Book Description

In this book David and Alex Bennet propose a new model for organizations that enables them to react more quickly and fluidly to today's fast-changing, dynamic business environment: the Intelligent Complex Adaptive System (ICAS). ICAS is a new organic model of the firm based on recent research in complexity and neuroscience, and incorporating networking theory and knowledge management, and turns the living system metaphor into a reality for organizations. This book synthesizes new thinking about organizational structure from the fields listed above into ICAS, a new systems model for the successful organization of the future designed to help leaders and managers of knowledge organizations succeed in a non-linear, complex, fast-changing and turbulent environment.Technology enables connectivity, and the ICAS model takes advantage of that connectivity by fostering the development of dynamic, effective and trusting relationships in a new organizational structure.

This book outlines the model in chapter four, and then breaks down the model into its components in the next two chapters. This is a benefit to readers since different components of the model can be implemented at different times, so the book can guide implementation of one or all of the components as a manager sees fit. There are eight characteristics of the ICAS: organizational intelligence, unity and shared purpose, optimum complexity, selectivity, knowledge centricity, flow, permeable boundaries, and multi-dimensionality.

* Clear portrait of the successful organization of the future using latest research in knowledge management and complexity theory
* Shows concretely how to design an organization that can successfully respond to constant change and uncertainty.
* Practical examples woven throughout the discussion. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Breakthough for Organizational Thinking
This is one of only a few books to attempt a fresh expansive view of new organizational infrastructure, principles, and tools in nearly a half-century of post-industrial society experience. One might say that until the last decade of knowledge management thinking, there has not been the perspective to do this. But, I don't buy it. Fritz Machlup's work in the 50's extensively described the impact of knowledge work on the economy. Drucker clearly saw it in the 50's. What have we been thinking about?

You can't read this book without disagreeing with the Bennets. They touch too many subjects too dear to too many of us. Still, give them credit for so many new ideas. They have laid the basis for a broad dialogue grounded in the credible view of complexity theory. The Bennets have sent out the invitations, they have set the table, who will join the feast? It is challenging for me to read this book. I constantly want to be able to discuss it with others. There is so much depth and breadth at the same time. Also, you may not be able to read it without being remorseful about your own organization, especially if you work in a complex enterprise. Recommend you scan the table of contents and then start reading. As the Bennets say, go to Chapter 19 if you need grounding in complexity theory. I found it useful to jump ahead and read chapters as my interest was peaked. Then go back and pick up from where you left off.

The Bennets' research alone has immense value. This book should become a college text for graduate work. They are well grounded in complexity theory, nevertheless, they pull from many fields, disciplines, and theorists to build this new body of knowledge. The book would rock an MBA program.

Drucker says that figuring this sort of thing out will determine how well we'll compete in this new century. The Bennets give us new frameworks for describing what we're working with and how we can organize for breakthroughs on multiple levels. In the meantime, hopefully a leader at Homeland Security is reading this book.

Outstanding Book for Executives in a Competitive Environment
The authors provide a valuable resource for executives striving to assure their companies excel in a competitive and complex environment. Dave and Alex Bennet use their practical management experience and excellent insight in knowledge theory to address the challenges facing organizations in a rapidly changing world. Their explanation of the Intelligent Complex Adaptive System ICAS provides a model for successfully handling the increasing demands of a swiftly changing business atmosphere. As background, the book provides a description of the differences between Bureaucratic and World Class organizations. It explores the emergent properties of the ICAS and how it works in practice. The Bennets present a variety of new and innovative techniques for improving organizational performance. The ICAS and the processes described in this book are a roadmap for organizations to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. I highly recommend this book for executives who strive to excel in a complex and ever changing competitive environment. ... Read more

Book Description

The Employee Handbook for Organizational Change is a handbook created to teach employees the differences between myth and reality during times of rapid change. It provides practical tips to help employees take personal control, face problems with a constructive attitude, and find the positive opportunities which exist in this unstable environment. The handbook delivers guidance on surviving in the age of instability, clearing up the myths and presenting the realities of what is likely to be going on behind the scenes, overcoming resistance to change, and becoming a change agent. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Get Your Mind Right
This is not actually a handbook in the sense of it being a concise reference, but rather it is something that organizations undergoing change might want to distribute in order to suppress dissention among the rank and file. Its message: Resist organizational change and you will be crushed; embrace change and you might keep your job.

Most of the handbook comprises a "myth versus reality" section. The myths are the employee perceptions, the realities are management perceptions. The author includes tips on handling the stress of organizational upheaval such as exercise, relaxation, and humor. However, he has omitted one of the most effective: Lining up a new job.

