ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on several pathological aspects of organizations, such as malfunctions, deficiencies, and disorders, which lead to the quietus of organizations as live entities. It discusses the perils of politics. Once these and similar concepts are viewed as pathological conditions and manifestations, it becomes necessary to analyze them within a proper framework. The book attempts to diagnose some organizational processes that jeopardize organizations' chances of survival, propel their failure, and cause their eventual demise. As part of the present endeavor, and based on the relevant literature, issues such as the various forms of organizational death, their predictors, and their antecedents receive special attention. Organizational crime, corruption, and other related phenomena are similarly dealt with in this context, as representing abnormalities that threaten the existence of organizations.
