Book Description
"The Human Side of Organizations" delivers complete, up-to-date, practical information on how people behave in organizations presented in a readable, easy to understand form. The vital information can be used to understand managers, peers or workers. If you work, you need this information to thrive and survive.
FOCUS BOXES/Reality Checks - Bring the work world as it really is into every chapter./Question of Ethics - Presents ethical questions related to the particular chapters' material./A Global Glance - A look at an international aspect of a chapters' concepts./FYI - A new focus box for the 9e./Presents useful hints readers can apply in their daily lives.
Anyone who wishes to better understand managers, peers, or workers can benefit from this book as it covers the vital skills needed to survive and thrive in an organization.
Customer Reviews:
Good Service.......2007-02-24
Received Book in about 2 weeks after purchase. Book was in excellent condition. Good Service.
Exceeded Expectations.......2005-09-30
My textbook came sooner than expected and it was in great condition! The savings were unbelievable and I actually recommended using this seller to everyone in my class.
Book Description
Senge's best-selling The Fifth Discipline led Business Week to dub him the "new guru" of the corporate world; here he offers executives a step-by-step guide to building "learning organizations" of their own.
Customer Reviews:
Tools for creating a Learning Culture.......2006-09-11
Peter M Serge, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
To quote the first few paragraphs at beginning of book:
Among the tribes of northen Natal in South Africa, the most common greeting, equivalent to "hello" in English, is the expression: Sawu bona. It literally means, "I see you." If you are a member of the tribe, you might reply by saying Sikhona, "I am here." The order of the exchange is important: until you see me, I do not exist. It's as if, when you see me bring me into existence.
This meaning, implicit in the language, is part of the spirit of ubuntu, a frame of mind prevalent among native people in Africa below the Sahara. The word ubuntu stems from the folk saying Umuntu ngumuntu nagabantu, which from Zulu, literally translates as: "A person is a person because of other people."
"I bow in honor and reverence that place within you where to the Universe resides, when you are in that place within you, and I am in that place within me, there is One." ~namaste
The five disciplines are at the CORE of a Learning Organization
1) Personal Mastery: expand your personal capacity and ability
2) Mental Models: see how our internal pictures of the world shape action and decision
3) Shared Vision: group commitment
4) Team Learning: group ability is greater than the sum of individual talents
5) System Thinking:
"When we try to bring about change in our societies, we are treated first with indifference, then with ridicule, then with abuse and then with oppression. And finally, the greatest challenge is thrown at us: We are treated with respect. This is the most dangerous stage." --A. T. Ariyaratne (Speech made at International Community Leadership Summit, Winrock, Arkansas, March 1983. This quote paraphrases and expands upon a well-known statement made by Mahatma Gandhi in his book Satyagraha in South Africa, 1982, 1979, Canon, Me.: Greenleaf books)
"An [organization] is not a machine but a living organism." --Ikujiro Nonaka /****
Fundamentals of epistemology: what is knowledge, the nature of knowledge, and what constitutes learning.
understanding is achieved after internalization.
Without experience, we cannot truly understand.
Internalization: transformation from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge, habits and culture that we do not recognize in ourselves.
Innovation is a process to capture, create, leverage, and retain knowledge.
What is your belief? A belief about images of the world - you may call it a mental model - is a very subjective thing
information is the flow of a message, while knowledge is created by accumulating information. Thus, information is a necessary medium or material for eliciting and constructing knowledge.
The second difference is that information is something passive. When we switch on a TV set, information comes regardless of my commitment. But knowledge comes from my belief, so it's more proactive.
And the organizational knowledge or intellectual infrastructure of an organization encourages its individual members to develop new knowledge through new experiences.
This dynamic process is the key to organizational knowledge creation - that is, socialization (from individual tacit knowledge to group tacit knowledge), externalization (from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge), combination (from separate explicit knowledge to systemic explicit knowledge), and internalization (from explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge) [...].
[...]
Three Guiding Ideas
1) The Whole. When you are pointing a finger at the problems, notice how many fingers are pointing back at you. If you fixed the symptoms and ignore the root causes, the problems have not gone away. Another way to look at this is treat the person, not the disease. Of course treat the disease if the patient is dying, but know that the patient will get sick again because the "root causes" are stil there.
2) Community. The self is "a point of view." "The essence of being a person is being in a relationship [with] other people." You will not believe this, but each person before you is there for a reason. The reason this person is there at this moment is for you to learn something about yourself. If you ignore the person, do not ignore or forget the lesson.