Pro-management propaganda blaming workers for its failures.
In parental fashion, the book blames the workers for corporate failures. This pro-management piece of propaganda insinuates the workers are the problem, it stereotypes them as malcontents and recalcitrant rebels. In a "thou shalt be ashamed of thineself" mode it warns that management failures are due to the intransigent and rebellious employees' indifference toward managment and change. The book absolves management of all failures and instead points the finger at the work staff's inability to cope with change. It further justifies management's "cold" behavior as being in the best interest of the corporation (vs. employees).

I agree management's vision and actions should be directed toward its corporate goals and longevity, but it gives no credit to most of the employees who understand this. Instead, it preaches that "you" workers are mostly incapable of long-term vision & understanding that change is "good", and that "good ole" management has to beat this fact into you employees.

Basically, the book justifies all management action and behavior while chastising workers for not going along, not coping, and ultimately being responsible for negative outcomes. The myths stereotype workers as sniveling, ungrateful, and behind-the-times, while justifying management's mistakes as a "cost of doing business".

The book has many fine points and can go a long way toward acceptance if it could present a more effective picture of management and employees in a joint venture together, in a partnership for the betterment and enhancement of the employment and paycheck producing corporation. Cut out the guilt production and anti-employee negativity and expound instead on the positivity of shared responsibility for the well-being of the company. ... Read more

Book Description

The Appreciative Inquiry Summit bring all parties together not to analyze what's wrong with an organization but to discover its strengths; seek opportunities for change; design the changes into the organization's structure; and implement and sustain these changes. Written by four pioneers in the field, this book documents the tremendous successes of this approach as a proven program for organizational change, illustrated with real-life examples from companies and community groups. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Cutting Edge Approach
I found this book to be compelling. The authors offer the "Evolution of Thought on Managing Change" in the first chapter that suggests that today "Everyone innovates for extraordinary performance." Those companies/organizations and leaders that choose to accept this to be fact, should familiarize themselves with Appreciative Inquiry. And, for those looking for the "how-to" book to accomplish AI within their organizations on a grand scale, this is the textbook that fills that need.

A good and detailed guide to AI
Appreciative Inquiry is an increasingly popular technique within the wider family of interventions designed to bring about change through cooperation across a whole system, working with a large group of people. Its distinguishing feature is the emphasis on the positive - what is good about the present and offers potential for the future, what aspirations there are for the future, how do we design such a future and what are the concrete steps to start bringing it about.

This book goes into great detail on the rationale for the approach and the step by step activities required to move through the process. It is a well set-out and thorough guide for practitioners.

For a guide to the range of techniques available and a comparison between them, refer to Napuk and Palmer: The Large Group Facilitator's Manual or Bunker and Alban: Large Group Interventions.

AI Summit Practitioner's Guide
This is an inspiring work at the confluence of idealism and practicality. It is a reference source relevant to the experienced practitioner and a great learning resource for one who wants to learn more about appreciative inquiry. Interweaving compelling stories, the authors provide an informative set of tools and guides. I was able to use information in the sample participant guide the same day the book arrived.

Amazing practical how-to guide on AI Summits
This book is a very practical step-by-step guide to conducting an AI summit. What I especially appreciated was how the book combines the great experiences and expertise of the authors and will be useful for the AI novice practitioner as well as for the very experienced AI OD consultant. It provides great examples of summit materials. It is a well written book that can be read and reread and used as the Summit bible for years to come. ... Read more

Book Description

In organizations today, getting work done requires political and collaborative skills. That’s why the first edition of this book has been widely adopted as a guide for consultants, project leaders, staff experts, and anyone else who does not have direct authority but who is nevertheless accountable for results. In this revised edition, leadership gurus Allan Cohen and David Bradford explain how to get cooperation from those over whom you have no official authority by offering them help in the form of the “currencies” they value. This classic work, now revised and updated, gives you powerful techniques for cutting through interpersonal and interdepartmental barriers, and motivating people to lend you their support, time, and resources. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A GREAT GUIDE TO THE ART OF INFLUENCING OTHERS.
This book is important because it's message-to succeed you must learn to influence others-is right on target. The authors assert that nobody "ever had enough authority (to get their work done)." But it is possible to have enough influence to make things happen, and this book's purpose is to tell you how! It shows that the key to influence is reciprocity, which is defined in many and subtle ways. An influence model provides the framework around which the book is organized and developed. Chapters cover influencing: your boss; difficult subordinates; others across functional lines; and colleagues. Other topics include: indirect influence; initiating or leading major change; organizational politics; and escalating to tougher strategies when needed. As consultants in organization analysis, design, and change (www.organizationconsultants) we are keenly aware of the importance and power of the art of influencing others; it is essential to leadership. It is pivotal to getting things done at all levels, starting with the execution of strategy. It is good to find a book that addresses this crucial topic. Overall, the authors offer a penetrating treatment of their subject which serves as a great guide to the art of influencing others. The book is rich in content, offering insights about a skill that is quintessential to personal and organizational success.

