Making Organizations Work - T. Owen

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Résumé :
I have worked as a manager in a large industrial organisation for the last twenty years. During that time I have seen the job of a manager change almost out of recognition in both complexity and difficulty. For the last five ofthose years I have held ajob which has been much concerned with the problems which managers face under these cir? cumstances, and I have been in the position to discuss these pro? blems with people doing similar jobs in other large organisations, who have in turn often asked me for advice on their problems. The result has been to build up a general picture of the manager in large and complex industrial organisations and of those practices which will help him or her to be effective and those which will not. I suspect that the picture which emerges is one which may have some validity for large and complex organisations in other spheres - trade unions, for instance, or the civil service - but I have no first-hand evidence to show whether this is so or not. It is a picture which is certainly not so relevant for small organisations. These (and I have had the pleasure of working in some from time to time) have their own problems, but they tend to be different ones.

Sommaire:
1. The Management Energy Crisis.- How we use management energy.- 2. Industry in a Social Perspective.- The aims of Western society.- Living with uncertainty.- Intervention by society into industry.- Ignorance of industry in society.- Turbulence and uncertainty - and individual freedom as well!.- Managing in a democracy.- The location of power in industrial organisations.- The diffusion of power.- Fundamental changes in the management task..- 3. Sources of Energy within the Organisation..- The nature of complex organisations.- The manager at the interface and the sources of energy at his disposal.- Releasing the energy of the working group.- Boundary control.- Second thoughts about boundaries.- Boundaries may shield people from reality.- The work group as an 'open system' and the boundary as an infinitely permeable membrane.- 4. Using the Energy Sources.- Co-operation and sharing power.- Ways of avoiding anarchy.- Mutual hostility and mutual trust.- Creating an environment of mutual trust.- Sharing problems and the' san Andreas Fault' syndrome.- The pain barrier.- Crossing the pain barrier - or not.- 5. Creating Energy Networks.- False linking pins.- Improving linkages.- Using linkages to create a common framework of perception.- 6. Management Decision Making.- Conflict between the objectives of the organisation and the objectives of individuals within the organisation.- When people seek to avoid decisions.- Finding the right level for decisions to be made.- 7. The Nature of the Management Task and the Problems of Achieving IT.- Is a manager necessary?.- Managers in other cultures.- Conflict in a democratic society and its implication for the manager.- Identifying the maximum area of common purpose.- Letting reality in.- Helpful and unhelpful interventions.- Questions for the manager to put to the group he manages.- 8. Who's on our Side?.- Evading the pressures of society.- The two different worlds of manager.- Bringing the two worlds closer together.- 9. Come Back Leadership, All is Forgiven!.- The manager as a leader.- Creating a framework of shared values.- Decisions of fact and decisions of stance.- 10. Management Energy - Conservation Plan.