What is creative technological change? This text explores new ways of thinking and acting in relation to this question in contemporary organizations. It examines how technology shapes organizations and how organizations shape technology - especially "virtual" and other information and computing technologies. A wide range of thinking on these issues from organizational theory, political economy, evolutionary economics, feminist analysis, the sociology of technology and the "new socio-technical theory" is outlined. The idea of metaphor is deployed to capture the differences between, and strengths and weaknesses of, different ways of conceptualizing the technology/organization relationship. It is argued that this approach offers the possibility of developing new ways of thinking about, viewing and ultimately responding creatively to the organizational challenges posed by technological change. The book concludes by outlining a model of the process by which technology and organization are configured. Topics covered include: machine, biological and virtual ways of understanding technology and organization; the evolution of innovative organizational forms; the politics of consuming techno

Creative Technological Change draws upon a wide range of thinking from organisational theory, innovation studies and the sociology of technology. It explores the different ways in which these questions have been framed and answered, especially in relation to new 'virtual' technologies. The idea of metaphor is used to capture the differences between, and strengths and weaknesses of various ways of conceptualising the technology/organisation relationship. This approach offers the possibility of developing new ways of thinking about, viewing and ultimately responding creatively to the organisational challenges posed by technological change.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203019873

This book offers an essential manual for project managers, project management offices (PMO's), trainers and consultants, addressing the psychological side of project management. Written by leading scholars in organizational psychology and by top experts in project management, it covers all major psychological topics that are key to project success. The book features dedicated chapters on leadership and teamwork, including virtual and intercultural cooperation, commitment and motivation of project teams. It adds a psychological perspective to personnel management, decision-making, information and knowledge management and communication in project work. Power, influencing tactics and other aspects of stakeholder management are covered, as well as project coaching, innovation and creativity, self-management and the management of conflicts, risks and crises.

Drawing upon both Jewish and Christian scriptures, this book lays a groundwork for understanding how grace is a critical element of leadership and followership studies. This volume, divided into three sections, begins by defining the concept of grace leadership, using biblical examples. Part two discusses how grace leadership develops while the last part of the book offers contemporary examples of leaders displaying grace to their employees. With cases from the military as well as organizational perspectives, this edited collection adds a new wrinkle to the leadership literature and will appeal to scholars in HRM and organizational studies.

This book describes the development of quality over various stages, from product inspection, through quality control to the present ISO 9000 systems. It also highlights the advantages of the quality management system (QMS) standards and the need for certification by organizations and enterprises/firms interested in taking advantage of the various benefits of these standards to improve their systems and aid their survival in a globally competitive market. The author provides simplified information to enable even those hearing the word ''quality'' for the first time to be able to appreciate and understand the various quality management philosophies irrespective of their background and position.

This guidebook goes beyond people analytics to provide a research-based, practice-tested methodology for doing relational analytics, based on the science of relational coordination. We are witnessing a revolution in people analytics, where data are used to identify and leverage human talent to drive performance outcomes. Today's workplace is interdependent, however, and individuals drive performance through networks that span department, organization and sector boundaries. This book shares the relational coordination framework, with a validated scalable analytic tool that has been used successfully across dozens of countries and industries to understand, measure and influence networks of relationships in and across organizations, and which can be applied at any level in the private and public sectors worldwide. Graduate students and practitioners in human resource management, health policy and management, organizational behavior, engineering and network analysis will appreciate the methodology and hands-on guidance this book provides, with its focus on identifying, analyzing and building networks of productive interdependence. Online resources include data appendices and statistical commands that can be used to conduct all these analyses in readers' own organizations.

Based on a case study of leadership communication in a time of organizational change, this book gives new leaders insights into the tools and skills needed to become effective, motivating communicators in their leadership careers. Taking a holistic approach to communication and leadership, the book argues that employees buy in to change when they collectively feel engaged in meaningful work that will enrich the lives of customers, employees, and investors. Based on ethnographic research, it approaches the topic through an absorbing fiction-like retelling of an organization's successful navigation of change against the backdrop of the 2007 mortgage crisis. In doing so, it establishes a framework for leaders to understand the principles behind how and why buy-in is generated in organizations. This unique approach allows readers to visualize leadership communication principles in practice. Fostering Employee Buy-in is ideal as a supplementary text in introductory leadership communication, management, and business courses or as a text for new leaders interested in inspiring organizational change.

