Beyond Certainty: The Changing Worlds of Organizations

Rating:
Summary: Good lord, what a muddled thinker
Review: I keep going back to re-read sections of this book after having purchased it 2 years ago ... even the sections I once disagreed with are coming true in my own life with prophetic clarity. I wish Mr. Handy would rewrite this book once a year so I could keep up with his new insights. For me this book was better than the Age of Unreason. Throw away every other management fab gibberish book ... this one's the real thing. I've leant it to freinds who also agree this is an exceptionally unusual book.

Rating:
Summary: A One of A Kind Treasure Chest of the Future!
Review: I keep going back to re-read sections of this book after having purchased it 2 years ago ...even the sections I once disagreed with arecoming true in my own life with propheticclarity.I wish Mr. Handy would rewrite this book oncea year so I could keep up with his new insights.For me this book was better than the Age of Unreason. Throw away every other management fab gibberish book ... this one's the real thing.I've leant it to freinds who also agree this isan exceptionally unusual book.

Rating:
Summary: Good lord, what a muddled thinker
Review: I'm sorry, I tried to read the whole book, but I just couldn't get through more than half of it. I read a lot of books, maybe 2-3 per week and in my whole life there are less than 10 books I was unable to finish.

Why did I find this book so hard to read? It wasn't because it was dense. It wasn't because it was radical. It wasn't even because it was boring. It was because it said nothing. It is full of platitudes, like "there are always unintended consequences to rational policies." Well, my gosh, how earthshattering. And the author has an annoying habit of using news factoids (in its original definition--i.e., untrue statements that people think are true because they appeared in a newspaper once) as evidence for his meandering pseudophilosophical discourse. Net: there is nothing in this book you didn't already know.

I don't know if I'm being overly harsh, because a lot of people read him and like him. I have tried really hard to figure it out, and I can't. This book reminds me somewhat of "Lives of a Cell" which is another book I couldn't figure out. All I could think while reading either of these books is "is it just me or isn't everything the author is saying blindingly obvious, except he's just saying things in a very muddled way?"

Rating:
Summary: Envisioning Leadership Quality for A Changing World
Review: The certainty of the 1980's was gone and confusion reigned, in business, in government, and in all parts of the world. Even science started to examine Chaos, Creativity, and Complexity. Organizations must outgrow the ideas with which they grew up with. Everything would not be a given and the world became a void to be filled.

Drawing the parallel between today's world with the Renaissance, Handy warned of the paradoxical nature of organizations. Freedom of choice for all demands civic responsibilities. Global competition consolidated management structures. Efficient organizations implied the diminishing of jobs. Higher demands imposed on the remaining staff left no time for families or friends. Women were edged out of the business because of their diverse obligations.

He compared the use of the media and information technologies with the printing press in the Renaissance. The media created opportunities for many and yet became a great threat for all. He reminded organization leaders to restore the "cultivation" mandate of Adam Smith as a balance to wealth-making. He called for community building rather than property generation as corporate goals.

The future workers, whom he coined "portfolio people," would not work for jobs. In contrast, they would develop sets of skill and service and find customers for them. Self-learning and self-management abilities would be the asset to survive the new business world.

Handy's book is timely and insightful on the ever changing world that affects business organizations. Beyond Certainty contains many seed ideas of his earlier books The Age of Unreason, The Age of Paradox and Understanding Organizations. Charles Handy's thoughts represent the finest of business writings by the Western world.