Beyond Business as Usual : Practical Lessons in Accessing New Dimensions

Rating:
Summary: Quality for the Cosmos?
Review: At the end of last year, having finished another semester of teaching, I dreamt of finding a book that would provide some of the answers to the big questions of management. A week later I found it - Beyond Business as Usual - and immediately recognized the value of its ideas. Michael W. Munn, in this short text, delivers on his promise to provide Practical Lessons in Accessing New Dimensions.

Munn's credentials as a physicist and quality consultant underpin his use of stories and mind exercises in a book that might otherwise be dismissed as yet another idealistic New Ager seeking to influence Global Harmony. The book begins gently enough by musing what lies 'Over the Rainbow' and then uses a Navajo story to engage the unwitting reader in his quality journey that proposes a way forward, and a reason for (more) change.

The book argues the simple and radical proposition that the role of business is to create harmony in the cosmos. This seems a long way from the more commonly accepted wisdom that business is simply about making profit. However his book will resonate with those who recognize the value of creativity and intuition as tools of the future, enabling organizations to deliver the innovations demanded by an increasingly critical consumer.

While the book will be far too radical for many readers, his model of quality is a valuable tool for anyone working to improve quality in their organisation. As a consultant I have watched individuals and their organizations slowly awaken to the value of quality in its various forms. At first they have to be convinced of its relevance to them and once converted they sell the message throughout their organisation. However the commitment of individuals will then peak, at which point they become cynical of others who are more committed to the Quality Movement (through involvement in Quality Awards) judging them to be 'caught up in the self-perpetuating Quality Industry'. When faced with this resistance I recognised the need for a simple model to articulate the stages of development in the Quality Journey.

Munn presents a model that conceptualizes 7 levels of the Quality Movement and provides a tool for identifying the level achieved by individuals and their organizations. He proposes that each level has the aim of creating harmony in the universe, although the focus at each successive stage develops from an inward to an external orientation. The first three levels in his model are familiar to most - Quality Control of existing products and processes, Total Quality Control to improve products and processes, and Relational Quality which aims to achieve harmony amongst all stakeholders. He sees these as developmental steps based in the personal and corporate self-interest of our time, where organizations serve to profit.

The natural progression in the model describes 4 stages that require organizations, and the people within them, to undergo a shift of motivation where purpose beyond self becomes the driving force. This is the point at which I imagine Munn loses many of his readers who are not ready for such a radical message. However those who are spiritually or ecologically minded, or have a slight hangover from the 60's, will recognize the stages of Total Human Quality (Love for Others), Total Bioquality (Love for All Life), Total Planetary Quality (Love of the Planet) and Total Cosmic Quality (Love for the All). In these stages, organizations profit in order to serve.

This is a good book. It will change the way you think about your organisation and leave you with the problem of what to do next. While Munn includes a number of techniques for working with your organization, his advice is that beyond levels 1, 2 and 3, you must listen to, and follow, your intuition. Good Luck.

Rating:
Summary: Quality for the Cosmos?
Review: At the end of last year, having finished another semester of teaching, I dreamt of finding a book that would provide some of the answers to the big questions of management. A week later I found it - Beyond Business as Usual - and immediately recognized the value of its ideas. Michael W. Munn, in this short text, delivers on his promise to provide Practical Lessons in Accessing New Dimensions.

Munn's credentials as a physicist and quality consultant underpin his use of stories and mind exercises in a book that might otherwise be dismissed as yet another idealistic New Ager seeking to influence Global Harmony. The book begins gently enough by musing what lies 'Over the Rainbow' and then uses a Navajo story to engage the unwitting reader in his quality journey that proposes a way forward, and a reason for (more) change.

The book argues the simple and radical proposition that the role of business is to create harmony in the cosmos. This seems a long way from the more commonly accepted wisdom that business is simply about making profit. However his book will resonate with those who recognize the value of creativity and intuition as tools of the future, enabling organizations to deliver the innovations demanded by an increasingly critical consumer.

While the book will be far too radical for many readers, his model of quality is a valuable tool for anyone working to improve quality in their organisation. As a consultant I have watched individuals and their organizations slowly awaken to the value of quality in its various forms. At first they have to be convinced of its relevance to them and once converted they sell the message throughout their organisation. However the commitment of individuals will then peak, at which point they become cynical of others who are more committed to the Quality Movement (through involvement in Quality Awards) judging them to be 'caught up in the self-perpetuating Quality Industry'. When faced with this resistance I recognised the need for a simple model to articulate the stages of development in the Quality Journey.

Munn presents a model that conceptualizes 7 levels of the Quality Movement and provides a tool for identifying the level achieved by individuals and their organizations. He proposes that each level has the aim of creating harmony in the universe, although the focus at each successive stage develops from an inward to an external orientation. The first three levels in his model are familiar to most - Quality Control of existing products and processes, Total Quality Control to improve products and processes, and Relational Quality which aims to achieve harmony amongst all stakeholders. He sees these as developmental steps based in the personal and corporate self-interest of our time, where organizations serve to profit.

The natural progression in the model describes 4 stages that require organizations, and the people within them, to undergo a shift of motivation where purpose beyond self becomes the driving force. This is the point at which I imagine Munn loses many of his readers who are not ready for such a radical message. However those who are spiritually or ecologically minded, or have a slight hangover from the 60's, will recognize the stages of Total Human Quality (Love for Others), Total Bioquality (Love for All Life), Total Planetary Quality (Love of the Planet) and Total Cosmic Quality (Love for the All). In these stages, organizations profit in order to serve.

This is a good book. It will change the way you think about your organisation and leave you with the problem of what to do next. While Munn includes a number of techniques for working with your organization, his advice is that beyond levels 1, 2 and 3, you must listen to, and follow, your intuition. Good Luck.