This challenging book tackles one of the most fundamental questions in economics: Why are commercial organizations more efficient than organizations in the public domain? It is generally accepted that the traditional answer (the fact that commercial organizations maximize profits) does not necessarily hold true. Finding a solution to this anomaly, as this book attempts to do, should therefore be a prime concern in economics. The authors believe the answer lies in the fact that even in a completely stable environment, all organizations will eventually fail irreparably. Organizations operating in the market are more efficient because, once in decline, they are 'free to fail' and allowed to be disassembled or even replaced. Public organizations that fail are more often than not protected and allowed to continue even though their efficiency is questionable. This fascinating and thought-provoking book will provide a stimulating read for academics and students with an interest in economics, business and management and public policy. Contents: Preface 1. Introduction 2. Key Concepts 3. The Historic Debate 4. Profit Maximization is Only Part of the Answer 5. Organizational Mortality and its Fruits 6. Causes of Organizational Failure 7. Uncontrollability 8. Empirical Evidence 9. The Soft Constraint Syndrome 10. When Left to its Own Devices 11. Necrosis and Apoptosis 12. Why Public Organizations? Appendix: The Dutch Affair or the Destructive Power of Organizational Warfare References Index

Quantum Leaps is a how-to book for creating fundamental change in both ourselves and our organizations. Charlotte Shelton's basic premise is that organizational change happens one person at a time. Our workplaces simply mirror our individual and collective beliefs. Therefore, we change ourselves, our workplaces, and the world by changing our minds. As our beliefs change, we not only see the world differently, we begin to be in the world in a different way, thus creating a new reality.
Shelton uses the basic principles of quantum mechanics as the foundational metaphor for a new quantum skill set that recognizes the highly complex, constantly changing, totally unpredictable nature of life. She demonstrates the inadequacy of our time-honored skills of planning, organizing, directing and controlling. She shows how these skills are directly tied to an obsolete view or reality ignoring the now fundamental requirements of extreme imagination and radical innovation.
Quantum Leaps introduces seven new skills: skills that are compatible with life and work in the twenty-first century. These seven Quantum Skills enable us to see, think, feel, know, act, trust and be radically different ways. Collectively they form a comprehensive model for change.
These skills integrate quantum mechanical principles, state-of-the-art-psychology, and universal spiritual practices. They balance the traditional left-brain business skills with a new skill set that more fully utilizes both hemispheres of the brain. As we master these skills, Shelton states, "We create balanced lives and whole-brain organizations and we become authentic change masters, changing ourselves and our organizations from the insideout."

The Seven Quantum Skills are: Quantum Seeing, Quantum Thinking, Quantum Feeling, Quantum Knowing, Quantum Acting, Quantum Trusting and Quantum Being. These 7 skills introduce a new way to access underutilized brain capacities as they acknowledge the role of intention, intuition and interconnectivity.
- First really practical application of "new science theories" to the workplace]visual models, anecdotal examples, and application exercises
- Quantum Leaps introduces 7 quantum skills necessary for surviving and thriving in a highly complex, constantly changing, totally unpredicatable world
- Integrates quantum mechanical principles, state-of-the-art psychology and universal spiritual practices into behavioral skills for individual and organizational change

Learning is increasingly seen as crucial to the success of organisations but many studies of the subject offer very little empirical evidence to substantiate this. Based upon in-depth research, including over seventy interviews with managers and employees, Organisational Learning and Organisational Effectiveness is an original and comprehensive analysis of learning organisations. Contents include:
* detailed case studies of five major international companies: Coca-Cola and Schweppes Beverages, 3M, Siebe, Mayflower and Morgan Crucible
* the intellectual origins of organisational learning
* best practice in organisational learning
* the importance of leadership roles and skills
*a critical examination of the usefulness and relevance of organisational learning and effectiveness.
Integrating management theory and practice, this volume is an extremely valuable resource for all those with an interest in organisational behaviour and human resource development.

eBook available with sample pages: HB:0415192145

The Dynamics of Change is the first book to explore the fundamental question of what change really is rather than just describing how it can best be managed.
The book investigates how systems thinking and interdisciplinary insights from philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences can greatly enhance our understanding of change. Features of the work include:
- a review of the organisational change literature
- an introduction to systems thinking
- a change framework built up from key change building blocks
- examples of change dynamics from the natural and physical sciences, and how they apply to our understanding of change within organisations
- numerous summary tables and illustrative graphics

