Seeing Organizational Patterns [Hardcover]

Robert W Keidel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1881052656 | ISBN-13: 978-1881052654 | Publication Date: January 1, 1995 | Edition: 1st

Today every manager, in every sector and at every level, is challenged by organizational complexity - demands and data from all directions. In order to make sense of this complexity, managers, consultants and academics have devised a multitude of models of organizational structure, strategy and systems. However, nearly all of these models turn out to be of limited real-world utility because either they oversimplify reality (by focusing on just one or two variables) or they are themselves as complex as the reality that they are trying to simplify. "Seeing Organizational Patterns" presents a third option - a new prism for viewing organizational design that is neither too simple nor unduly complicated. Robert Keidel explains that most organizational issues are a balance of three variables: individual autonomy, hierarchical control and spontaneous cooperation. "Seeing Organizational Patterns" shows that the basic requirement for high-performing organizations is the ability to think in terms of these three variables that lie at the head of every organization. Organizations are inherently triadic because there are only three ways in which people can relate to each other without conflict - patterns that correspond to the three core design variables: autonomy, control and cooperation. By learning to frame issues as trade-offs among these variables one can see underlying patterns that previously had not been visible - and thereby make more intelligent analyses, choices and commitments than would otherwise be possible. Once this essential triangle is grasped, it can be leveraged across a wide range of organizational plans, decisions and problems. Keidel explains how organizational design can be usefully understood in terms of triangular patterns; shows how this traidic framework can be applied to organizational strategy, structure and systems; and depicts a new organizational model that unifies a host of organizational analogies. "Seeing Organizational Patterns" converts organizational design into an art form of triangular patterns. Featuring a rich array of examples - including AT&T, Computer Associates, Johnson & Johnson, and the World Bank - it presents a wealth of experience-based lessons and concepts. Readers should come away with a set of conceptual lenses that enables them to see organizations more clearly, systematically, and imaginatively than ever before.

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

"This book will stretch and invigorate your thinking about contemporary organizations. Building on his earlier book, Corporate Players, Keidel uses his now-famous triangles and other geometric mind-aids to provoke new perspectives on organizational design. Those in search of new lenses and language for assessing companies will be delighted."

From The New Yorker

"Keidel doesn't simplify management complexities-he clarifies them. Seeing Organizational Patterns is must reading for serious students who demand rigorous analysis."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 206 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1st edition (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1881052656
• ISBN-13: 978-1881052654
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,796,179 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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