Organizational Survival: Profitable Strategies for a Sustainable Future


Book Description

BOOST LOYALTY, PROFITABILITY, AND GROWTH WITH A STRATEGY OF SUSTAINABILITY Organizational Survival provides a rational, research-based approach to creating a durable business strategy designed to meet the needs of today's customers and position an organization to outperform while positively impacting society, the environment, community, and the bottom line. Balestrero and Udo present an airtight argument for sustainability being essential to any business strategy going forward. Illustrating how successful companies around the globe are already deliberately changing--including Coca-Cola, BMW, BASF, and Walmart--the authors take you step-by-step through the processes of developing a new strategy, or altering an existing one, to integrate sustainability into core business goals. Organizational Survival provides the tools needed to apply risk management, scenario planning, and due diligence to sustainability initiatives via their innovative SEEE model framework--developed in conjunction with International Institute for Learning, Inc.--which encompasses the social, economic, environmental, and ethical factors of strategic change. Learn to build adaptive foresight and steer the future of your company based on: SOCIAL COMMITMENT: Integrate individual and community stakeholder interests into your strategy and align them with your company's values ECONOMIC COMMITMENT: Develop a business model that will generate profits through sustainability ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT: Honestly assess the company's impact on the environment and take requisite action ETHICAL COMMITMENT: Build trust among all stakeholders through openness, transparency, and accountability Embrace the changes businesses are facing, and implement a strategy now that will meet market demand and ensure your Organizational Survival. PRAISE FOR ORGANIZATIONAL SURVIVAL: "Fine book! What I find most impressive is the authors' success at achieving balance: Neither simply optimistic nor pessimistic, they offer grounds for hope. The book balances the need for sustainability with opportunities for its achievement. Well researched, their stories and their data come from both the developed and the developing world. The book is both deeply principled and highly pragmatic." -- Jay Ogilvy, Dean and Chief Academic Officer, Presidio School of Management "There's no shortage of corporate sustainability books or leaders. The rarity is corporate sustainability books by leaders: people who truly understand the institutional dynamics that get in the way of change, and that can be harnessed to make change happen. Greg Balestrero and Nathalie Udo plug this gap admirably in Organizational Survival." -- Storm Cunningham, author of The Restoration Economy and reWealth "Organizational Survival is a comprehensive approach to supporting and leading change within an organization. The practical insights, in-depth research, and business cases the authors present provide a valuable perspective on the business need for sustainability, as well as the practical assessment model and framework needed to successfully implement sustainability/Corporate Social Responsibility within an organization." -- Lisa Shambro, Executive Director, Foundation for Strategic Sourcing "Far more than a compelling case for change, Organizational Survival is a step-by-step road map for how to transform your corporate destiny and build a sustainable future for all." -- Simon Mainwaring, author of the New York Times bestseller We First: How Brands and Consumers Use Social Media to Build a Better World




Organizational Survival in the New World


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.




Organizational Survival in the New World


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.




Survival of the Savvy


Book Description

Discusses how to eliminate unethical behavior at the workplace, demonstrating how to master corporate politics ethically through an understanding of political styles and an application of strategies in such areas as networking and idea promotion.




Management Principles for Health Professionals


Book Description

A practical guide for new or future practicing healthcare managers. The customary activities of the manager are succinctly defined, explained, and presented with detailed examples drawn from a variety of healthcare settings. Readers will learn proven management concepts and techniques for managing individuals or teams with ease.




Organizations


Book Description

to do to ensure survival, and (2) principles for designing organizational structures in such a way that they can realize the required functions adequately. In the course of their elaboration, we will show that these principles are general – i.e., that they hold for all organizations. 1.5 Conceptual Background To describe organizations as social systems conducting experiments and to present principles for designing an infrastructure supporting the “social experiment,” we use concepts from (organizational) cybernetics, social systems theory, and Aristotle’s ethics. In this book, we hope to show that concepts from these traditions – as introduced by their relevant representatives – can be integrated into a framework supporting our perspective on organizations. To this purpose, we introduce, in each of the following chapters, relevant concepts from an author “belonging” to one of these three traditions and show how these concepts contribute to describing organizations as social experiments (in Part I of the book), to formulating principles for the design of functions and organization structures supporting meaningful survival (Part II), and to formulating principles for the design of organization structures enabling the rich sense of meaningful survival (Part III). Of course, the relevance of cybernetics, social systems theory and Aristotle’s ethics can only be understood in full, after they have been treated in more detail – but based on what we said above, it may already be possible to see why these theories have been chosen as conceptual background.




