- Understanding Organisations (1983) - ISBN 0-14-015603-8
- The Future of Work (1984)
- Gods of Management (1985) - ISBN 0-09-954841-0
- Understanding Schools (1986)
- Understanding Voluntary Organisations (1988)
- Age of Unreason (1989) - ISBN 0-09-954831-3
- Inside Organisations(1990)
- The Empty Raincoat (1994) - ISBN 0-09-930125-3
- Waiting for the Mountain to Move (1995)
- Beyond Certainty (1995)
- The Hungry Spirit (1997)- ISBN 0-09-922772-X
- New Alchemists (1999)- ISBN 0-09-179995-3
- Thoughts for the Day (1999) - ISBN 0-09-940529-6 - (first published in 1991 as Waiting for the Mountain to Move)
- The Elephant and the Flea (2001) - ISBN 0-09-941565-8
- A Journey through Tea - with Elizabeth Handy
- Re-invented lives (2002)
- Myself and Other More Important Matters (2006) - an autobiography and further reflections on life - ISBN 0-434-01346-3
- The New Philanthropists (2006)