The Inventive Organization: Hope & Daring at Work (Jossey-Bass Management) [Hardcover]

Jill Janov (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 19, 1994 | Series: Jossey-Bass Management

Drawing on her extensive consulting experience with such organizations as Johnson & Johnson, Xerox, Ford, and 3M Company, Jill Janov explores how these and other companies are making the transition to high-performance, inventive organizations where self-regulation, interdependence, and partnerships are the rule. Janov shows how any organization that hopes to thrive into the next century can learn to develop the essential building blocks to inventiveness: focus on customer needs; concentrate on core work; practice living organizational values; think systemically; promote self-regulation; build and support interdependence; and understand leading as guiding the development of the system and following as pursuing common cause.

Janov offers inspiration, frameworks, and practical applications for executives, managers, and organization consultants who are facing the fundamental challenges in organizations today: how to sustain success in a constantly changing global economy, how to redesign work processes for optimal effectiveness, and how to realign roles and relationships as flattened hierarchies necessitate self-regulation throughout the entire organization.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The application of Gestalt philosophy and of other psychological systems to the workplace is certainly not new to U.S. corporate consultants. Yet, as with the recent emphasis on total quality management (TQM), much is sacrificed to achieve a specific trendy goal. Janov contends that the entire mind-set of an organization, from bottom up, needs to be changed in six key areas: core work, customer relationships, values, systems thinking, self-regulation, and interdependence. Only then can a corporation move from a fixed product orientation through an adaptive environmental response to a truly inventive structure. The process, she admits, is not an easy one; we've forgotten the Golden Rule, confused the means with the ends, and become fixated with set operating principles and beliefs. Through both open and disguised case histories and, unfortunately, through some psychobabble, she explains the tenets of inventiveness. Her intentions are good; the theories and process, sound; readers will, however, yearn for fewer words and more how-to's Barbara Jacobs

Review

"For every manager whose job is shifting into an unknown future. Jill offers the means and tools for all who enter the era of self-management." -Peter Block, author, The Empowered Manager and Stewardship, and founding partner, Designed Learning

"Jill Janov leads us on the path to the new organization forms required for the 21st century. The voice of clarity and courage is a call to all of us who have hope for the future." -Meg Wheatley, author of Leadership and the New Science

"At last, the book we need to get us through the current chaotic transition.... The Inventive Organization is about doing business as if people mattered." -Michael L. Ray, professor, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, and coauthor of Creativity in Business

"Should be thought-provoking for any manager interested in seeing an organization achieve its highest potential."

"Unlike many of today's most popular business tomes, Janov doesn't rattle off a different way to implement the management philosophy du jour. Rather she asks readers to think--think about the quality of the relationships they have with the producers, customers, and colleagues with whom they associate. And she asks them to think about how these relationships could be improved to help their organizations sustain success.", Training and Development

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 395 pages
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass; 1 edition (April 19, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1555426271
• ISBN-13: 978-1555426279
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,754,025 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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