Customer Reviews

The Abilene Paradox and Other Meditations on Management

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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Brilliant, wise, humane and funny, Harvey's classic book on organizational behavior is entertaining and thought provoking. Many of his explanations about corporate behavior struck a chord with me--I read this one with a pen in hand, jotting down notes about specific experiences that I have had in phrog farms. If you are unhappy at work, maybe it is not your fault--maybe you are stuck in a degrading and unhealthy work environment.

Harvey expects a great deal from leaders in business, politics, and even education, and is not reticent to criticize them for abusing their position of authority. He characterizes contemporary corporate culture as being a virtual conspiracy, assisted by a higher-education system that teaches students not to cooperate, but to actively resist working together. A radical idea that deserves some consideration.

This is almost--but not quite--a spiritual book, and the author even claims the attributes of a preacher. It is a secular take on the theme Edward Welch discusses in "When People are Big and God is Small." The fear of other people has tremendous negative consequences--both personally and organizationally. Like Welch, Harvey's highlights the benefit of overcoming that fear and provides practical advice on how to do it.

Anyone manager with a conscience should read Harvey, just to ensure that they are not perpetuating an unethical system.

In this age of silicon and snake oil, Dr Harvey's insights are right on the mark. Committees and boards frantically and often irrationally fund high-risk technology projects that, in years past, would be considered suspect if not insane. Amazingly, organizations can't wait to get on that road. Perhaps the Information Highway has an offramp to Abilene!

A friend of mine recommended that I read this book to better learn about organizational behavior. This was not only a quick, funny read, it was filled with some real "takeaways." I've since shared this book with others in our organization, and we have added phrases like "we're having an Abilene moment" and "ribbet!" to our vocabularies!!

These "Meditations" provide great thinking into how to be a more effective manager. As "Meditiations", this is not a how to cookbook on management, or checklist. There are no promises of improved customer service, or increased efficiency. Rather, by reading them, your thinking about management will improve.

Two examples on the meditations:

1 - The Abilene Paradox essay talks about a family vacation to Abilene. Nobody really wants to go there, but everyone thinks everyone else wants to go there, but is affraid to speak up. The lesson is self evident, but the story conveys it in a manner much more memorable than a directive to "Create an organization with open communication"

2 - The writings of Elliott Jaques. Harvey introduces the concept of the "Requisite Organization", an idea developed by Jaques. This highlights the imnportance of understanding complexity (as defined by the time horizon of projects one is capable of thinking of) and designing an organization where that is the key component to success. That's a deep thought in today's quarter-driven business.

Reading and pondering these meditations will make one a better manager and leader. But it isn't spoon feeding, it takes some thought as well.

MBAs are taught to view business as a world of profit/loss, accounting, and cost control. Occasionally one might hear about humanity in a course, but it's always a secondary consideration. Dr. Harvey makes the case that business is about heart and soul human beings, and discusses ethics and decisions based on that view. Other insights are included as well.

With humor and "paradox" Professor Jerry Harvey does a great job in stimulating personal reflections about management. Among the several tales, see Management and the myth of Abraham ("every time a boss makes a stupid mistake, he sends his administrative assistant to try to rectify it"), my favorite Captain Ashok and the Concept of Grace ("Asoh told the truth, and we are starved for it") and Group Tyranny and the Gunsmoke Phenomenon (our behaviour is related to our fear of separation but we have a choice "when confronted with the possibility of group tyranny"). Enjoy your reading and start thinking.

Business jargon now adopts the euphemism 'abilene paradox' to describe the likeliness of everyone following a familiar and likely path, or 'going with the flow' to appease each other, even though EVRYTHING ELSE is pointing against it. Written for the common folk, author Jerry B. Harvey uses everyday language and everyday experience to test and prove his hypotheses. He even writes his own 'Gunsmoke' episode and uses the standard 'western-style' scene as a backdrop for a sociological study into existentialism and risk. Harvey writes with wit and insight. This volume will become invaluable for both management and employee alike in understanding themselves and each other.

The first time I heard about the Abilene Paradox was back in the early 1980's when Jerry Harvey made a video for use by the government in training management.

I had run into a recent management situation in which our Director wanted only agreement with her. I immediately began to search a reference on "Abilene" and management.

So, immediately, you can see how much this little video lecture influenced me. Over twenty years later, I still remembered the reference that was needed now in 2003, and it was called the road to "ABILENE" or something similar.

A quick search on my favorite reference site "Amazon.com" and voila: I found a book called the "Abilene Paradox".

Jerry writes likes he speaks but *OH* he speaks in such an amazingly entertaining way.

Jerry gives a lot of examples of things that can happen in the workplace that will bring you down a path to disaster. He is amazingly accurate in pointing out the potholes to avoid.

Although, he is a bit shy on things you should do, I highly recommend this book. If all you get out this is that "Yes" men or "Yes" folks are not conducive to good business, then you have learned one gem of management that you will value forever.

Before Dilbert broke ground focusing attention on the (mis)adventures of people in corporate management and the workplace, Jerry Harvey had used his own brand of southern humor to point out the absolute absurdity of life in the boardroom, the bedroom, and a few places in beteen. The Abilene Paradox is a relatively short and often humerous book, but it is not always easy to read. The book is filled with powerful lessons; many told from the author's unique and highly personal perspective. Jerry Harvey's dry wit bites harder than Dogbert ever could. If you have the courage to draw a line in the sand and stop the proverbial bus from taking a trip no one wants to take, then read the book. If you don't, then read the comics.

This book is chock full of useful advice on organizational behavior at both the personal and business levels. The clear, fun style of addressing business/management ethics was a useful and enjoyable read in our courses. As far as recommending other similar 5-star reading materials, there is only one other book,which I enjoyed so much. In fact, I would say it is a must-read for anyone interested in organizational behavior. The recently published book is entitled, "MANAGEMENT BY VICE" (by C.B. Don). It is a hilarious satire, but each wit-filled episode addresses a multitude of "vices" at the core of counterproductive corporate cultures and established high-tech organizations. It was fun to see how many we could find as part of our MBA course! Just like Dr. Harvey, the author of "Management by Vice" is a Ph.D. specialist with lots of experience, but the candid insights come from interactions between technical ranks with their management staff within the closed high-tech R&D world. To get the most complete understanding of organizational behavior at all levels we read both the "Abilene Paradox" followed up with "Management by Vice"! Great MBA lessons all around!