What drives day-to-day behaviour in an organization? The author proposes that the "silent engines" are not official policies but "unwritten" rules and that deciphering those rules is a vital step in managing change because the process reveals why people are simply unwilling to alter their behaviour. The text shows how to break free through the barriers to change. "New Yorker"-style cartoons emphasize major points.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
In this pragmatic guide to making change initiatives work, Scott-Morgan relates his successful experience as a consultant in change management. He describes the "unwritten rules" that thwart success and shows how to analyze the motivators, enablers, and triggers that help to shed light on these barriers. Kudos to Scott-Morgan for opening his consultant's bag of tricks, literally walking the reader through a typical change-management process-something from which any organization would benefit. Targeted CEOs will likely find this process useful, although they may also need a lot of help making it work. A worthy addition to change-management collections, this is strongly suggested for larger public and academic libraries.
Dale Farris, Groves, Tex.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Dale Farris, Groves, Tex.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Must reading for executives who are frustrated by not being able to get their organizations to function as effectively as they believe they should. In other words, it is must reading for just about every executive." -- Business Leader Newsleader, 6/94
"Presents an intuitive and persuasive account of why organisations generally fail to achieve the impact they require in a change initiative." -- Alan, International Press, 8/94
"Savvy." -- Stern's HR Management Review, Volume 3, Number 2, 6/94
"Presents an intuitive and persuasive account of why organisations generally fail to achieve the impact they require in a change initiative." -- Alan, International Press, 8/94
"Savvy." -- Stern's HR Management Review, Volume 3, Number 2, 6/94
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOANALYSIS,
By
This review is from: The Unwritten Rules of the Game: Master Them, Shatter Them, and Break Through the Barriers to Organizational Change (Hardcover)
The rules discussed in this work are the informal mores and values that contribute to organizational culture and which can interefere with policy implementation from above. The concept is original, as is the framework of Strategy, Process, Resources and Organization in the context of which the analysis (and presumably management consulting) is performed. Beyond these two ideas the book suffers from a variety of flaws.The language is stilted and regimented into an outline, which prevents a free flowing narrative that would be more appropriate to a case study method. Very little underlying theory is given for the concepts, but more importantly, for the methodology of identifying informal culture in an organization. The author presents many examples, but very little reason as to why and what he is doing. His section on conducting an interview is almost a textbook example of the non-directed interview technique from psychology, and rather than concentrating on which questions to ask and what to look for, he instead gives us the amount of hours details of the brainstorming ritual that his consulting company performs. The language of the book is unprofessional and it steers away from scientific terminology; the book is written in short soundbites and that contributes to the pop management feel of the whole work. The examples of the informal mores are generic and appear similar across his cases - job hop, keep your boss happy, protect your own turf, and yet the author fails to give any observations on this being the weakeness of the corporate exec culture as a whole. He mentions Machiavelianism, but at the same time fails to address corporate politics with any degree of satisfaction. I am not sure if this is a poorly written memoir of the man's professional career or if this is a marketing ploy for his consultancy.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Usefull theory, fairly slow explanation,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Unwritten Rules of the Game: Master Them, Shatter Them, and Break Through the Barriers to Organizational Change (Hardcover)
I very much liked the book, mostly because it lead me into a "new world", the world of the unwritten rules (and our behaviour based on them).I think the theory helps me get insight in every day life and the management of change. I do think I will be a more effective change manager when using the "unwritten rules approach". I now try to use it in my projects.
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