3) Language. The map is not the territory. We cannot contain every bit of information that comes to us in the world, so we have to create a "map of the territory" and then refer to the map for our information. By changing a person's map, we change their reality. Language is the map, not the reality.
enlightening concepts about leadership.......2005-10-26
It seems to me that The Fifth Discipline (the previous publication of the series) is more attacting to me. The second book can be more precise and concise in content. Generally speaking I still like these two books as a foreign reader.
The Fifth Discipline.......2003-02-08
This book is a collection of theoretical summaries, reports, analyses, and strategies all quite useful to anyone interested in generating some thinking and action around change. The team of five writers (Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, and Art Kleiner) provide some original work, but also serve as editors to a vast quantity of material drawn from practitioners, theorists, and writers in the field of organizational improvement. According to Senge, "great teams are learning organizations - groups of people who, over time, enhance their capacity to create what they truly desire to create." (p.18) This book is really about creating and building great teams. The learning organization develops its ability to reflect on, discuss, question, and change its current and past practices. To do this, people and groups in the organization need to meaningfully pursue the study and practice of the five disciplines - personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking.
The learning organization - Senge's vision for the productive, competitive, and efficient institutions of the future - is in a continuous state of change. Four fundamental questions continuously serve to check and guide a group's learning and improvement (see page 49): (1) Do you continuously test your experiences? ("Are you willing to examine and challenge your sacred cows - not just during crises, but in good times?") (2) Are you producing knowledge? ("Knowledge, in this case, means the capacity for effective action.") (3) Is knowledge shared? ("Is it accessible to all of the organization's members?") (4) Is the learning relevant? ("Is this learning aimed at the organization's core purpose?") If these questions represent the organization's compass, the five disciplines are its map.
Each of the five disciplines is explained, and elaborated in its own lengthy section of the book. In the section on "Systems Thinking" (a set of practices and perspectives, which views all aspects of life as inter-related and playing a role in some larger system), the authors build on the idea of feedback loops (reinforcing and balancing) and introduce five systems archetypes. They are: "fixes that backfire", "limits to growth", "shifting the burden", "tragedy of the commons", and "accidental adversaries". In the section on "Personal Mastery", the authors argue that learning starts with each person. For organizations to learn and improve, people within the organization (perhaps starting with its core leadership) must learn to reflect on and become aware of their own core beliefs and visions. In "Mental Models", the authors argue that learning organizations need to explore the assumptions and attitudes, which guide their institutional directions, practices, and strategies. Articles on scenario planning, the ladder of inference, the left-hand column, and balancing inquiry and advocacy offer practical strategies to investigate our personal mental models as well as those of others in the organization. In "Shared Vision", the authors make the case for the stakeholders of an organization to continually adapt their vision ("an image of a desired future"), values ("how we get to travel to where we want to go"), purpose ("what the organization is here to do"), and goals ("milestones we expect to reach before too long"). The section offers many strategies and perspectives on how to move an organization toward continuous reflection. In "Team Learning", the authors rely mostly on the work of William Isaacs and others, and make a case for educating organization members in the processes and skills of dialogue and skillful discussion.
This book is enlightening and informative. It has already found a place on my shelf for essential reference books.
A follow up to the legend.......2003-01-27
The Fieldbook attempts at making the esoteric concepts of the fifth discipline more down to earth and contains a treasure trove of strategies, tools, methods and explanations on how to make the learning organization into a reality.
Thus people who have read The fifth discipline will gain the most from this book. It's a must read for people who want to make their organizations transition into a 'learning organization'
A second dose of Inspiration..........2002-02-09
Senge's second serving of the Learning Organization is filled with practical tips and real-life examples from companies and organizations that have embraced the teachings of the Learning Organization successfully.
The Book is a collaboration of several writers who do a superb job of unraveling the web that is the learning organization. At times, it may seem to the reader that the book is a labyrinth of disjointed concepts and ideas. However, if you have read `The Fifth Discipline' you will find no problems following the concepts introduced. In fact, you will even understand why the writers have chosen to introduce them in that fashion. If you have not read "The Fifth Discipline', do not despair, it will take a little longer to get `the whole picture'.
The Book is divided into 8 main sections:
1) Getting Started addresses the basic concepts and ideas of the Learning Organization.
