THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, June 26, 1995 TAG: 9506240254
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY BENJAMIN I. TROUTMAN
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
American organizations are amidst a great sea change. To chart direction when all old maps no longer function is an arduous and challenging task. There currently exists a plethora of books proffering guidance and solutions to organizational dilemmas: some of these of tremendous value, others of dubious merit.
If I could recommend just a single source for inspiration and direction it would be Jill Janov's The Inventive Organization.
It is a book of powerful poetic insight, brimming with solid pragmatic practices to guide leaders into the new world of work. It is a book which springs not just from intellectual reflection or consulting experience, but rather out of a deep soulful need to offer a better world of work.
Janov comments: I wrote this book partly to help heal the wounds inflicted by the fears we experience in our work place.
Leaders searching for solutions and seeking new directions for their organizations are constantly creating new programs. But Javov believes that the heart of the matter for organizational renewal is relationships, not programs and initiatives.
For her, the key is thinking in new ways about the relationships required to get the work done. We must leave the ``comfort zone of our old perspectives and assumptions'' to find and use the power and richness inherent in organizations.
Janov's goal is to create an innovative organization, capable of consistently learning and improving, which would be marked by the following characteristics:
1. Continuously questions the assumptions that give rise to the enterprise.
2. Surprises and delights customers in service and product warranty.
3. Encourages experimentation by asking why not.
4. Chases dreams instead of competition.
Janov stresses the need to align deeds and words: to have congruence between what we say we value and, how we act. This requires aligning strategy, structure, roles, people, skills, tasks and technologies. It also requires the integration of information flows, the decision process, the measurement criteria and reward mechanisms.
For example, she notes that many organizations talk about the value of putting the customer first, but they fail to execute if they are still operating in the old command and control mentality. A new way of operating requires a new way of thinking and seeing.
Janov suggests that we shed our ``organizational barnacles,'' those practices that prevent people from realizing their fullest potential. As examples, she cites organizations which require multiple levels of approval for action, and automating procedures or practices without first assessing their inherent value.
Max DuPree, author of one of the most highly regarded books on leadership in America, Leadership Is An Art, comments that at Herman Miller the mission is ``to be a gift to the human spirit.''
Such soulful language has not been heard much from corporate executives. Yet it is exactly that kind of language, that kind of engagement with hope, daring, trust, and intimacy at work that Janov believes is at the very core of significant long term corporate change.
We much change the nature of our relationships and our beliefs about self and others. In this, she has deep resonance with the principle-centered beliefs about self and others.
Janov's book participates in a small but rich tradition of business books that go beyond banter about bottom line and into deep exploration of the ethical and psychological terrain that we must traverse to create organizations that will thrive and compete effectively in the 21st century. I believe leaders will find Janov's book a rich and rewarding read. MEMO: Benjamin I. Troutman, associate professor of educational leadership at
Old Dominion University, directs the Principals' Center of Hampton
Roads.
BOOK REVIEW
The Inventive Organization; Hope and Daring at Work, by Jill Janov
(Jossey-Bass, 1994). by CNB