I'm outraged!
First of all, shame on the women who gave this book glowing reviews on the first few pages!I was completely shocked (had to re-read the passages several times) by the authors suggestion that a woman who was sexually approached by a co-worker basicallly overreacted by becoming angry, and that she should have instead interpreted the pass as his awkward attempt to "find some way to connect with her.Might she have deflected the pass but turned the attempt into something more suitable to a collegial work relationship?"(page126)Give me a break!I can't believe that this example of gaining influence over people ever made it past the editor.And if that wasn't bad enough, they again insulted women on page 226, when they explain that a women ponders her failure in a management role by saying "I still haven't figured out why they allowed a female - especially one without an engineering background - to manage the project".What?!?I had to check the front of the book to see if it was published in the 60s!Besides these profoundly ignorant examples, I found the book to be less than marginal in developing my ability to influence those around me.I'll look elsewhere.

Good info on how to be effective in team-based organizations
This book covers how to use the natural human laws of reciprocity with others in your organization to achieve maximum productivity. More importantly the book also promotes the attitude of looking on everyone in your organization as allies (people you like) and potential allies (people you don't). Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description

This book is essential for anyone who needs to understand how organizations work, evolve and learn. In this new edition, Argyris discusses vital topics of current management research, such as tacit knowledge and management, so reflecting the evolving field of organizational learning.

Focusing on learning and organizational politics, the book addresses the key issues of: Organizational learning and Action Science.Organizational effectiveness and what inhibits it.Organizational development and human resource activities.Usable knowledge and how it is inhibited. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Tough and Generally Uninformative Reading
I read "On Organizational Learning" based on a good reference from another author that I did like, James Tingstad in "Good Technical Management Practices". However, Mr. Tingstad led me astray. This book is tough and generally uninformative reading. There are 27 chapters in "On Organizational Learning", and I read eight that I thought would be most useful to me - based on my rankings, there was one 3-star chapter, two 2-star chapters, and five 1-star chapters. It does not get much worse than that. Into the circular file it goes.

The reason I found the book is so poor is that I felt no connection to the material - the writing lacked creativity and expressiveness. The book needed a better editor. Therefore, never use this book as either a general organizational learning book or, for goodness sakes, a textbook.

A collection of essays from a master
A collection of essays, articles, and chapter length contributions to other books. Readers new to Argyris might wish to start with "Knowledge for Action: A Guide for Overcoming Barriers to Organizational Change". "On Organizational Learning" expands and deepens what you will learn in "Knowledge for Action". The bottom line is that Argyris's work is as highly respected as the name is hard to spell. I give this book a 9 instead of a 10 only because of the academic style of the writing, the content is outstanding. - Cortlandt Wilson, Software Consultan ... Read more

Book Description

In Transforming Work, Boverie and Kroth draw from their original research and experience in the field to show executives and HR professionals how to create inspiring, employee-friendly work environments in order to recruit, develop, and retain talent. They also show employees how to discover and develop passion for their work, transforming themselves and the organization in the process. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Valuable insights into the congruency of passion and the wor
This book is one of a series on New Perspectives in Organizational Learning, Performance, and Change. The series is designed to showcase current theory and practice in human resources and organizational development. While there are practitioners on the editorial board, this looks like more of an academic series. I'd describe this publication as one for professionals, but a volume that individuals can benefit from, as well.

The focus of this book is passionate work. This concept will be difficult for many readers, since passion is emotion and emotion and work are usually considered incongruent. The authors point out, early in the book, that "Passion is at the root of creative genius, personal transformation, and notable events. Passion is emotional energy; it stimulates life and energizes individuals to work toward goals. ...New products, new ideas, creative ways to deliver services, inventions, an scientific discoveries are produced because someone or some organization is passionate."OK. Passion seems to be consistent with what we're striving to accomplish in employment organizations today.

How might we approach this? The authors explain that they've done some research that connects learning with passion. Put the concepts together and you get meaningfulness, and there are a lot of people looking for opportunities to feel a greater sense of meaning in what they do. Readers will be guided through an interesting study into passion, what it is, how it fits, and what to do with it. Individuals will gain, but trainers and organizational development professionals will find it most thought-provoking and stimulating.

The book is organized into eight chapters: Introduction to Passion and Work, The Foundations of Passionate Work, Passion Transformation Process and Cycle, Occupational Intimacy, The Discovering Process, The Designing Process, The Developing Process, and Transforming Work---the five keys to achieving trust, commitment, and passion in the workplace. An index will help you find your way back to those things you want to work with again. A number of exercises are included to stimulate your thinking and help you gain some sense of measurement in the emergence of passion in your personal and corporate life.

The book may seem a bit pricey for only a couple hundred pages, but there is a lot packed into those pages. The book is set mostly in 11 point type, so find a nice quiet place with good light to absorb all the authors have to share.

