The Intelligent Organization [Paperback]

Gifford Pinchot (Author), Elizabeth Pinchot (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1996

This text outlines how organizations can dismantle bureaucracy and replace it with more productive, fair, and dmocratic systems of organizing and coordinating work. The authors maintain that bureaucracy wastes the collective intelligence of employees and slows down their ability to make decisions and take action. "A stimulating adventure into the new management logic that can keep companies competitive into the next century".--Industry Week. 19 charts.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Pinchots ( Intrapreneuring ) here tackle the numbing influence of bureaucracies, which, they write, are "no more appropriate to sophisticated work today than serfdom was to the factory work of the early Industrial Revolution." They foresee a conversion to post-bureaucratic organizations in which teams form the basic unit of empowerment, freeing employees to concentrate on total quality, high performance tasks, reengineering and intrapreneuring. The authors bolster their arguments with case studies (Dana, ConAgra, the Canadian National Railroad) and perceptive positions on benchmarking, customer service and workplace responsibility. Their material on the factors that make teams effective illuminates ideas expounded by total quality management theoreticians. Stressing that intrapreneurial experimentation is needed so "the people upstairs notice what is working," the authors present a managerial construct worth considering.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Applying the principles of free markets and free enterprise to the structure of corporate organizations, the authors of Intrapreneuring ( LJ 3/1/85) outline an alternative to the cumbersome, pyramid-style, bottle-necking bureaucracy still entrenched in the corporate world today. They expand on their concept of "intrapreneurship" here by centering their plan on lateral associations, freedom to form teams within the corporate structure, the free flow of information, and the liberating sensation that ensues when all workers are allowed to formulate, implement, and claim ownership of corporate ideas. The effective organization utilizes the intelligence of all individuals within the corporation, relinquishing responsibility to the front-line workers who may better understand the problems of their own areas and find cost-efficient solutions. Highly recommended.
- Randy Abbott, Univ. of Evansville Libs., Ind.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1 edition (January 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881052982
• ISBN-13: 978-1881052982
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,228,776 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Insightful!, April 11, 2001

By 

Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: End of Bureaucracy and the Rise of the Intelligent Organization (Hardcover)

How can citizens of a society that exalts freedom consent to spend the majority of their lives laboring within organizations that are hierarchical, slow-moving and dictatorial? Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchot raised that question in their heralded 1993 book and provided the following answer: Not willingly and not for long. The Pinchots were among the first management scholars to predict the demise of the military-style command structure, along with its inherent secrecy and Machiavellian political sniping. Although a slew of books devoted to the same theme have been published since, none have done a better job at explaining the potential of informed and engaged employees who don't fear their bosses too much to take decisive action. We [...] strongly recommend this book, which brims with meticulous case histories showing how teams, employee-owned companies and internal free-market competition have transformed organizations. (In fact, the Pinchots coined the term "intraprenuership" to describe this process.) While you might not be convinced that a company run by consensus can ever compete with one run by The Prince, this book gives you hope that it can.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Manifesto for Good People Trapped in Bad Organizations, April 8, 2000

By 

Robert D. Steele (Oakton, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: End of Bureaucracy and the Rise of the Intelligent Organization (Hardcover)

The seven essentials of organizational intelligence include widespread truth and rights; freedom of enterprise, liberated teams, equality and diversity, voluntary learning networks, democratic self-rule, and limited corporate government. It was this book, and the very strong applause that the author received from all those attending OSS '96, that caused me to realize that the U.S. Intelligence Community is just chock full of very good people that want to change, but are not being allowed to change by the organizational circumstances within which they are trapped-frozen in time and budget.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Intelligent Organization is a groundbreaking book., January 11, 2011

By 

John Phipps - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Intelligent Organization (Paperback)

The Intelligent Organization is a groundbreaking book that catalyzed the reinvention of the Forest Service. Using what we learned in this book we increased our productivity in a variety of areas 1.8 times while radically increasing employee satisfaction. If you want to reduce bureaucracy and increase innovation and productivity, this book has the answers.

John Phipps
Associate Deputy Chief, State & Private Forestry
US Forest Sevice