A historical and theoretical analysis of corporate architecture in the United States after the Second World War. The Organizational Complex is a historical and theoretical analysis of corporate architecture in the United States after the Second World War. Its title refers to the aesthetic and technological extension of the military-industrial complex, in which architecture, computers, and corporations formed a network of objects, images, and discourses that realigned social relations and transformed the postwar landscape. In-depth case studies of architect Eero Saarinen's work for General Motors, IBM, and Bell Laboratories and analyses of office buildings designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill trace the emergence of a systems-based model of organization in architecture, in which the modular curtain wall acts as both an organizational device and a carrier of the corporate image. Such an image—of the corporation as a flexible, integrated system—is seen to correspond with a "humanization" of corporate life, as corporations decentralize both spatially and administratively. Parallel analyses follow the assimilation of cybernetics into aesthetics in the writings of artist and visual theorist Gyorgy Kepes, as art merges with techno-science in the service of a dynamic new "pattern-seeing." Image and system thus converge in the organizational complex, while top-down power dissolves into networked, pattern-based control. Architecture, as one among many media technologies, supplies the patterns—images of organic integration designed to regulate new and unstable human-machine assemblages.
USA. Monograph investigating methodologys for managing complex changes within organization development - deals with transition management, and examines management techniques for choosing an intervention strategy and for carrying out an evaluation plan.
"In this book Haridimos Tsoukas examines the nature of knowledge in organizations, and how individuals and scholars approach the concept of knowledge"--Provided by publisher.
Over the past 40 years, there has been a growing trend toward the utilization of teams for accomplishing work in organizations. Project teams, self-managed work teams and top management teams, among others have become a regular element in the corporation or military. This volume is intended to provide an overview of the current state of the art research on team effectiveness.
Chris Demchak explores the reasons why military machines surprise their users and how they can change both the complexity and effectiveness of tactical organizations. She uses the Army's experiences with its M1 Abrams tank, as well as other examples, to explain the interaction of complex technology and militaries that seek to control uncertainty. Under some conditions, Demchak demonstrates, complexity in critical machines induces increased complexity in the organizations that use them, and can produce an army different from the one that was intended. Drawing on organization theory and her data, she argues that understanding this interaction will heavily influence whether armed forces reductions, savings, and modernization produce rapid, successful military organizations or lethally unpredictable ones.
This is the first book to fully adapt the principles of agility for government leaders who want to make their organizations more effective and nimble while better serving their public mission. This practical resource will equip government leaders at all levels with evidence-based, hands-on guidance for transforming their organizations, enabling them to better serve the public and their customers. While many books focus on organizational agility for leaders of for-profit companies, this is the first one tailored to the unique requirements government leaders face. They must find a way to accomplish their mission while navigating constant change. Government leaders at all levels must maneuver their organizations through new, often complex challenges, ranging from new laws that impact their agencies, new technologies, changes in leadership, and unexpected events. By explaining how to manage and organize work differently, this guide will help leaders weather the storm of that constant change so they can help their agencies realize their missions and serve the public interest.
Since its first publication over twenty years ago, Images of Organization has become a classic in the canon of management literature. The book is based on a very simple premise—that all theories of organization and management are based on implicit images or metaphors that stretch our imagination in a way that can create powerful insights, but at the risk of distortion. Gareth Morgan provides a rich and comprehensive resource for exploring the complexity of modern organizations internationally, translating leading-edge theory into leading-edge practice.
A comprehensive guide to the theory, methodology, and development for modeling systems of systems Modeling and Managing Interdependent Complex Systems of Systems examines the complexity of, and the risk to, emergent interconnected and interdependent complex systems of systems in the natural and the constructed environment, and in its critical infrastructures. For systems modelers, this book focuses on what constitutes complexity and how to understand, model and manage it.Previous modeling methods for complex systems of systems were aimed at developing theory and methodologies for uncoupling the interdependencies and interconnections that characterize them. In this book, the author extends the above by utilizing public- and private- sector case studies; identifies, explores, and exploits the core of interdependencies; and seeks to understand their essence via the states of the system, and their dominant contributions to the complexity of systems of systems. The book proposes a reevaluation of fundamental and practical systems engineering and risk analysis concepts on complex systems of systems developed over the past 40 years. This important resource: Updates and streamlines systems engineering theory, methodology, and practice as applied to complex systems of systems Introduces modeling methodology inspired by philosophical and conceptual thinking from the arts and sciences Models the complexity of emergent interdependent and interconnected complex systems of systems by analyzing their shared states, decisions, resources, and decisionmakers Written for systems engineers, industrial engineers, managers, planners, academics and other professionals in engineering systems and the environment,this text is the resource for understanding the fundamental principles of modeling and managing complex systems of systems, and the risk thereto.