2) Systems Thinking (the fifth discipline) - Many people have argued that Senge should have delegated the fifth discipline until the end, however, without Systems Thinking, your vision is disjointed and incomplete.
3) Personal Mastery covers the area of individual development and learning. The chapters here are among the most valuable in the area of self-growth and self-improvement.
4) Mental Models - These are the pictures that you have in your head which represent reality.
5) Shared Vision - You've seen the whole picture, you've developed and you understand how you see the world. Now you need to find a common cause with the rest of the people in your organization, something that you all work for.
6) Team Learning - As you work with other people in teams or groups, you need to pass the stuff that you have learnt and the wisdom you've acquired to others. At this stage, the learning is no longer that of the individual, but the group.
7) Arenas of Practice - (Self explanatory)
8) Frontiers - Where do we go from here.
If you are interested in development, learning, growth, leadership, gaining a competitive edge whether at an organizational or personal level, then this book is for you. In fact, I'd venture to say that this is book is for everyone.
Book Description
Managing people and their behavior in organizations is one of the most challenging tasks anyone could face. Gibson's Organizations: Behavior, Structure, Processes, Twelfth Edition, presents theories, research results, and applications that focus on managing organizational behavior in small, large, and global organizations. It is organized and presented in a sequence based on behavior, structure, and processes. Each part is presented as a self-contained unit and can therefore be presented in whatever sequence instructors prefer. Organizations is easily adaptable to individual preferences. This edition emphasizes that the most successful managers in the global economy will be those who can anticipate, adapt, and manage change.
Customer Reviews:
Recycling outdated material and deceptive.......2007-05-07
I am using this as a textbook for an MBA course and it is not lightly that I give this strong opinion. After having read/studied nearly the complete book I find that in its 12th edition this book:
1. Recycles itself with nearly no update of the material and text. E.g. "Recent studies found...." and the reference is from 1995. MANY times the text states that something is brand new or latest or recent etc. and the reference is like the Fortune Magazine from 1990. This is unprofessional and deceptive and serves both, students and teaches, badly. The authors are just harvesting $$$ on merits that are pasted.
2. If you use Wikipedia once in a while you know that they label articles sometimes as containing "weasel words: are words or phrases that seemingly support statements without attributing opinions to verifiable sources, lending them the force of authority without letting the reader decide whether the source of the opinion is reliable." Example: "Scientists say...". "Managers often do ..." "It is common that..."
This textbook is peppered with such expressions.
3. The presentation and the writing style is utterly unimaginative and inadequate for this day and age. Those authors haven't thought anyone anything real in a long time. A book that expensive should be held accountable to current standards.
4. The author are incapable of synthesising the material in something the student can take with him/her. In fact they regularly complain themselves that all the theories and models they just wrote about are actually highly invalidated and critizised by other research that itself has trouble coming up with anything tangible. The result is a dead see of the unusable. If at least the presentation had something valuable but it is cumbersome and boring.
5. Some of the case studies are likely written by the Brother Grimm or Scott Adams. Often they relate insufficiently to the text or are so unreal or crippled that it is agonizing to have to even read them, let alone handle them in homework.
My recommendation is that if you have a choice, you better look around for something that will actually add value to your studies. I had no choice as
it is the textbook for this course, but I will urge my uni to move forward. This textbook is a backset.
Boring read.......2006-11-09
Maybe it was the professor and not the book. It could have been more concise and energenic.
Book Description
This excellent paperback provides a brief, yet comprehensive tour of the scientific and practical highlights of organizational behavior (OB). It gets right to the point by focusing on essential concepts and practices that those in business really need to know. It allows readers to understand and appreciate the essentials of OB as a practical and scientific field by providing a good balance between research/theory and practical applications for the concepts presented.
A long list of cutting-edge topics are covered in this easy-to-understand, conversationally-written book. It includes integrated coverage of Internet/Web-based organizational behavior concepts with special treatment of e-commerce, and includes practical tips and suggestions telling readers how to apply OB in their own jobs. Coverage includes: individual behavior, group behavior, and organizational processes.
A especially handy reference for practicing managers and executives in corporate training programs.