Senior executives, middle managers, supervisors, administrators, and other students of administrative behavior need to know why harnessing human energies demands a full understanding of organizational and cultural contexts combined with a knowledge of personality characteristics--of self and others. In response to this need, Contextual Management: A Global Perspective addresses the art of getting things done in today's organizational world. It offers managers guidelines for working under a varied set of circumstances and explores ways to increase administrative effectiveness in organizations worldwide.Contextual Management integrates different administrative levels and various organizational cultures with appropriate management styles and personal attributes to help you recognize the position context where you can be most effective. Using its self-assessment questions, you can gauge your strengths, weaknesses, and requisites for particular administrative position roles and contexts. You can also use tools from the book's appendix to help you assess personality attributes as well as the characteristics of a particular position context. You will put your individual experiences into perspective and enhance your understanding of organizational realities as you read about: individual managerial behavioral relationships organizational designs, job configurations, and CEO orientations recruiting, placing, motivating, and supporting your staff identifying a particular unit's work culture and recognizing its characteristics why a supervisor must be personable to be able to carry out instructions from superiors while gaining allegiance from subordinates assuring 'good fits'of administrative personnel in various organizational systems goals--the logical stepping stones for initiating the process of implementation the constraints particular work systems place on the relationships between managers and others within an organization Appropriate styles of performance, as Contextual Management illustrates, are contextual, not universal. The fact that you are effective in one environment doesn't mean you will be effective in another. With this book, though, you can change your thinking about functions of leadership, decision making, communication, planning, and implementation and realize congruence in whichever environmental niche your organization moves into next!

The study of organizations has been dominated by administrative, economic and performative concerns. The contributors of this book acknowledge the impact of Robert Cooper on their own work and develop further his insistence that organizational analysis must be understood in terms of the rationalization of society as a whole. Amongst the contributors are many experts in organizational theory. Chapters cover a wide area of interest, including organizational science and post-modernism, the logics of organizing and instrumental experience. In doing so, the book departs from an emphasis on "organizations" as social objects and moves towards a position of analysis which situates itself in the wider context of the late modernity. It should be valuable reading for students across a range of disciplines, including sociology, management and organizational behaviour as well as political studies. It should also be of interest to all professionals who desire to have a better understanding of organizational society and of the future direction of organizational studies.

This book focuses on the antitrust process and how that process affects the efficiency of antitrust law enforcement. The contributors share a wide range of experiences in the antitrust process, including academia, the legal environment, and both private and public sectors. The book deals first with merger activities, followed by non-merger enforcement initiatives and concludes with an examination of the future role of antitrust.

"Corporate DNA" explores what happens when managers think about and run their companies as if they were living things. An organic model is at the heart of the transformation of companies like AT&T and EDS, working to redesign the bureaucracies that they were built upon. This book addresses the frustrations felt among corporations by focusing on the role of the organizational models in the transformation process. The book's key perception is that the choice of a mechanical or organic model results in an organization's developing either mechanical or organic structures. Those structures, in turn, lead to certain types of behaviour "Corporate DNA" provides tools with which managers can replace their old mechanical models with organic ones. Readers will discover how living things use information to create work; how they learn, develop and govern themselves; and how prototype organic corporations such as 3M and Federal Express apply organic models to their operations.

This book uses both political and democratic studies perspectives as well as economic, philosophical and managerial to provide a practical insight into the issues like the extensive economic power of large enterprises and changing balance of power between public and private sector, regulation and the governance of large private entities.

Addressing the effect of big data analytics-capable information systems on organizational ambidexterity, this book investigates how these systems can be used to enhance organizational agility and flexibility, generally considered to be two key determinants of organizational ambidexterity. With a focus on the opportunities for businesses rather than the burden that big data can represent, the authors highlight the impact of big data on ambidextrous organizations and how current organizational structures can be modified in order to improve big data analytics and implement big data-capable information systems.