If you enjoy it can you call it work?
They say work is the hardest way to earn money. Michael Kroth and Patricia Boverie have zeroed in what we need to easy up the hard. "Transforming Work" for me hit the core of what is needed in all aspects of life --passion. This is not just a business book, I found myself connecting the dots with the rest of my life. While TW is a bit pricy try, living a life with unconnected dots.

Tom Payne
Author
A Company of One: The Power of Independence in the Workplace ... Read more

Book Description

Looking for a highly effective alternative to traditional change models?
Finally, an alternative to traditional change models-the science of complex adaptive systems (CAS). The authors explain how, rather than focusing on the macro "strategioc" level of the organization system, complexity theory suggests that the most powerful change processes occur at the micro level where relationship, interaction and simple rules shape emerging patterns.
* Details how the emerging paradigm of a CAS affects the role of change agents
* Tells how you can build the requisite skills to function in a CAS
* Provides tips for thriving in that new paradigm "Olson and Eoyang do a superb job of using complexity science to develop numerous methods and tools that practitioners can immediately use to make their organizations more effective."
--Kevin Dooley, Professor of Management and Industrial Engineering, Arizona State University ... Read more

Reviews (2)

The Best Practical Guide to Using Complexity
This is the best practical guide in existence for using Complexity to transform an organization. The authors give valuable tools and techniques for concrete processes which promote Complexity transformation, along with examples of real business situations where the tools have worked. Especially valuable for those who have a background in organization development. Highly recommended.

practical book about promising org. change approach
This is an interesting book about an approach to managing and changing organizations, which is quite different from traditional change approaches: complexity theory. You might think: "Ah, here we go again.... Is this just the next new management hype, destined to be forgotten soon?" I don't think so. I think complexity theory is to be taken a bit more serious than that. What is it? It is a rapidly developing theoretical framework that describes and explains fundamental processes of complex adaptive systems, like organizations. What is a complex adaptive system? The authors of this book, Edwin Olson and Glenda Eoyang, explain that in a complex adaptive system, a multitude of different players (called agents) held together by some cohesive force (called a container) and constantly interacting with each other in all kinds of ways (these interactions are called transforming exchanges).

The self-organizing nature of human interactions in a complex organization leads to surprising effects. Small actions, events and interactions can lead to dramatic outcomes affecting the whole system. Human interactions in complex systems lead to so-called emergent properties, which are features of the system that the separate parts do not have. (For example, brain cells don't have consciousness, but the human brain does). All of this explains why it is often impossible to understand let alone predict or control events and developments. This is a rather big departure from the traditional view, which tends to see organizations as understandable, predictable and ... controllable!

Then how exactly is the complexity theory approach to change management different from the traditional approach? Ed Olson and Glenda Eoyang summarize the main features of the CAS approach to change as follows: 1) Achieve change through connections between agents (instead of trying to control the change top-down), 2) Adapt to uncertainty (instead of trying to use predictable stages of development), 3) Allow goals, plans, and structures to emerge (instead of depending on clear and detailed plans or goals), 4) Amplify and value difference (instead of always directly focusing on consensus), 5) Create self-similarity (instead of difference between levels), 6) Regard success as a matter of fit with the environment (instead of focusing on one dimensional success measures).

It's hard to accurately summarize in a few words what's in this book. So, if you're organizational development consultant, perhaps you'd better read it yourself. What you will find is that the book is a nice mix of theory, case descriptions and practical tools which (some of which are very nice and handy). I think this is the first book that makes complexity theory so practical. ... Read more

Book Description

In a front-page story in the Wall Street Journal, Pat Buchanan named The Myth of Free Trades as one of the cornerstones of his protectionist economic policy. Written by Dr. Ravi Batra, bestselling economist and author of The Great Depression of 1990, The Myth of Free Trade throws down the gauntlet to economic orthodoxy and challenges the gospel of free trade. Dr. Batra states that "laissez-faire has wrecked U.S. industry and shattered the American dream."

As an anecdote to our economic ills -- the federal deficit, our reliance on foreign imports, widespread downsizing, environmental destruction -- Dr. Batra sets out a five-year plan for economic revival that includes raising tariffs on imports, banning mergers among giant firms, and encouraging domestic competition by splitting huge corporations into smaller units. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Myth of "Free" Trade now needs a follow-up
Batra has done a fine job of pointing out the problem. Some want more figures, but the key here is the concept of "averaging". For that, I wish Batra had given us a simple example like the one below:

With some 6 Billion People on the planet, 5 Billion earn less than $1,000 per year (say $5 Trillion) - only about 1 Billion earn around $25,000 or more ($25 Trillion) - with 300 Million those in the USA. So, if 6 Billion people "share" the $30 Trillion total World GDP, that means an "average" of $5,000 for each person.