Book Description
This book provides readers with basic information about human beings and their behavior within the context of a business environment. It includes such issues as how to motivate people, how to give them feedback on their performance, how to influence them, and how to help them cope with stress. By examining the factors that contribute to an ever-changing business world, it will teach readers to develop, train, and motivate high-performance employees in a world of constant change. The Field of Organizational Behavior. Perception and Learning. Individual Work Differences. Motivation in Organizations. Managing Your Own Behavior. Group Dynamics and Teamwork. Decision Making in Organizations. Social and Deviant Behaviors in Organizations. Leading and Coaching Others. Culture, Creativity, and Innovation. Organizational Structure and Design. Technology in Organizations. For managers, or anyone else, who are interested in organizational behavior.
Customer Reviews:
Alright.......1999-11-21
I used this book at Cornell's school of Industrial and Labor Relations in an OB course. It was ok, but I have seen better. The examples are mostly revelant, but sometimes it strays from the covered material. A good book to use to review for the final exam, but if your teacher draws tests from their own lectures, make sure you utilize the index in the back!
Poor theory, good applications.......1999-06-11
This text was used at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for an honors OB course. It served the class well by providing relevant and often humorous applications of theory. However, the descriptions of the actual theories themselves were weak and vague often referring to other concepts not yet learned.
Book Description
As the subtitle indicates, Lussier’s Human Relations in Organizations: Applications and Skill Building employs an applications and skill building approach. It’s the most “how to” work with people textbook. This style is perfect for professors that want to incorporate activities and exercises into the classroom, and benefits students who want to understand concepts as well as apply and develop skills that they can use in their daily and professional lives. The text has also been successfully used for online courses. The book and test bank provide a balanced, three-pronged approach: • A clear concise understanding of human relations/ organizational behavior concepts; • The application of HR/OB concepts for critical thinking in the business world; • The development of HR/OB skills.
Customer Reviews:
Guideline for managers.......2007-05-23
This is really a good book that all managers should read. Basic things that are mentioned that is not practiced in the real world. Life would be better if they follow or at least try to change their mgmt style.
Great HR resource.......2007-03-11
The book is a great resource for HR professionals and those just starting their career. Everyone could learn from the material on management and career success.
Informational.......2006-11-06
This book lays out many personality styles, leadership styles, and positions that you will address when dealing with other people. It is very informational and helpful. I highly recommend this as a learning or guidence resource.
The Human Condition of Relations.......2005-09-25
I felt this book was a good resource. It presented so many leadership styles and situations to utilize them in. If anyone else is looking for a book that will help prepare them for new age management, this is one to keep.
Book Description
Since it was first published in 1995,
Practicing Organization Development has become a classic in change management. Now completely revised and updated, editors Rothwell and Sullivan, leaders in the field of OD, and numerous expert practitioners, walk you through each episode of change facilitation.
Youll find exhibits, activities, instruments, and case studies. You'll get help applying each phase of a popular emerging change making model. And youll find include applied research and insights from a wide variety of well-known OD practitioners and academicians. Included in this comprehensive resource are an instructor's guide, ever expanding materials on the Web, and a companion CD-ROM with PowerPoint slides and supplemental materials.
Practicing Organization Development is packed with useful, current, proven direction on applying OD principles in the real world -- order your copy today!
Download Description
"Since it was first published in 1995, Practicing Organization Development has become a classic in change management. In this completely revised and updated second edition, expert authors walk you through each episode of change facilitation.
The second edition is enhanced with exhibits, activities, instruments, and case studies. This indispensable guide will help apply each phase of a popular emerging change making model. The editors, themselves leaders in the field of OD, include applied research and insights from a wide variety of well-known practitioners and academicians. A comprehensive resource, included is an instructor's guide, ever expanding materials on the Web, PowerPoint slides and supplemental materials on the companion CD-ROM. "
Customer Reviews:
Too Academic.......2006-07-29
This book is much too academic. Can somebody recommend an organizational change book written by a practitioner? This book is designed for undergraduate students.
Professional 'Keeper'.......2003-03-17
This 'Guide' book is one of four used in a Human Resource Development course that I took in a masters program. The content is the type that will be referred to over and over again in the course of an HRDV career. Some principles should not change, and the ones in this book are rich. A copy is staying in my personal library.
Solid definitions and foundation for understanding OD.......2001-08-04
I love this book! It is a must-have for all practitioners, beginners, or anyone who wants to place solid definitions of all elements associated with organization development.
Excelente.......1999-02-17
Es nuestro libro de texto en la materia de Desarrollo Organizacional de la Maestría de Gestión de la Calidad en el Centro de Excelencia de la Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas, México. Por motivo de traducción su lectura no es tan rápida como desearamos por lo que me interesa saber cuando tendrán una edición en español. Gracias. Ana Luisa Mejía.
