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Title: Rewiring the Corporate Brain: Using the New Science to Rethink How We Structure and Lead Organizations by Danah Zohar ISBN: 1-57675-022-1 Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub Pub. Date: November, 1997 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.8 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Open your mind.....think differently
Comment: The new science, quantum theory, and related branches of physics are clearly defined and related to business structures and people within "Rewiring the Corporate Brain"
To some, the whole notion of "The New Science", let alone it's relation to the business world may seem like a bunch of new age babble. We (in the US especially) are used to thinking in terms of action-reaction, events, actions, and people, as individual and isolated. We make distinctions and often-strict divisions between work and the rest of our lives. We thrive on predictability, being able to determine outcomes, and control environments, which can inhibit the ability to quickly adapt to and accept change.
"Rewiring the Corporate Brain" recognizes this, and uses quantum theory to illustrate that we might be missing something. The author demonstrates the shortcomings of the common, rigid Newtonian thinking and organization that permeates so many companies and minds, yet also recognizes that a pure quantum approach is not a cure all. The author presents a hybrid model that recognizes the importance of managing and living to obtain certain objectives, while allowing and encouraging the creativity, exploration, and openness to continually grow and adapt to the torrid pace of change. Not only does the application of quantum thinking make sense for the development and management of organizations, but also when trying to bring the separate parts of ones' life together into a more holistic, satisfying existence.
The book refers to a few related "new science" books, which may be of interest to the reader. It also draws on some early Fast Company articles from the good ol' days before Fast Company became the useless waste of paper it is today.
This book is not technical or difficult to read. You'll be able to polish it off within a few hours. If you liked this book, and would like to read more on the "New Physics", or would simply like to explore it ("New Physics") w/o the business context, pick up a copy of:
"The Dancing Wu Li Masters : An Overview of the New Physics"
Rating: 3
Summary: A Solid Effort!
Comment: If you're looking for a philosophical, out-of-the-mainstream approach to restructuring your company, author Danah Zohar offers it. She presents an exhaustive, if at times repetitive, case for replacing inflexible, old-line companies with more agile, quantum organizations. Problematically, Zohar devotes too many words to theory and not enough to practical steps for restructuring, and her book is light on examples of companies that have successfully used quantum theory to reorganize. Still, her underlying case is strong. Anyone stuck in a staid bureaucracy would prefer a company where assumptions are actively questioned. To her credit, Zohar offers a starting point for the difficult task of streamlining stodgy organizations. We [...] recommend her ideas to any manager seeking an unusual and thoughtful look at corporate restructuring.
Rating: 5
Summary: A new paradigm for leadership and organization.
Comment: "We live largely in a world of Newtonian organizations. These are organizations that thrive on certainty and predictability. They are hierarchical; power emanates from the top, and control is vital at every level. So, often, is fear. They are heavily bureaucratic and rule-bound, and hence inflexible. They stress the single point of view, the one best way forward. They are managed as though the part organizes the whole. Newtonian organizations do not respond well to change. Their primary value is efficiency. Human beings work and live in such organizations, but we often feel like passive units of production. Our lives serve the organizations, but the organizations serve only our utilitarian needs, and that only so long as we conform to the organization's purposes and are vital to the organization itself. The emphasis on control isolates these organizations from their environments. They don't interact with or respect those environments, including the people who work within them. It is my purpose here to describe a wholly different kind of organization. I hope to offer a new model for structure, leadership, and learning within organizations that can thrive on uncertainty, can deal creatively with rapid change, and can release the full potential of the human beings who lead and work or live within them. Such organizations, like the human brain, have the potential for self-organizing creativity just waiting to be unleashed within them. This new model is based on the thinking, ideas, language, and imagery of the new science-quantum physics, chaos and complexity, and the latest brain science. I believe that understanding the philosophical basis of these sciences, understanding the new paradigm from which they emerge, is critical to rewiring the corporate brain" (from the Introduction).