While a peasant in China might be temporarily better off, it would mean the economic end of the USA, Japan and Europe, then total collapse for the West. If China's current goal is to conquer the West, they can do it without a shot fired - just keep exporting while we keep importing and closing factories.

I only hope that Batra writes a follow-up book quite soon and offers up an overview that all of us can internalize. My further hope is that he can present his comments on CSPAN, CNET and CNN before the US election in November.

the myth of real wages
First let me say that this is a well-written book and does a fairly good job of representing the popular perception that trade can be harmful. Batra gets only two stars from me because of how vague he is on his real wages data. This is an artificial construction that removes skilled labor from calculating wages and then shows a drop in real wages. There is no questioning that a drop in US unskilled labor's wages is happening. This, however, is a meaningless construction because the skilled labor pool is growing, as is its wages. Those are real wages too. The other form of income that Batra ignores is investment income which is available to all Americans who choose to consume less than they earn. Batra knows that the worst consequence of limiting trade is inflation. He tries to present a competition policy that will compensate for the monopolies that a government will create by restricting trade. He presents this as a way to solve the inflation problem, but he ignores the need for greater economies of scale to keep unit costs down. If the coercive power of the state creates artificial competition with firms that are too small to keep costs down, then inflation will still be a problem. It is trade that keeps SKILLED labor's wages rising and trade that keeps inflation at bay.

Well thought out
Well done. It's a shame however that Batra doesn't follow through on this topic in his later books, and gets side-tracked instead by other factors which at best have secondary impact on global economy and ecology. After suffering an entire generation (30 years) of decoupling of per capita productivity and per capita real wage, one wonders how much more stress the US economy can take before it collapses. Then again, what are the limits of human ingenuity and resiliency? Can these factors reverse the damage done by the Free Trade policy? Batra's addressing this factor would have been extremely helpful. ... Read more

Book Description

The concept of culture is a key issue within management and organization studies. Understanding Organizational Culture provides a useful and comprehensive guide to understanding organizational culture, from a range of angles, contexts and sectors. The book answers questions of definition, explores alternative perspectives, and expands on substantive issues (such as leadership and change), before discussing key issues of research and providing a new framework for this topic. Mats Alvesson synthesizes for students the advances in the field of organizational culture, drawing upon the range of relevant literature within Organization Studies. The author also uses examples to develop and illustrate ideas on how cultural thinking can be used in managerial and non-managerial organizational theory and (theory-supported) practice. Understanding Organizational Culture provides great breadth within a textbook approach - covering a wide spectrum of management and organization while at the same time developing a new theoretical approach to organizational culture. It will be essential reading for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Management and Organization Studies, particularly key for modules in Organizational Behavior, Organizational Theory and on MBA programs. It is also relevant to students and academics in sociology and psychology. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Very helpful overview of the Future Search Process
I found this book easy to follow and easy to understand. If you want to understand Future Search as a large group strategy, this book will be very helpful. By the time I finished the book, and it is a fast read, I felt that I had a strong understanding of Future Search and when it is to be applied.

A Solid Effort!
In this book, Marvin R. Weisbord and Sandra Janoff describe a three-day program to help organizations develop a future plan. Their conference is designed to unite groups of people from different areas of an organization so they can create a program together that they all support. Typically, the conference includes 50 to 70 people who review the past, explore the present environment, create future scenarios, identify common ground and make action plans. The program encourages dialogue and working together as peers.

Future Search suggests how you might organize this program yourself, from setting up the agenda to planning the logistics. Because the book is a specific, practical guide for a particular type of conference, it will primarily interest those leaders and managers who want to put on such a program. We at getAbstract recommend Future Search as a good hands-on tool for companies, non-profits, government agencies or other organizations that want to hold a future planning conference.

Search No More
No need to go any further. This the THE book to read if you are involved in planning or facilitating a future search. The authors anticipated all my questions and answered them in a clear, concise manner. The book is an excellent manual for anyone responsible for conducting future searches. Don't leave the present without it.

Practical tools in organizational change and action
Weisbord and Janoff provide practical tools, advise and many decades of experience in organizational change and action in their "Future Search." As they say, a Future Search Conference is "simple, not easy" and provides a structured means for leaders to bring in the "whole system" into planning and action. ... Read more

Book Description

Questions about the causes or sources of work stress have been the subject of considerable research, as well as public fascination, for several decades.  Earlier interest in this issue focused on the question of whether some jobs are simply more inherently stressful than others.  Other questions that soon emerged asked whether some individuals were more prone to stress than others.  The Handbook of Work Stress focuses primarily on identifying the different sources of work stress across different contexts and individuals. 

Part I focuses on work stressors that have been studied for decades (e.g., organizational-role stressors, work schedules) as well as stressors that have received less empirical and public scrutiny (e.g., industrial-relations stress, organizational politics).  It also addresses stressors in the workplace that have become relevant more recently (e.g., terrorism).