The essestial skills needed to do change management today.......1997-06-16
This book has become a best seller in the change managment and organization development arena. It is used as a text book by many universities. At the last OD network meeting, 4 graduate programs in OD identified this as the favorite of students.
It is practical, easy to read and is very useful for anyone doing consulting.
Dick Beckhard who coined the phrase Organization Development says it is the best book on change since his Addision-Wesley Series on OD
Book Description
Interpersonal Skills in Organizations, 2nd Edition, by deJanasz, Dowd, and Schneider takes a fresh, thoughtful look at the key skills necessary for personnel and managerial success in organizations today. Chock-full of exercises, cases and group activities, the book employs an experiential approach suitable for all student audiences. The book is broken up into 4 distinct sections (Understanding Yourself, Understanding Others, Understanding Teams, and Leading) that can be used collectively or modularly depending on the instructor's preference and student-audience need.
Customer Reviews:
Very useful, highly recommended!.......2006-05-03
This book covers the important topics in organizational behavior, and the writing style is concise and readable. What distinguishes this text from many other OB offerings is the excellent exercises at the end of each chapter. I've used this book in leadership training sessions with working managers, and the class participants have been very happy with it, as have I.
Interpersonal Skills.......2005-10-10
I unfortunately wasn't able to use this book as much as possible because it was the wrong edition. The material inside the book was okay, but some chapters ended abruptly and left you wondering if you missed information.
Book Description
In this groundbreaking book, organizational effectiveness experts Edward Lawler and Christopher Worley show how organizations can be “built to change” so they can last and succeed in today’s global economy. Instead of striving to create a highly reliable Swiss watch that consistently produces the same behavior, they argue organizations need to be designed in ways that stimulate and facilitate change. Built to Change focuses on identifying practices and designs that organizations can adopt so that they are able to change. As Lawler and Worley point out, organizations that foster continuous change
- Are closely connected to their environments
- Reward experimentation
- Learn about new practices and technologies
- Commit to continuously improving performance
- Seek temporary competitive advantages
Download Description
In this groundbreaking book, organizational effectiveness experts Edward Lawler and Christopher Worley show how organizations can be built to change so they can last and succeed in today's global economy. Instead of striving to create a highly reliable Swiss watch that consistently produces the same behavior, they argue organizations need to be designed in ways that stimulate and facilitate change. Built to Change focuses on identifying practices and designs that organizations can adopt so that they are able to change. As Lawler and Worley point out, organizations that foster continuous change Are closely connected to their environments Reward experimentation Learn about new practices and technologies Commit to continuously improving performance Seek temporary competitive advantages
Customer Reviews:
A Primer of Change Concepts.......2007-08-27
In this easy to read compilation of business concepts to deal with constantly changing external environmental factors driven by the global economy, academics Lawler and Worley introduce their `B2Change' Model. Using the term identity, to describe an organization's core values, behaviors, and beliefs; the authors use several Fortune 500 examples to argue that continuously Strategizing, Designing, and Creating Value around the organization's identity are the primary contributors to organizational effectiveness. It is hard to argue with these descriptors of widely acknowledged, critical, organizational drivers.
The book follows the discussion of the B2Change Model with an overview of various structural options, information requirements and decision making processes, people management, and leadership thoughts before closing with a chapter on the features of a Built-to-Change Organization. During these discussions they promote; leadership teams as being more useful than a single hero-leader, team evaluations over individual performance appraisals, rewards that motivate performance, and a shift away from the job to the individual as the building block for an organization's design (the Me Inc. concept). All these and the many other ideas for adapting to change are often given life thru the use of business examples. The book is recommended for students of organizational change looking for an overview of management concepts that support change.
Change the way we change.......2007-06-13
Brilliant! the book introduce a new approach to change. Out of the box thinking, to the point, and very insightful. Sharp writers that make a different in the way we think and operate.
Very Good Book!!!.......2007-01-09
This is a very good book. For those interested in creating an organization that is designed to view change as "normal" business--this book is excellent reading. I teach organizational leadership--I have added this to the required reading list in a change management/research course.
