Customer Reviews

Mastering Change

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Amazing!! The author gives fantastic view on human's lifes and their habbits from the point of sociology, psychology and ethics, keeping in mind the mainstream - management in business and how can all the methodically presented principes be usefull in one's life. I can only say that I regret not reading the book earlier, because my life would be much different, for sure. It's a must having this one, since as more times you read it, as more it keeps your thoughts and lifeviews clear. I admire Mr. Adizes' capability of presenting things in a way that anyone can take as much as his receptional capacity is, which is rapidly raising every time the book is rereaded.

Published in 1992 and written by a sort of genius, Mastering Change is an insightful book. There isn't much of anything in the way of research to back up the truisms, viewpoints and models of its author, Ichak Adizes. He simply wrote what he understood from his own observation.

The author was concerned with the development of trust and respect in the workplace. He discusses the ways in which we can assess how our own behavior affects others and what we can do about it. The goal is for people to be able to work together, departments to work together and the whole organization to operate as a team.

Adizes introduced his PAEI model in this book. That stands for four roles: Producer; Administrator; Entrepreneur and Integrator. The model holds that nobody can perform these roles simultaneously because they're incompatible in that regard. Because of this, conflict is inescapable and can be beneficial if managed through each participant taking responsibility for how their behavior affects others.

An excellent book that provides solid research on how an individual can create positive change in an organization is Reframing Change:
Reframing Change: How to Deal with Workplace Dynamics, Influence Others, and Bring People Together to Initiate Positive Change.

The world is full of ideas aimed at advancing the lives of individuals and companies although content and process is not always practical or enthused with experience. Somehow professionals have mastered the art of making the advancement game we all play more complex than it should be. I found the content of this book highly beneficial when helping individuals and teams to play the advancement game. The lesson of the book is that some roles / functions assist us to be effecient and effective in the short run and others assist us to be more efficient and effective in the long run. The PAEI code /concept is practical and serve as a catalyst for action. The code reminds us that we all have strenghts and shortcomings but that the value is in the synergy of performing all the roles. The author further suggest that we integrate or disintegrate if we neglect some of the roles. It is my observation that people often approach their lives and their problems by viewing it through limited frames (i.e.represented by these roles). The PAEI concept is thus very valuable to assist change agents to understand their frames and to engage others in their preferred frames of viewing reality.

Many business authors write about how their efforts to be better at business have led them to become better people, or how excellence in business requires the perfection of the self. A smaller number of business authors talk about how lessons learned in business excellence offer us a model for how to transform our social and political institutions, and the deep-seated conflicts of our times. The ideas covered in this book cover this whole territory in the most unusual way. In conversational language, the impact of change on our lives is unravelled, and what we get are not vague principles or platitudes, but rather a very concrete structure of how people can come together to solve the problems caused by change in a way that protects and enhances what you might call the "fundamental social asset" of any culture, region, family or organization - Mutual Trust and Respect.

This intimate discussion of that fundamental social asset does not float in space for readers of Ichak Adizes work. It is the generative spark at the core of a larger theory of management that is spelled out in much more detail in Managing Corporate Lifecycles. However, this conversational, accessible introduction to the conceptual foundations of the methodology is a core part of the Adizes experience. If you were hanging out with any of the Adizes Associates you can find scattered throughout the world, this is a conversation you might have with them, to reveal the core insights that power the whole organizational renewall engine that is the Adizes Methodology.

These ideas have changed my life - so much so that I took 3 years off any kind of other engagement to research one of the core Adizes concepts in dept (in my book The Structure of Concern: A Challenge for Thinkers - sold through Amazon but available legally free online at Scribd and other doc sharing sites). If you, like me, believe that excellence in personal life, business life, poltical life and global-cultural life can all be one thing, this book will take you to the heart of a framework that makes all of these kinds of excellence into one sustained effort to nurture and cultivate mutual trust and respect in the world. This is not your everyday business book, but it will help you everyday in your business and in your life.

This book will tell you nothing you don't already know. It is very simple and easy to read and the concepts are self apparent. There is nothing new... But that is exactly why this book is so valuable. it provides the framework and language to clarify what everyone already knows, but no one has bothered to explain. How change causes problems, how problems need to be managed, what management does, why is management so difficult, how to manage successfully, what is the secret of success of any organization and a recipe for how you can create your own success. Dr. Adizes is a genius. discover him now and Master Change today.

Change drives business and life for the recent past and following years. Adizes shows in this clasic 20 years old book that tells today how to manage change. Told in classic greek dialog style it summarizes and underlines every chapter reaffirming new concepts understanding and comprehension. Change equals problems and problems must be solved. Solving problems demand decision making and implementation. Both actions are fully analized by Adizes in an original way mostly through managing styles. Very clear and very important to read today.

This is truly an outstanding book that serves as the foundation for implementing positive change within a business. "Mastering Change" is a book that explains how to foster an atmosphere of mutual respect within a company: which is often times overlooked and underrepresented. Large and small business owners and managers alike will benefit from reading this book.