Part II of the Handbook covers issues related to gender, cultural or national origin, older and younger workers, and employment status, and asks how these characteristics might affect the experience of workplace stress.

The adverse consequences of these diverse work stressors are manifold, and questions about the possible health consequences of work stressors were one of the major historical factors prompting early interest and research on work stress In Part III, the individual and organizational consequences of work stress are considered in separate chapters.

Key Features:

• Affords the most broad and credible perspective on the subject of work stress available

• The editors are all prominent researchers in the field of work stress, and have been instrumental in defining and developing the field from an organizational-psychological and organizational-behavior perspective

• International contributors are included, reflecting similarities and differences from around the world

• Chapter authors from the United States, Canada, England, Sweden, Japan, and Australia have been invited to participate, reflecting most of the countries in which active research on work stress is taking place
 

The Handbook of Work Stress is essential reading for researchers in the fields of industrial and organizational psychology, human resources, health psychology, public health, and employee assistance.

 
 

Book Description

What are the secrets of successful teams? Why do some teams achieve remarkable success while others fail or are consigned to mediocrity? To find the answers, Carl E. Larson and Frank M. J. LaFasto conducted a three-year study of teams and team achievement. Interviewing a wide range of teams, including the space shuttle Challenger investigation team, executive management teams and a championship football team, Larson and LaFasto discovered a surprising consistency in the characteristics of effective teams.

In Teamwork, they explore the eight properties of successful teams: a clear, elevating goal; a results-driven structure; competent team members; unified commitment; collaborative climate; standards of excellence; external support and recognition; and principled leadership. A final chapter examines the priority of the steps that lead to the building of a high performance team. The authors strive to make the concepts concrete, coupling solid theory with straightforward, practical advice on how to apply it and with lively, fascinating anecdotes.

The volume will appeal to practitioners, scholars, and advanced students in the areas of organization studies and management, as well as interpersonal communication.

"We believe it is an important book that will be very useful to the sport psychology community. Its brief and readable nature makes it an ideal supplementary text for courses in the social psychology of sport or sport-related group dynamics. It could also be used in research methods courses to provide insight into qualitative data collection procedures. In addition, coaches and mental skills consultants will find much valuable information here about the evaluation and enhancement of team functioning. Finally, researchers will be intrigued by Larson and LaFasto's eight-category framework and their brief description of a rating-scale instrument designed to assess these dimensions of team effectiveness. Given this diversity of potential uses, we urge our colleagues to examine Teamwork for themselves."
--The Sport Psychologist

"(A) superb effort conducted by the authors. . . . A must read."
--HR Planning Newsletter

"Teamwork attempts an ambitious goal in a small number of pages and succeeds quite well. . . . The authors have useful and interesting things to say--things that fit well with what other studies and authors have concluded and with what the teams they studied experienced and concluded. A prime audience for this book would be managers and team members with a modest 'academic bent' who want guidance on how to make their teams work more effectively and who are willing to listen to the reasons why the authors make their suggestions and how they reach their conclusions. Students and academics who are looking for a wise and balanced attempt to capture what we seem to be learning about what works in groups should also find this refreshingly short volume valuable."
--Journal of Management

"Larson and LaFasto provide a brief, efficient, and well-focused checklist of principles for managing group processes. The authors report on the results of a relatively systematic, 3-year program on in-depth interviews with participants from 'successful teams'--e.g., a Mount Everest expedition; DeBakey-Cooley cardiac surgery teams; a Notre Dame championship football team; several business executive and project management teams; Presidential cabinets; and disaster response teams--to come up with some '. . . distinguishing features of effectively functioning teams. . . .' Practicing managers should have no difficulty identifying with anecdotes described in this book. A list of characteristics parallels the chapter outlines of this good organizational behavior textbook written from a management process perspective. . . . It is hard to imagine a more efficient way to capture the fundamentals than the way Larson and LaFasto have done it. Newly appointed supervisors without a formal organizational behavior and management process course--and any practicing manager who could use a quick brushup--will find this guidebook useful."
--Human Resource Planning

"Teamwork [is] one of the best and most concise handbooks on team management around. No one interested in teamwork should miss reading this guide."
--The Learning Edge ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A Rational Approach to Teamwork
There's an enormous amount of reading material on teams and teamwork and this book is one of the best.Its highly rational approach condenses studies of high performing teams.The authors found eight common characteristics and explain in enough detail why they are important.They include excerpts from the leaders and teams they have studied.They also state that the two most common reasons for team failure are politics and personal agendas.They include a quote from Duke Drake: "The minute the politicians take over and start worrying about what's in it for me, you're dead in the water."

Teams are the only way to address our increasingly interrelated and complex problems.In practice teamwork is rare and the reason may be that many managers advance due to their political ability.I doubt that upper managers will ever be able to truly give up the skills that brought them there.

