Description:
"Managers," proclaim Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith in the opening to The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy, "are the dinosaurs of our modern organizational ecology." And after effectively showing how this long-ruling corporate species of "overseers, surrogate parents, scolds, monitors, functionaries, disciplinarians, bureaucrats, and lone implementers" are now as out-of-date as those other behemoths that once ruled the earth, the authors present a practical framework for replacing them with the "visionaries, leaders, coordinators, coaches, mentors, facilitators, and conflict resolvers" they believe are needed for the 21st century. Cloke, a specialist in conflict resolution, and Goldsmith, an organizational consultant and educator, do an excellent job of delineating specific drawbacks to the old system in the first part of their book--and an equally fine job in the second of laying out building blocks for their new approach. Wisely renouncing a one-size-fits-all solution, they delve deeply into the flexible principles behind seven strategies (shape a context of values, ethics and integrity; form living, evolving webs of association; develop ubiquitous, linking leadership; build innovative self-managing teams; implement streamlined, open, collaborative processes; create complex, self-correcting systems; integrate strategically and change the way we change) that should help anyone steer an organization in this contemporary direction. --Howard Rothman
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