Clear roadmap for the future: how to change continuously.......2006-08-10
This is a bold, fascinating and occasionally dangerous book, which we recommend to those who want to plan carefully and honestly for the future. Why "carefully" and "honestly?" Because authors Edward E. Lawler III and Christopher G. Worley are savvy enough to identify the kind of organization best suited for a business environment shaped by continuous change - and bold enough to prescribe the actions leaders must take to survive in this environment. These actions require care and honesty because they differ so fundamentally from many past business practices. For example, the idea of continually re-planning your market position sounds straightforward. However, to then eliminate all employees who have done great work, but whose skill base does not match the firm's new portfolio, is risky and requires great faith in your vision. As the authors repeatedly note, the future is difficult to predict, and impossible to predict completely. What's more, for individual managers to examine their organizations, see that they no longer fit and voluntarily step aside will require rigorous honesty and responsibility. They would need to have planned their careers and finances well enough that self-interest does not blind them. Many of this book's ideas have a similar nature. They seem good and right, but applying them successfully will require great discipline.
Organizations that cannot change cannot survive, much less prosper........2006-08-08
Obviously, if organizations are not "built to change," they cannot effectively respond to inevitable changes in their competitive marketplace. Moreover, they may be able to achieve some temporary success but cannot sustain it over a period of time. In the Foreword, Jerry Porras briefly but brilliantly explores two themes: "First, leaders must understand their organization's values, and work to shape them in such a way that those values guide and sustain needed changes rather than undermine them. Second, leaders must architect their organizations to embrace rather than resist change." Co-authors Lawler and Worley see this volume as a sequel to Jim Collins' Built to Last because, in it, they explain "what organizations need to do once they have developed the foundation for survival and want to increase their effectiveness over time." This seems to be the same objective which Collins set for himself in his own sequel, Good to Great.
What they call the "B2Change Model" consists of Environmental Scenarios (which describe a range of possible future business conditions an identifies "preferred futures") and three primary organizational processes which contribute to organizational effectiveness. Strategizing (a process by which to establish priorities so that by having a "strategic intent"). Only after concluding this process can an organization then initiate the other two processes, Creating Value through competencies and capabilities, and, Designing the structures and other processes that enable an organization to achieve sustained effectiveness enterprise-wide. Step by step, with both rigor and eloquence, Lawler and Worley explain how any organization (regardless of size or nature) can do this, guided and informed by the B2Change Model.
In the final chapter, they make several key points. First, that making the transition to a B2Change organization is much more difficult than operating one. Also, that each of the three processes is more changeable and more flexible than the prior one. However, the designing process is the key to developing the competencies and capabilities that are needed to implement a strategic intent. They identify five key initiatives on the road to becoming B2Change and then discuss them in the order in which they recommend implementation. (They are listed on page 287.) They also explain how certain key elements can support an organization's focus on its external environment so that everyone involved understands change as a natural process. "Creating a change-friendly identity is a fundamental step in becoming a b2change organization." Still another key point involves what Lawler and Worley see as the final initiative: bringing all of the prior processes together in a virtuous spiral. "Virtuous spirals - periods in the life of an organization - are characterized by critical configuration, proximity, and dynamic alignment. They are built and sustained by a series of temporary competitive advantages."
I am reminded of what Peter Drucker observed in 1963: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all." That is precisely why Lawler and Worley place such great emphasis on the first process of the B2Change Model, Strategizing. It is absolutely imperative that proper organizational priorities and an organization's strategic intend be established first. Otherwise, completion of the second and third processes may well be flawless but ultimately worthless.
Book Description
Help your downsized workforce bounce back
Layoffs make the business pages, even the front pages, of our newspapers with frightening regularity. And massive downsizing continues to reshape the face of American business. But what about those who remain behind? Healing the Wounds provides an antidote to the widespread malaise on the American business scene left in the wake of workforce reductions. Drawing on case studies and original research, David M. Noer--an expert frequently quoted in major media such as The Wall Street Journal and Fortune--provides executives, human resource professionals, managers, and consultants with an original model and clear guidelines for revitalizing downsized organizations.
Customer Reviews:
Identifies and addresses the social/cultural impact of RIFs.......1999-04-13
TO SUMMARIZE CHAPTERS 1 - 6
Why all these negative impacts from lay-offs? Simple, no one took any steps to prepare the personnel for the changes of work and values. The managers who initiated the lay-offs are still stuck in denial themselves - their method of denial is sometimes "When the going gets tough, the tough get mean!" Denial is the main reason that the problems go untreated. Symptoms of denial are Gallows humor, death paradigms or figures of speech, "We have to be strong", "We are only doing what is necessary", "Chainsaw AL", etc.. - anything except a direct reference or description of what is being done. No one should be laughing at actions taken or at the resulting pain.