A enjoyable and useful book
These authors studied all different sorts of teams (everything from a Mount Everest expedition and a Notre Dame championship football teams to the group that invented Chicken McNuggets) in order to determine what they had in common. The book is highly readable and describes eight common principles that could be implemented to improve the function of any team. It is also full of interesting comments and stories from the study. I highly recommend the book for any team member (not only managers) since the book also clearly describes how the individal can influence the success of the entire team.

Top-shelf book on teams. A foundation text.
Larson and LaFasto put their outstanding research into easy-to-understand language. The book is foundation reading for executives and team members who want to understand the key variables that spell success for teams. Andit's an easy-reading 138 pages presented so anyone (5th grade readinglevel!) can understand their findings. I know the authors, and have theutmost respect for their scientific methodology and experience. We use thematching team/ leadership assessment and training program to help clientorganizations plan, build, and fix their teams. Really an excellent reader,and a foundation of our consulting practice. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Good book
simple, down-to-earth, and realistic.what i liked most about this book is the management application summaries in each chapters.however, i do sometimes get the feel in several chapters that the treatment of the topicsare more encyclopedic.the book cover and some graphics are mediocre.

Excellent textbook even for professionals!
I have read many books regarding organizational behavior, and this is by far the best!I work as a management consultant specializing in organizational behavior change in Japan, and this book gives me hundreds ofuseful ideas.Actually "The Essentials of OrganizationalBehavior" by Dr. Robbins is translated into Japanese language, whichis also a great book."Organizational Behavior", however, iseven better.Japanese translation wanted!

The Essential Textbook on Organizational Behavior
I have been an intensive reader of Professor Robbins' books since I was a grad student.What I recommend most out of his books is this "Organizational Behavior".Its comprehensive, albeit detailedand reader-friendly contents (e.g., lists of WWW URLs in each chaper tofacilitate readers' in-depth learning) has always inspired me.Now, as anAssociate Professor of Organizational Behavior, I am fully convinced of thefact that my students always thank me for adopting this book as the text ofmy course.I hope every substantial reader will find the significantusefulness of this book, the essential text.

Great introduction to organizational behavior.
The text was used for a graduate level class in the MBA Program at Oklahoma City University.As such, it is easy to see that it is an important tool to aid in understanding management of people in the Americanwork place.

I do however have one criticism.The text does not do a goodjob at distinguishing between managing and leading.In my opinion, theyare two different titles for those who take the reigns of an organiation.

Very Excellent Book
I'd like very much this book, cause in there I can found my needs. This book very help my in my university where I can study more in my program, Hotel Management. ... Read more

Book Description

This timely book is the result of a Stanford University study of "good work" in business, under William Damon's direction. During the course of the study, researchers interviewed 48 men and women who have achieved success in business. The interviews revealed the surprisingly strong role that morality can play in successful business careers. Based on this information, Damon has developed a set of principles for using the Moral Advantage in business. These principles include "moral imagination" - creating a business concept that serves a larger purpose without losing profits; forthright communication that inspires trust; cooperative strategies that build teamwork and community; uses of the Golden Rule for managing complex relationships; philanthropic efforts that express compassion; and a public commitment to ethical standards. The book shows how and when business people can most effectively draw on these principles and explains how to develop the personal capacity to do so throughout a career. ... Read more

Book Description

Aldag and Kuzuhara combine key management and organizational behavior concepts with intense application of critical managerial tools and techniques. In each chapter, the learner is presented with a short discussion of relevant theory and concepts and then actively participates in the application of these concepts through experiential exercises, self-assessment tools, and case studies. Throughout the text are examples and interviews with practitioners, emphasizing to the learner the importance of the topic at hand. Internet links and activities provide guidance on how to use the Internet as a management tool and to explore management in today's organizations. ... Read more

Book Description

Organizational communication as a discipline has grown tremendously over the latter part of the century, but accompanying that growth has been a struggle to establish a clear identity for the field. The ongoing evolution of complex organizations in an equally complex global environment has scholars continuing to define and redefine the focus, the boundaries, and the future of the field. The New Handbook of Organizational Communication is a landmark volume that weaves together the various threads of this interdisciplinary area of scholarship.

Reviews (2)

Thumbs Up!
This book provides a solid overview of Organizational Communication from a scholarly perspective. The authors do an excellenct job of identifying and elaborating on key issues, elaborating on related inquiry and elaborating on future considerations for the field.

