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The world is experiencing unprecedented ecological, economic,
social, and political challenges. Consequently, today's organizations are searching
for alternative leaders, structures, systems, and ways of operating. There is
growing conflict within corporations about whether to seize short-term advantage
and maximize shareholder profits, or build long-term, sustainable growth for both
employees and society as a whole. The End of Management
and The Rise of Organizational Democracy presents a radical new view of the
organization of the future and in the process redefines leadership for the twenty-first
century. In this groundbreaking book, Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith make the
case for putting an end to traditional management and reveal the key elements
necessary to create the collaborative, democratic, self-managing organizations
that will thrive in the future. Throughout this compelling book, the authors show
how corporations, government agencies, schools, and nonprofits can dramatically
improve by empowering those who work on the inside to manage themselves and take
responsibility for their own transformation. The authors
clearly show how collaboration, self-management, and organizational democracy
fundamentally alter not only the way we work but also the nature of work itself.
Organizations will create policies that are flexible and value-driven, procedures
that are instantly customizable and responsive to customer needs, and use conflicts
as opportunities for growth and learning. Cloke and Doldsmith
offer practical, specific suggestions for fashioning a value-based organization;
provide ideas for creating innovative, self-managing, high-performance teams;
and identify the self-correcting systems required to keep democratic organizations
on course. Their initiatives include creating a "values audit" to develop
a shared set of values, democratically electing CEOs, replacing hierarchies with
webs of association, developing "linking leadership," designing complex
self-correcting systems, and more. Kenneth Cloke is
director of the Center for Dispute Resolution and a mediator, arbitrator, consultant,
and trainer. Joan Goldsmith is an organizational consultant and educator specializing
in leadership development and organizational change. Cloke and Goldsmith draw
on more than thirty years of practical experience in organizational consulting
with hundreds of organizations in the United States and internationally, from
Fortune 500 companies to government agencies, schools, and nonprofits. They are
coauthors of four previous books, including Resolving Conflicts at Work.
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