Series Information:
Routledge Studies in Business Organizations and Networks

First published in 1998. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Do you believe in action-oriented planning, the speedy execution of ideas and realistic goal-setting in business management? So do the authors of this book-and that's why they've developed this fun, innovative evaluation tool that any business can use to assess its own operations and identify weak spots and trouble areas. Management Golf has been arranged to resemble a round of golf: 18 of the most important business factors were selected to match the 18 holes in a golf game. Topics such as technology, strategy, resources, finance and customer service each get a score, and a graphic layout of each hole is shown at the end of each chapter. When you're done playing the game, it's time to figure out your handicap-the factors you need to work on to get your company playing "above par." Once you know your score and your handicap, you can address the real challenge of this book-using what you've discovered about the inner workings of your company to boost innovation and creativity among your management team and make the business run better than it ever has before. As a game, Management Golf is great fun. As a self-assessment tool for your business, it's invaluable! ABOUT THE AUTHORS Michael J. Kami is considered one of the leading business advisors in the world. He was the strategic planner for IBM during its spectacular growth period in the 1950s and for Xerox during its boom in the 1960s. He retired young, moved to Florida and became a consultant, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. In the 1980s, he sat on the Board of Directors of Harley Davidson and was part of the team which transformed that company into one of the world's leading motorcycle manufacturers. He currently publishes the quarterly newsletter Kami Strategic Assumptions, which provides management advice to top executives in the United States and abroad. William Martz is a long-time business consultant. Over the years, he has helped executives throughout the United States adapt to changing conditions, deal more effectively with competition and plan innovative new strategies for success. His ability to combine practicality with a vision for the future has earned him a reputation as a top management consultant for small and medium-size companies.

This book from Meredith Belbin, the UK's leading expert on teams, takes the reader on a different and fascinating journey. His insightful analysis takes us from the faults of typical hierarchies to the new world of restructured, flatter organizations where new sets of problems are emerging. In the search for alternative systems, Belbin outlines ways in which continuous deployment and career development can result in more effective use of people's talents. He describes the world of the higher social insects where evolution has generated a common set of principles governing organizations at their most advanced. He then suggests that these integrated strengths could be combined effectively with the strategic abilities of humans. A model in the form of the helix, is foreseen in which individuals and teams move forward on the basis of excellence rather than function. Here information technology can assist in the evolution of human organizations to enable them to become both more complex and more viable in the future.

Innovations and developments in technology have laid the foundations for an economy based on digital goods and services-the digital economy. This book invites students and practitioners, to take an in-depth look at the impact that technological innovations such as social media, cryptocurrencies, crowdsourcing, and even online gaming is having on today's business landscape. Learn about the various business models available for the digital economy, including the business models used by Bitcoin, Spotify, Wikipedia, World of Warcraft, Facebook, and Airbnb. This book details the evolution of contemporary economics within the digital stratosphere and highlights the complex ecosystem that makes up the field of digital economics. The foundational text with case studies is also peppered with anecdotes on the various technological innovations which have shaped markets throughout history. The authors provide several models and tools that are essential for analysis, as well as activities that will allow the reader to reflect, analyze, and apply the knowledge and tools presented in each chapter. Introduction to Digital Economics is a definitive guide to the complexities and nuances of this burgeoning and fascinating field of study.

Intersectionality and Crisis Management: A Path to Social Equity aims to embed the social equity discourse into crisis management while exploring the potential of a new tool, the Integrative Crisis Management Model. Leaders and managers navigate a complex and networked environment of policy-making and action, frequently occurring in real time, under constant media exposure. The pervasive availability of this news on all platforms and devices produces a lingering anxiety about the inevitability of danger. Consequently, crisis affords a time-sensitive exploration of management practices and sheds a critical spotlight on deficiencies that may yield novel approaches to doing business. As the book engages contributing authors who are foremost in their field, it also includes practitioners, students, and junior scholars in a creative new discourse about equity. Bringing these diverse voices together in one volume presents a unique opportunity to generate new insights. Intersectionality provides a framework for understanding how categorizations of people drive social constructs of discrimination and oppression. Each chapter covers a different subject-exploring intersectionality in healthcare, non-profit management, and human resources-and is accompanied by discussion questions. The book provides something for the classroom, for practitioners, and for scholars who want to include more intersectional thinking into their work.

Recent trends like "lean production" and "McDonaldisation" indicate that Taylorism is a persistent, underlying principle of many organisations. Despite global competition and the need for speed, flexibility and quality, still the principle of Taylorism remains in the contemporary workplace. Moreover, information technology is often being used in way's that reinforce Taylorist patterns. For some this may be a fact of life. Hans D. Pruijt argues that this is not the case. There is a countermovement, particularly in North-West Europe where viable alternatives are being purseued. But, a systematic analysis of the resulting change of anti-Taylorist practice at shop-floor level has been lacking. This text fills this gap by analyzing 150 cases of anti-Taylorist initiatives in Scandinavia, the UK and the Netherlands. An example of anti-Taylorist principles working towards job enrichment can be seen in Germany; it also examines the role of state policy, research and consultancy in an experiment at Bosch where assembly workers learned testing skills.