Mediocrity at its best
This book characterizes much of what is wrong with the current way in which text-books are pumped out by authors/academics/publishers to serve as a new yet ultimately qualitatively useless addition to the heap of knowledge in any given field. It is not that the topics presented here are useless, meaningless or anything of the sort, it is simply that the mediocrity with which they are written about and presented to the reader- supposedly a student attempting to learn about these subjects- is apparant on nearly every page.
If the mark of someone who truly understands their field of study is their ability to clearly and easily convey and teach it to others, than many of the contributors to this book do not truly understand their field, certainly not to the extent that they should when being held up as the fore front of their academic field. Read or Buy if you must, but turn to others sources for a better reading and learning experience. ... Read more

Book Description

Just as consciousness evolves in individuals, so too does it evolve in organizations. As Spirit forms and transforms in people, they become strong, focused, and vibrantand wonderful things can happen. But when the spirit is down, nothing else seems to make a differencebecause not too much happens. Many of us today find ourselves trapped in just such organizations. The spirit in our workplace, to say nothing of our own spirit, is getting a little tattered, showing the early stages of what Harrison Owen calls "Soul Pollution." Those in the advanced stages may find themselves plagued by exhaustion, high levels of stress, and the abuse of just about anything in sight, including spouses, substances, and fellow workers. So what is the secret to transforming organizations? The answer, says Owen, is simple: we must consciously be what we already arenatural, open, self-organizing systems.

In The Power of Spirit, Owen examines the world of Spirit/Consciousness in organizations and offers help to those who find themselves dreading another day on the job in an organization seemingly bent on its own destruction, as well as the destruction of its members. He draws from what we are now learning about self-organizing systems to provides a practical application to the world of organizations, revealing the ways in which Spirit shows up in new, emergent organizational forms.

Widely known for his Open Space Technologya broadly used meeting management toolOwen now pushes well beyond that surface appreciation and suggests deeper applications and implications, showing how what has been experienced in a typical "great meeting" with Open Space can actually be a 365-day-a-year reality.

For all those interested in Spirit and spirituality, particularly in the workplace, individuals who are feeling down and out and buried by Soul Pollution in the workplace, and for current practitioners of Open Space Technology who are wondering what comes after a "great meeting"The Power of Spirit will offer a pathway to positive transformation. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Good Read!
Harrison Owen's book has its share of shortcomings, but there is certainly something to recommend here as well. Owen's explanations of organizational change, complex adaptive systems and chaos theory as they apply to business and innovation are lucid and easy to understand. Less appealing are his lapses into jargon that seems more appropriate to a yoga class than a human resources department, and the theoretical tone that permeates the book. We from getAbstract recommend this book to anyone in search of an alternative perspective on modern management.

The Difference That Makes a Difference...
is that this book is clearly written from the heart, and offers a deeply human solution to the "soul pollution" in today's workplace. I've read most the well known books on organizational change/transformation - and there are some excellent ones - but this one really rings true.

Mr. Owen suggests that management, a barely disguised euphemism for control, is a figment of our imagination. He holds that choas is actually the natural state of human affairs, not the exception. If we let go of outdated beliefs, and simply observe how things really get done, we will transform toxic workplaces into inspired organizations. By simply embracing what is.

Like a lot of people, especially women, I left corporate America because I was unable to reconcile their values w/ mine. Always puzzled by people who contrasted their "work personalities" with their "real personalities", I'm more convinced than ever that separating from ourselves at work is not only unnecessary, but destroys the organization along with the selves that make it up!

Spending time with Harrison Owen's voice allows you to hear your own. ... Read more

Book Description

If you are responsible for your organization’s next employee survey, what would 15 years of experience be worth to you? This new publication gives you the benefit of those years. This book and its companion will save you thousands of dollars. "Employee Surveys: Practical and Proven Methods," is filled with examples from real-world surveys done by organizations of all sizes and types. It contains sample forms, agendas, letters, and more, all of them from actual employee survey situations. This book is organized to follow the process from start to finish. It covers the unexpected moments you may not know how to manage. Whether you plan to "do it yourself" or you work with an outside vendor, this book will help you get the information, understand the results, communicate them effectively, and take meaningful action. In summary, it will help you make the most of your survey efforts. The second volume, "Employee Survey Question Guidebook," is unique in its field. It brings you 650 tried-and-true questionnaire items from employee surveys developed by Performance Programs, Inc., a human resources survey firm since 1987. Using the instructions supplied in the book, you can select questionnaire items, or create your own items, and develop an employee survey. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the fourth book in the new ASTD Trainer's WorkShop Series. Leading Change Training is a practical, ready-to-use workbook written for training professionals, organizational development practitioners, change agents, chief executive officers, and others who are seeking to create solid change programs within their organizations. Leading change involves more than simply reducing resistance; it involves creating awareness of the challenges and responsibilities that each person (no matter his or her level in the organization) faces as a change initiative goes forward. Users of this book will be able to quickly create half-day, full-day, and multi-day workshops that integrate the change leadership models and theories in this book into solid training programs for agents of change, executives, leaders, managers, and supervisors as well as staff members who are often most affected by the change. Like all the books in the series, this book includes a companion CD-ROM with ready-to-use presentations and electronic copies of all supporting material featured in the book. ... Read more