Organizations for People


Book Description

For many years, there has been quite a bit of talk about employee engagement as a means to lift corporate profits and reduce absenteeism and turnover. However, this talk has not produced better companies. In fact, the evidence shows that incivility and instances of employee abuse are getting worse. Additionally, with profit as the primary goal of organizations, most employees view any benign treatment they receive as a secondary convenience that will dissipate once corporate fortunes decline. This book turns that equation around by examining the practices of twenty-one companies that put the interests and needs of employees first. Profits are necessary but insufficient for corporate health. The companies featured in this book see it as their mission to offer people a better, more fulfilling life for themselves, and assist with that holistic journey by providing the organizational elements people need to reach their potential. They do this first by creating respectful and kind cultures that treat every person as an equal, sentient partner in the success of the company. Second, they diligently work to satisfy people's basic needs: financial security, belonging, meaning, autonomy, self-acceptance, self-confidence, and growth. The result is a web of fellow-feeling: earnest affection among people who feverishly work to live up to both the high standards of the institution and their obligations to one another. By providing a place where people can do their best work and thrive as individuals and as members of a cohesive community, everyone profits.




Reinventing Organizations


Book Description

"The way we manage organizations seems increasingly out of date. Deep inside, we sense that more is possible. We long for soulful workplaces, for authenticity, community, passion, and purpose. In this groundbreaking book, the author shows that every time, in the past, when humanity has shifted to a new stage of consciousness, it has achieved extraordinary breakthroughs in collaboration. A new shift in consciousness is currently underway. Could it help us invent a more soulful and purposeful way to run our businesses and nonprofits, schools and hospitals? A few pioneers have already cracked the code and they show us, in practical detail, how it can be done. Leaders, founders, coaches, and consultants will find this work a joyful handbook, full of insights, examples, and inspiring stories."--Page [4] of cover.




Utilities Code


Book Description




Treat People Right!


Book Description

One of the nation's leading management experts shows what it really takes to make a great organization-put people first How do organizations move beyond merely acknowledging that "human capital" is their greatest asset, and actually implement practices that create true benefits for both employees and the organizations? In this book, Edward Lawler shows how companies can "treat people right" by doing more than simply ensuring good working conditions and good pay. He shows how to build a special relationship between individuals and the organizations they work for-a relationship in which good performance at all levels of the organization pays off for both the company and the individual. The author details specific practices designed to keep employees satisfied but still motivated to continue improving their performance. These techniques include: developing a "brand" as an employer that attracts high achievers, selecting and developing the high achievers, crafting a leadership style that integrates and promotes these actions, and more. Lawler draws on examples from a wide range of companies such as Microsoft, Motorola, IBM, Ford, and others to show how these practices are already at work and successful in some of the world's most enduring organizations. Full of examples and a voice of true conviction, Treat People Right! is a must-have resource for anyone concerned about building and sustaining competitive advantage for the long term. Edward E. Lawler (Beverly Hills, CA) was named one of the country's leading management experts by BusinessWeek magazine. He is the author of over thirty books, and his articles have appeared in Fortune, the Harvard Business Review, and other national publications. He is Director of the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California (USC) and Professor of Management and Organization in the USC Marshall School of Business.




The Life You Can Save


Book Description

Argues that for the first time in history we're in a position to end extreme poverty throughout the world, both because of our unprecedented wealth and advances in technology, therefore we can no longer consider ourselves good people unless we give more to the poor. Reprint.




Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations


Book Description

A must-read for students in public administration and nonprofit management programs! Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations, Fourth Edition, is designed to help students understand, manage, and influence the behavior of others in the workplace. Esteemed authors Robert B. Denhardt, Janet V. Denhardt, and Maria P. Aristigueta take an action-oriented approach by using real-world circumstances within public and nonprofit organizations to illustrate key concepts. Important topics such as stress, decision making, motivation, leadership, communication, teams, and change give students a foundational understanding of the basic issues that affect human behavior. In addition to new cases and examples from the public and nonprofit sectors, the Fourth Edition features new material on leadership and organizational change, cultural diversity and generational diversity, and positive organizational behavior.




Humanocracy


Book Description

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller In a world of unrelenting change and unprecedented challenges, we need organizations that are resilient and daring. Unfortunately, most organizations, overburdened by bureaucracy, are sluggish and timid. In the age of upheaval, top-down power structures and rule-choked management systems are a liability. They crush creativity and stifle initiative. As leaders, employees, investors, and citizens, we deserve better. We need organizations that are bold, entrepreneurial, and as nimble as change itself. Hence this book. In Humanocracy, Gary Hamel and Michele Zanini make a passionate, data-driven argument for excising bureaucracy and replacing it with something better. Drawing on more than a decade of research and packed with practical examples, Humanocracy lays out a detailed blueprint for creating organizations that are as inspired and ingenious as the human beings inside them. Critical building blocks include: Motivation: Rallying colleagues to the challenge of busting bureaucracy Models: Leveraging the experience of organizations that have profitably challenged the bureaucratic status quo Mindsets: Escaping the industrial age thinking that frustrates progress Mobilization: Activating a pro-change coalition to hack outmoded management systems and processes Migration: Embedding the principles of humanocracy—ownership, markets, meritocracy, community, openness, experimentation, and paradox—in your organization's DNA If you've finally run out of patience with bureaucratic bullshit . . . If you want to build an organization that can outrun change . . . If you're committed to giving every team member the chance to learn, grow, and contribute . . . . . . then this book's for you. Whatever your role or title, Humanocracy will show you how to launch an unstoppable movement to equip and empower everyone in your organization to be their best and to do their best. The ultimate prize: an organization that's fit for the future and fit for human beings.