Survival of the Smartest


Book Description

Wie setzt man Wissen und Informationen effektiver ein als die Mitbewerber? Eine Frage, die im gegenwärtigen 'Digitalen Zeitalter' ständig an Bedeutung gewinnt. Der Autor führt ein Maß, den Unternehmens-IQ, ein, um zu bewerten, wie eine Firma Informationen managt und Entscheidungen trifft, und leitet Prinzipien ab, deren Befolgung zu außergewöhnlicher Leistungsfähigkeit in der schnellebigen modernen Weltwirtschaft führt. (03/99)




The Organizational Survival Code


Book Description

Many organizations are on the endangered species list in this 21st century. Globalization and economic ups and downs are testing the limits of even the most effective enterprises. More than 50 percent of the Top Global 100 companies fall off the list within 10 years. Only 29 percent of small businesses survive even 10 years. The Organizational Survival Code is comprised of capabilities that have helped organizations extend their corporate lifecycle. The seven capabilities are: 1.Ecological Order: strategize to fulfill the most important needs and expectations of your key stakeholders. 2.Purpose: develop a compelling purpose and strategy so that each member instinctively acts to fulfill it. 3.Steady State: design work processes that consistently deliver high quality outputs. 4.Mobilization: solve problems at their source. 5.Complexity: build more self-sufficient, flexible, multi-skilled people and work units. 6.Synergy: develop true partnerships with all stakeholders so that you always enjoy a competitive advantage. 7.Adaptation: re-strategize and redeploy your resources in the midst of external changes to stay atop the lifecycle. The book reviews principles and processes for each of the seven capabilities and uses a multitude of actual case examples to show how others have used them successfully. The target audience is business unit managers, functional leaders and HR professionals. Through the book's many case examples from companies like Ritz-Carlton, 3M, Procter & Gamble, US Synthetic, General Electric, Stora Enso, Walmart, Apple, Honda, Shell and many others you will see how you could develop the capabilities to survive and even thrive even in the toughest of times. PART I: ORGANIZATIONS ARE AN ENDANGERED SPECIES 1.Survival By Design *Dilemmas emerge from organizational misalignments *The intangibles of market value 2.Organizational Lifecycles *Organizational lifecycles *Lifecycles of civilizations and products 3.The Organizational Survival Code *Natural Laws *The Organizational Survival Code 4.How To Design To Code *The Organizational Systems Model *A roadmap for diagnosis and design PART II: THE ORGANIZATIONAL SURVIVAL CODE 5.Strategizing To Meet Stakeholder Needs *The stakeholder ecosystem *Stakeholder feedback *Strategy check *Benchmarking *The balanced scorecard *Subordinate everything else to strategy 6.Developing A Compelling Purpose *What makes a purpose compelling? *Content, Process, Practice *Heartland Plant case example 7.Designing Work Processes That Deliver Quality *Design processes that deliver quality *Getting rid of bureaucracy *Ritz-Carlton and US Synthetic examples 8.Solving Problems At Their Source *The bureaucratic code *How to solve problems at their source 9.Thriving On Complexity *Complexity in nature *Complexity and organizational survival *Getting information to the point of action *Cross-functional career paths *Expanding the skills of supervisors *Building lateral collaboration 10.Developing Synergistic Partnerships *Principles and Tools of synergy *Being a partner *Committing to each other's success *Aligning daily priorities *Making partnership commitments *Mobilizing to help each other in tough times 11.Adapting Ad Infinitum *Steady States are a two-edged sword for survival *Stora Enso case example *How to jump the curve PART III: BEYOND SURVIVAL 12. Meaningful Contributions Endure *The S-Curve elevates us all *Beyond work to contribution




On Studying Organizational Cultures


Book Description




Employee's Survival Guide to Change


Book Description

Why are employees important? There are few tools on the market designed to help employees impacted by change. Ironically, nearly one-fourth of major change initiatives fail because employees are fearful of and resistant to change. Empowering employees in change The Employees Survival Guide to Change answers questions most employees are unwilling to ask and uncovers what it takes to survive and thrive in todays changing workplace. Employees will learn the ADKAR model and become effective change agents, instead of difficult change barrier.What will the Employees Survival Guide to Change do for you? * Avoid the loss of valued employees and minimize business disruption from the change * Answer the questions employees are afraid to ask * Describe the phases of the change and what employees can expect * Garner support from employees who would otherwise resist the change * Create an attitude of Can-do rather than Not my job