Customer Reviews

The Character of Organizations: Using Personality Type in Organization Development

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Criticisms that this book merely recycles standard Myers-Briggs ideas are misplaced. Most people familiar with ideas of psychological type might agree there was *some* case for an analogous approach to organisational character, perhaps at the level of the four categories of temperament. However, William Bridges succeeds in showing how applying the sixteen types of Myers-Briggs type theory can highlight essential and distinctive organisational characteristics. Most of his examples, although dated, seem compelling. There are a few issues: I suspect that most people would consider Hewlett-Packard to be SF, rather than ST, as Dr. Bridges has it (p. 25). And even for a book first published in 1990, the omission of Microsoft is a little surprising (INTJ?).

The other dimension of organisational analysis covered in this book is that of organisational development and lifecycle. Again, Dr. Bridges leverages type theory to develop some interesting ideas as to the different type-characteristics exhibited from organisation conception ("the Dream"), through maturity ("Becoming an Institution"), to organisational death. Given the extent of merger and acquisition activity in recent years, I was surprised to see how little attention Dr. Bridges gave to managing the cultural and developmental issues which surface when different company characteristics collide in M&A, (about half a page).

Finally, there is a deeper theoretical issue as to why Jungian/Myers-Briggs type theory - developed from Jung's theories of the human psyche, should be expected to apply to organisations at all. Do organisations assemble themselves around the type of their founders, does the type emerge as a side-effect of the types of employees who are best at tackling the company's problems, or is there a supra-human theory of "organisational psychology" trying to get out here? The book alludes to the existence of these kinds of problems, but does not really add much to our understanding.

All in all, this book will add value to anyone who already has a feel for the Myers-Briggs approach to personality types, and who is interested in effectively dealing with organisations.

If a deeper understanding of a company or organization is important to you, this book could help! Conceptual in nature, Bridges' book outlines a framework for understanding different types of organization personalities, or character. He provides a quick assessment instrument, succinct descriptions of the 16 types in his framework, and poignant organizational examples for each. He relates this framework to stages of organizational life cycle, the three phases of organizational transition (about which he has written prolifically), and individual type and leadership. This book does not provide "how to" or checklists for action, but it leads me to important questions and possible implications about: what character the organization is and why, the transition process required to help the organization develop different character, movement from one stage of the life cycle to another, the role of leadership in doing so, and how one's individual personality relates to the character of the organization. With each reading I uncover something more or different in this gem of a book. Although the framework and assessment instrument have not been subjected to statistical analysis, The Character of Organizations is an enormously thought provoking and helpful resource.

I am thrilled this book has been published again, with the new forward as well as new insights from Bridges, without a word from the original work being changed. It was a classic as soon as it first came out, and it remains one still.

Over the past several years, there has been an insurgence of writing on the topic of organizational character and/or culture. While some of them have had a few interesting things to say, none have even come close to the clarity, familiarity and usefulness of The Character of Organizations. When this book first came out in 1992, I, a long time Myers Briggs junkie, became a man possessed. I tried to understand all of my organizational clients using this methodology and found it exceptionally useful in helping me to change my approach in the various different systems I was working at the time.

During the past 8 years, I have come to understand this simple, familiar approach to be the most helpful methodology in making sense of the complexity of organizational systems. Whenever I introduce it with either managers/leaders, or consultants working with organizations, the reactions are always the same. The "no wonder...", "a-ha's", or "so that's why..." indicate a breakthrough to another level of insight and understanding.

If managers and leaders read this book and made use of these concepts, they would find their ability to work more effectively with their departments, divisions, teams etc. increase dramatically and their frustrations dramatically reduce. If consultants, either internal or external, read this book and used the concepts as they both planned and implemented their interventions, the success of their interventions would significantly increase. The specific chapter on Character and Organization Development should be 'must reading' for all consultants working with organizations today.

Organizations have their own personalities, as William Bridges demonstrates by applying the most popular personality test ever devised for humans to groups of people working together. Bridges developed the “Organizational Character Index” (OCI) from the ubiquitous Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator. While OCI thus far lacks the rigorous testing of hundreds of certified Myers-Briggs trainers, intuitively the model makes sense. Bridges provides a useful way of thinking about organizational styles and tries to understand the nature of departments within organizations. Abundant examples, lists and charts help illustrate the principles. We...recommend this book to managers and human resource professionals seeking insight into the nuances of organizational development, provided that they are willing to spoon through a certain amount of alphabet soup. (Note: Though this book has a 2000 copyright date, with the exception of a new forward by Sandra Krebs Hirsh, it is a republication of a work written in about 1990.)

If you use the MBTI, then you'll want to have "The Character of Organizations" in your tool kit. I use it all the time to help teams and organizations understand their character and then use that knowledge to make plans for heightened effectiveness. The 16 organizational stories for each of the 16 types concretely illustrate the differences. Buy it; you'll soon have its pages crinkled with wear. Sandra Krebs Hirsh, Author of "SoulTypes", "LifeTypes", "LifeKeys", "Work It Out" and other books on psychological type.

I sent this book back - Its basically the myers-briggs at the organization level. It goes through characteristics of the ENTJ organization for example. My problem with it was that the people make the organization and the culture and unless all the same types of people are being hired or cloned and all the people in the org are primarily the particular type then the concepts fall apart. The other thing that bugged me was that the leadership generally sets the tone for the organization so if the leader is a certain personality type then that will probably prevade the organization so there's no need to look at the organization's type but instead to look at leadership and see what type of culture/values they portend andthen work at that level to make change. Anyway, I didn't find this book useful at all - just another spin on myers briggs

William Bridges' "Character of Organizations" provides a valuable understanding of the journey of an organization through its' "life cycles" as well as how to understand some of the confusing and counter productive actions of its' members as it progresses on that journey. Dr. Bridges has skillfully utilized the richness of Type, combined with his own knowledge and experience working with organizations, to develop a framework for understanding their strengths and limitations. His work then demonstrates for the reader how to build on this framework to help the organization improve critical aspects of its' operations such as strategic planning, problem-solving processes, communication systems and decision-making approaches, "The Character of Organizations" is a must for organizational leaders at every level.

The Character Of Organizations identifies sixteen types of organizational character using the framework of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument and clarifies what people actually experience on the job. Utilizing "real world" corporate examples, William Bridges shows that an organization's character shapes how decisions are made and new ideas are received, how employees are treated and how change is accepted or rejected, and how such things affect company performance. Written in a lively, contemporary, and completely accessible style, and in a new edition enhanced with a foreword by Sandra Krebs Hirsh and a new preface by the author, The Character Of Organizations is highly recommended reading for anyone seeking to transform their own business to take advantage of their strengths and become aware of their weaknesses with which ever corporate character style they are employing.

I was required to read this book for a grad class-the beginning was interesting. It was very deep and hard to understand. I can understand how people in management could use this information but it is very deep and involved.