In the last few decades, leaders have been witnessing increasing complexity and an exponential rate of change from the outside and they have experienced a number of internal challenges hindering the performance of their organizations: among these, we find a silo mentality, rigidity, stultifying bureaucracy, an excess of systems and processes, and an outdated command & control management style. These challenges are common to all corporations, across geography, industries and size. We have considered how corporations have tried to solve their organizational issues. In the last 30 years we have seen a number of fancy corporate initiatives, including Total Quality programs, moving on to a matrix structure, Six Sigma interventions, Lean initiatives, leadership development programs, moving on to flatter organizations and more recently Smart Working. The results of these initiatives generally fall far short of reaching their full potential and after a few years the company is ready to move on to its next transformation effort. The reason is that all these initiatives are implemented within the same mindset that created the problems in the first place. Furthermore, these approaches are driven by a mechanistic approach to problem-solving: they focus on the single broken or malfunctioning part of the organization, without considering the interrelation and dynamics among the various parts and without addressing the underlying cause of the problem. Hierarchical structures and systems generate and reinforce those same behaviors that the organization would like to dismantle. Even in flat pyramids, the mere presence of subordination (a few leaders who can make decisions which the rest of the employees are expected to execute) and the presence of strict control mechanisms create typical dysfunctional dynamics and behaviors that operate on a system level, and are generally unacknowledged. The idea that the structure and the systems of an organization shape people's behavior is not new. Chris Argyris, Professor Emeritus at Harvard Business School, was among the first to argue that a rigid hierarchical structure paves the way for a shift in behavior from active toward passive, from self-management toward dependency, from equal to subordinate. Other researchers suggest that hierarchy causes conservatism, conformity, domination of individuals, low output, low morale and decreased innovation. Companies cannot expect to overcome their challenges without questioning the whole idea of subordination. Our research shows that a good portion of both top executives and employees desire a radical change in the way the organizations work: they imagine a purpose-driven business, in which self-organizing teams, decentralized decision-making based on values and principles, and transparency are the main keys to becoming a successful organization. We propose a radical shift to a hierarchy-free organization. AEquacy is a human-centered organizational design and operating system that changes the paradigm of the traditional, hierarchical organization, overcoming its limits and paving the way to greater innovation, collaboration and performance. AEquacy can be envisioned as a radial, equalitarian structure of self-organizing, peer-coordinated teams. Different pre-defined types of teams and specific roles within each team keep the system in balance while unleashing the true potential of teams and individuals. In an aequal organization people can perform at their best because they have total control over their work, clarity about the organizational direction and access to all information to make the best decisions. The book presents: - AEquacy, a hierarchy-free, peer-coordinated, radial structure of self-organizing teams; - The AEquacy framework of operating principles; - The AEquacy implementation model.
A trillion-dollar industry, the US non-profit sector is one of the world's largest economies. From art museums and university hospitals to think tanks and church charities, over 1.5 million organizations of staggering diversity share the tax-exempt 501(c)(3) designation, if little else. Many social justice organizations have joined this world, often blunting political goals to satisfy government and foundation mandates. But even as funding shrinks, many activists often find it difficult to imagine movement-building outside the non-profit model. The Revolution Will Not Be Funded gathers essays by radical activists, educators, and non-profit staff from around the globe who critically rethink the long-term consequences of what they call the "non-profit industrial complex." Drawing on their own experiences, the contributors track the history of non-profits and provide strategies to transform and work outside them. Urgent and visionary, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded presents a biting critique of the quietly devastating role the non-profit industrial complex plays in managing dissent. Contributors. Christine E. Ahn, Robert L. Allen, Alisa Bierria, Nicole Burrowes, Communities Against Rape and Abuse (CARA), William Cordery, Morgan Cousins, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Stephanie Guilloud, Adjoa Florência Jones de Almeida, Tiffany Lethabo King, Paul Kivel, Soniya Munshi, Ewuare Osayande, Amara H. Pérez, Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty and Genocide, Dylan Rodríguez, Paula X. Rojas, Ana Clarissa Rojas Durazo, Sisters in Action for Power, Andrea Smith, Eric Tang, Madonna Thunder Hawk, Ije Ude, Craig Willse