HBR's 10 Must Reads on Nonprofits and the Social Sectors (featuring "What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits" by Peter F. Drucker)


Book Description

Nonprofits and the social sectors are taking on an increasing share of the world's most vital work. Make sure your organization is ready for the challenge. If you read nothing else on nonprofits and the social sectors, read these 10 articles. We've combed through hundreds of Harvard Business Review articles and selected the most important ones to help you align your organization's mission and strategy, deliver immediate impact, and create lasting change. This book will inspire you to: Choose the right problem to solve Understand when the best practices of for-profits don't apply Assemble an engaged and goal-driven board of directors Make the most of for-profit initiatives and corporate partnerships Drive demand, scale up, and be ready to change course Learn from the success stories of the world's most respected nonprofit leaders This collection of articles includes "Lofty Missions, Down-to-Earth Plans," by V. Kasturi Rangan; "What Business Can Learn from Nonprofits," by Peter F. Drucker; "Life's Work: An Interview with Desmond Tutu"; "Are You Solving the Right Problem?" by Dwayne Spradlin; "Life's Work: An Interview with George Mitchell"; "Enterprising Nonprofits," by J. Gregory Dees; "Life's Work: An Interview with Wynton Marsalis"; "State Street's CEO on Creating Employment for At-Risk Youths," by Joseph Hooley; "Life's Work: An Interview with Salman Khan"; "Do Better at Doing Good," by V. Kasturi Rangan, Sohel Karim, and Sheryl K. Sandberg; "AEI's President on Measuring the Impact of Ideas," by Arthur C. Brooks; "Life's Work: An Interview with Michelle Bachelet"; "The New Work of the Nonprofit Board," by Barbara E. Taylor, Richard P. Chait, and Thomas P. Holland; "Life's Work: An Interview with Bill T. Jones"; "Reaching the World's Poorest Consumers," by Muhammad Yunus, Frederic Dalsace, David Menasce, and Benedicte Faivre-Tavignot; "Life's Work: An Interview with Muhammad Yunus"; and "Audacious Philanthropy: Lessons from 15 World-Changing Initiatives," by Susan Wolf Ditkoff and Abe Grindle.




The Open Organization


Book Description

Based on open source principles of transparency, participation, and collaboration, "open management" challenges conventional business ideas about what companies are, how they run, and how they make money. This book provides the blueprint for putting it into practice in your own firm. He covers challenges that have been missing from the conversation to date, among them: how to scale engagement; how to have healthy debates that net progress; and how to attract and keep the "Social Generation" of workers. Through a mix of vibrant stories, candid lessons, and tested processes, Whitehurst shows how Red Hat has blown the traditional operating model to pieces by emerging out of a pure bottom up culture and learning how to execute it at scale. And he explains what other companies are, and need to be doing to bring this open style into all facets of the organization.




Braided Organizations


Book Description

New digital technologies are changing the way organizations are designed and work is done. Companies that have seized this opportunity are finding that they can speed up innovation, enhance collaboration across boundaries, and enable greater commitment and creativity. This totally new approach for digitally-enabled collaboration doesn’t stop at the edge of an organization’s boundary but extends beyond it in space and time. We refer to these new ways of organizing as “braids” - an intertwined network of contributors with different capabilities, not controlled or managed by a formal hierarchy, who work together to invent ways to accomplish a common purpose in line with organization’s mission and strategy. Braids allow significant advantages over traditional, hierarchical, mechanistic and bounded ways of organizing. These include access to knowledge and capabilities that are key to achieving breakthrough levels of performance; improved coordination among individuals and groups performing interdependent tasks; increased organizational agility; enhanced knowledge-processing as experts contribute more directly to the most important technical and strategic decisions; and greater motivation, as people team together to leverage their capabilities to innovate and accelerate performance. Learning from the trailblazing experimentation of companies like Airbus, Procter & Gamble, Red Hat, and Dassault Systèmes, this book outlines how to approach designing braided organizations for a variety of purposes, such as enhancing open innovation or enabling greater supply chain adaptability in order to respond to changing customer demands. In the past, human limitations have restricted the ways we organize companies for growth. Today, there’s no excuse for allowing the organizational chart as it’s currently drawn to constrain possibilities for improved performance and innovation.