of the organization and society as a whole; descriptions of the various internal and external stakeholders of an organization; the fundamental elements of organizational management, including structure, culture, design and environmental factors; an overview of the academic foundations for organizational studies; and a description of the key determinants of organizational effectiveness and popular methods for measuring organizational effectiveness.