In this context, Danah Zohar divides this invaluable book into two parts:
I- Using the New Science to Rewire Corporate Thinking. In this part, she basically:
* describes the uses and limitations of traditional paradigms in business activities and other life contexts.
* focuses on three kinds of thinking (serial thinking, associative thinking, and quantum thinking) that the human brain can do, and discusses their advantages and disadvantages.
* contrasts eight key ideas from Newtonian science/old paradigm, and their effects on business thinking, with eight key ideas from quantum science/new paradigm and their application to new thinking about leadership, and thus constructs a management-leadership chart that puts the features of these two contrasting paradigms as follows:
- N.certainty, Q.uncertainty
- N.predictability, Q.rapid change; unpredictability
- N.hierarchy, Q.nonhierarchical networks
- N.division of labor or function fragmentation, Q.multifunctional and holistic (integrated effort)
- N.power emanates from top or center, Q.power emanates from many interacting centers
- N.employees are passive units of production, Q.employees are cocreative partners
- N. single viewpoint; one best way, Q.many view points; many ways of getting things done
- N.competition, Q.cooperation
- N.inflexible structures; heavy on bureaucratic control, Q.responsive and flexible structures; hands-off supervision
- N.efficiency, Q.meaningful service and relationships
- N.top-down (reactive) operation, Q.bottom-up (experimental) operation
II- Structure and Leadership of the Rewired Corporation. In this part, she basically:
* discusses Western/Newtonian and Eastern/Networked models of the self/person and organization, and then attempts to reach a Quantum model of self and organization drawn from the thinking of the new science. And she shows the features of these three models as follows:
- W.conflict and control, E.cooperation, Q.dialogue
- W.self (the personal) wholly excluded and isolated; interactions grounded in universal principles, E.self wholly embedded and contextual; no universal principles, Q.self embedded and contextual with universal dimension
- W.stability achieved through excluding the self and the emotions, and organizing only the predictable and controllable aspects of relationships, E.stability achieved through reinforced familiarity and discipline of the self, Q.stability balanced with instability
- W.rigid boundaries, E.ambiguous boundaries, Q.flexible boundaries
- W.dictatorial leadership, E.consensual leadership, Q.leader relies on trust and feel for situation
- W.rule-bound, E.habit-bound, Q.no set framework from rules or habits
- W.mechanical, E.organic, Q.both naturally unfolding (organic) and that which can be made from it (mechanical)
- W+E.rely on stability, Q.open to change
- W+E.weak in dealing with unexpected change, Q.open to change
- W+E.seek to dampen down or exclude the unexpected, Q.thrives on unexpected
* argues that servant leadership is the essence of quantum thinking and quantum leadership, and then presents a new model of servant leadership.
Finally, she writes, "much of the book contrasts the Newtonian and new sciene, or quantum, approaches to leadership. But this is not to convey a message of either-or. All the fundamental thinking of the new science is about both-and. The new science incorporates the old. Quantum physics does not invalidate Newtonian physics. It just shows that Newton's laws are restricted to one band of reality. But they are still necessary to corporate leadership as the new paradigm, quantum thinking. The core competence I hope to convey in this book is about 'managing at the edge' - that is, becoming aware that there are different paradigms and cultivating the judgement to know when to use one or another, or when to remain at the edge between the two."
I higly recommend this unique study.
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Title: Sq: Connecting With Our Spiritual Intelligence by Danah Zohar, I. N. Marshall ISBN: 1582341311 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pub. Date: January, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Quantum Society: Mind, Physics, and a New Social Vision by Danah Zohar, Ian Marshall, Dana Zohar ISBN: 0688142303 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: July, 1995 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: The Quantum Self by Danah Zohar ISBN: 0688107362 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 24 May, 1991 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Who's Afraid of Schrodinger's Cat : All The New Science Ideas You Need To Keep Up With The New Thinking by Ian Marshall, Danah Zohar ISBN: 0688161073 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 08 July, 1998 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World Revised by Margaret J. Wheatley ISBN: 1576751198 Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub Pub. Date: 15 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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