This book includes an assessment for determining your organization's DNA and running examples showing DNA in action.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
With its copious jargon and stiff, lab-report tone, this volume may put off all but the most serious students of organizational development, but it's nevertheless a useful guide to the building blocks-the "organizational DNA"-of successful firms. Consultant Honold (Developing Employees Who Love to Learn) and Silverman, a professor and former editor of the Journal of Higher Education, analyze four companies that exemplify the four DNA types (factual, conceptual, contextual and individual) and explain the different ways in which they implemented company-wide corporate changes. Structure, they say, should influence strategy: for instance, if a "factual-based organization attempts to implement an improvement effort in the same way as an individual-based company, it likely will not succeed." The DNA types aren't always truly distinguishable (their four different approaches to interpersonal relationships are "formalized," "reliability based," interdependent" or "networked") and the often numbing prose may frustrate the managers for whom this very academic book is purportedly aimed. However, the accounts of how the companies really operate-hire workers, correct performance problems and achieve goals-give extremely helpful real-world examples of how it's possible to provide a caring, creative and challenging environment for employees.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Inside Flap
If you are a leader, manager, or consultant wondering why the latest "silver bullet" for organizational improvement failed, take heart. You may simply need to reframe the concepts to bring them into alignment with your organization's DNA.
Depending on whether an organization employs facts, ideas, contexts, or individuals as the organizational focus reflecting its inherent DNA, it will have different definitions for various practices. Each type of DNA colors distinct ways of thinking about concepts like profit, planning, mission, leadership, hiring, compensation, and decision making.
In ORGANIZATIONAL DNA, coauthors Linda Honold and Robert Silverman explore the four distinct organizational DNAs to show how empowerment and other top management processes can wear dramatically different faces when practiced at different organizations.
They track running examples at four diverse midsized manufacturing organizations to illustrate the different looks of "empowerment" as it comes to life. Examining these companies' results, you will learn how to identify your own organiztion's DNA type, then diagnose the issues your business faces.
Here are the tools to understand and execute business practices compatibly with your organization's dominant DNA. Get ready to reenergize teams and manifest results!
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Alignment and Fit are Key,
By
This review is from: Organizational DNA: Diagnosing Your Organization for Increased Effectiveness (Hardcover)
This book explores the relationship of organizational alignment and effectiveness, using the analogy of DNA. DNA is used, in my opinion to describe 4 different kinds of corporate cultures or environments. By looking at 4 small manufacturing companies, the authors explore different ways (building blocks) to increase alignment. They stress the importance of chosing the right approach for your company DNA. I really like how they focus on fit and alignment- finding what works for your particular problem, situation or company. Too often, practictioners are in search of a single solution. If you only tool is a hammer, then every problem looks like a nail, right? Although they don't focus here, it would make sense that methods that are close to your business model, would decrease resistence and increase results.
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
STERN'S MANAGEMENT REVIEW FINDS THIS BOOK NOVEL..INTRIGUING!,
By Gerry Stern "Stern's Management Review Online" (Culver City, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Organizational DNA: Diagnosing Your Organization for Increased Effectiveness (Hardcover)
Profiles four organizational types (fact-based, idea-grounded, context-related, and individual-oriented) and shows how each type leads to variations in the same organizational practices. The authors go on to examine the consequences of appropriate and inappropriate alignments of organizational practices. The discussion covers: methods for attaining alignment; leadership and management issues; and a diagnostic tool to help categorize an organization's type. Four cases are discussed in some detail. A novel and intriguing approach to the study of organization and an approach to organizational change.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