Basic economic and social changes have resulted in a paradigm shift for the employer - employee relationship. The changes are summarized as:
(OLD PARADIGM) vs *NEW PARADIGM* = (People as assets to be developed) vs * as costs to be reduced* & (Nurturing) vs *Violent* & (Develop) vs *Take out* & (Help) vs *Shoot* & (Grow) vs *Terminate* & (Long term) vs *Short term* & (a carrrer) vs *a job* & (make an employee) vs *buy an employee* & (Synergistic) vs *Reductionist* & (build up) vs *make smaller* & (develop) vs *cut*
[My own comment - It is interesting to note that corporations developed a system of codependency in order to reduce costs and to maintain valuable employees. This has resulted, over a long period of time, in too many employees. We are experiencing a violent "weeding of the garden". This situation may turn around shortly due to the increasing decline in available employees (zero unemployment). The last time society underwent such an upheaval was in Pre WWII Germany. The German economy exploded, but the resulting unmanaged social pressures caused a World War.]
CURES AND FIXES BEGIN WITH CHAPTER 7 Level One: Manage the Layoff Process (Chapter 7) Practice "Clean Kills" / Redundant Communication is Essential / "Managers should think of how they would behave when they are the authority figure at a funeral or during a time of crisis, confusion, or emotional tension in a small group or family" / Avoid Control Traps (Managing Communication (limiting information)) & (Managing Emotion (find a way to release emotions is best)) & (Managing an Unproductive Image (don't fake it)) / Lead from the Heart and Follow with the Head / Tell the truth and never say never / Avoid Denial Traps (deal with the problem directly) / Insure that you use Fairness, Equity, Participation, Caretaking, and Prior Notification (the more the better).
Level Two: Facilitate the Necessary Grieving (Chapter 8) Read all of chapter 8 - This chapter is loaded with information. Help the organization through the process of Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. Outsiders are often necessary to facilitate this process as all of the insiders are too involved.
Level Three: Break the Codependency Chain and Empower People (Chapter 9) We will all have to take on the characteristics of Davy Crocket. He lived in a wild environment and depended on his own skills and resources. This resulted in a greater sense of freedom and higher self esteem. Change your mindset from Codependency to Independence
"A primary symptom of codependency is that the codependent's sense of value and identity is based on pleasing, and often controlling, not himself or herself but someone or something else. Codependents make themselves into permanent victims."
"Codependents are all collectively conspiring to be something that they do not want to be individually."
"Again and again in my practice, I see employees at all levels desperately trying to regain control of a decaying and nonproductive work environment."
"The paradox of codependency is that the controllers are always controlled; that is what makes them codependent." -- "they need to let go, to admit the folly of their attempts to control an uncontrollable situation."
[The truth shall set you free.]
Level Four: Build a New Employment Relationship (Chapter 10)
[You must read this chapter in full - I can't compress it.]
THE GREAT WAKE-UP CALL Please read chapters 11 and on for an understanding of the new relationship.
Books:
- International Dimensions of Organizational Behavior
- Interviewing: Art and Skill
- Know-How: The 8 Skills That Separate People Who Perform from Those Who Don't
- Labor Relations in the Public Sector, Third Edition (Public Administration and Public Policy)
- Leading and Managing in Nursing
- Leading Geeks: How to Manage and Lead the People Who Deliver Technology
- Managing Cultural Differences, Sixth Edition: Global Leadership Strategies for the 21st Century (Managing Cultural Differences)
- Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change
- Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World
- Motor Control Electronics Handbook
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Thoughts of St. Ignatius Loyola for Every Day of the Year
- The Feminine Mystique
- Metchnikoff and the Origins of Immunology: From Metaphor to Theory
- Polymer Therapeutics I: Polymers as Drugs, Conjugates and Gene Delivery Systems
- Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors, and Media
- The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary
- The Hot Flash Cookbook: Delicious Recipes for Health and Well-Being through Menopause
- Cleveland's Downtown Architecture
- Out of Ground Zero: Case Studies in Urban Reinvention
- Sugar And Spite: A Savannah Reid Mystery
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Guide to Managerial Communication (7th Edition) (Guide to Series in Business Communication)
Brief English Handbook, The (8th Edition)
Learning to Think Things Through: A Guide to Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum (2nd Edition)
Asking the Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking (8th Edition)
Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum (10th Edition)
