Contents
This part of the library contains four types of
material relevant to creating Extraordinary Organizations:
- Articles and Papers
You can [Read] some of these on
this site. You will find links to
other sites for others. If neither of these is available
you will find a reference.
- Books
Descriptions of books with a
link to a site where you can buy the book
if one is available.
- Web Sites
These are sites that are worth exploring. You will find a link
to the site. It will be to a particular page if it
is most related to creating Extraordinary Organizations.
- Research and Reports
You will fine either links or
references for these items.
Articles
and Papers
The
Ad Agency to End All Add Agencies
This article appeared in Fast Company
magazine in 1995. It describes the St. Lukes advertising agency
in London. This organization has a number of attributes of an
Extraordinary Organization. You can find the article at Fast
Company.
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Challenging
Behaviorist Dogma:Myths About Money and Motivation
This article is by Alfie Kohn, the author of the
books Punished by Rewards - The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive
Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes and No Contest -
The Case Against Competition - Why we lose in our race to win.
It looks at part of his thinking as introduced in its lead paragraph:
The idea that dangling money and other goodies
in front of people will "motivate" them to work harder
is the conventional wisdom in our society, and particularly
among compensation specialists. Those of us who have challenged
the Skinnerian orthodoxy that grounds this conviction have apparently
caused its professional apologists to reassert in ever more
emphatic and defensive language what most of their audience
already takes on faith. (Hence the amusing spectacle of being
admonished that it is "time that management specialists
... understood the importance of money" -- as though the
field were guilty of attributing too little importance to it!)
[Read]
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Engines
of Democracy
This article from Fast Company is introduced
with this headline:
The General Electric plant in Durham, North
Carolina builds some of the world's most powerful jet engines.
But the plant's real power lies in the lessons that it teaches
about the future of work and about workplace democracy.
To read it visit Fast
Company.
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Books
Accountability
- Freedom and Responsibility without Control
Rob Lebow and Randy Spitzer
This book published by Berrett-Koehler is very
much in line with EO thinking, although it does not go "all
the way". However, it makes a very good case for some of
the beliefs and philosophy of EO's approach. EO has been recommending
this book to both current and past clients.The BK web site gives
this summary and description of the book:
Summary
- Coauthored by Rob
Lebow, author of the bestsellers A Journey into the Heroic Environment
(over 220,000 copies sold) and Lasting Change (over 75,000 copies
sold)
- Presents a more effective and humane alternative
to “control-based” management practices-the only
option that most organizations think they have
- Real-life examples reveal the benefits of
this new approach to management
Description
Accountability shows how to get people in organizations
to be more personally accountable for high performance in their
work and for the success of the organization - without resorting
to the traditional management systems that rely on control and
manipulation. Contrasted with three other commonly used, accountability
models, the authors recommend Personal Accountability over all
others. The author show, that by gaining a higher sense of self-worth
and autonomy, the quality of employee decision-making skills
is greatly improved. They then outline the seven steps needed
to attain Personal Accountability, including: surroundings,
seeds of change, and style of leadership.
For more information on the book and to purchase
it visit Berrett-Koehler.
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Creative
Company - How St Lukes Became "the Ad Agency to End All Ad
Agencies"
Andy Law
This book by Andy Law tells the story of the founding
of St Lukes. It is a very interesting and enjoyable
book that explains more fully than the Fast Company article
the history, philosophy, and operations of the company. Although
not an Extraordinary Organization in every respect, St Lukes comes
very close and demonstrates the possibility of creating such an
organization. The book received a 4 star rating from Amazon readers
but unfortunately is no longer available from Amazon.
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Web
Sites
Mondragon
Corporacion Cooperativa
Possibly the most interesting and far-reaching
work on the ownership side of creating Extraordinary Organizations
are the Mondragon Cooperatives. Located in the Basque region of
spain they were started in the early 1940's by José María
Arizmendiarrieta. These words of his quoted on the site give the
flavor of their story.
"Nothing differentiates people as much
as their respective attitudes to the circumstances in which
they live. Those who opt to make history and change the course
of events themselves have an advantage over those who decide
to wait passively for the results of the change".
José María Arizmendiarrieta
(Ideologist and driving force behind the Mondragón Co-operative
Experience)
This link will take you directly to the page where you can start
to learn about the
Mondragon Experience.
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W.
L. Gore & Associates
This company has pioneered some of the most interesting
work on the path to Extraordinary Organizations. Although the
site accentuates their excellent technology and products, it contains
excellent information on its innovative organizational aspects.
This link will take you directly to the best place to start, its
about:
culture page.
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Research
and Reports
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