Synopses & Reviews
“Agility” is the ability to continuously adapt to rapidly changing circumstances, while “resilience” is being able to bounce back from setbacks. Resilience is essential if a companys benefits are to endure in the long run and if their employees loyalty is to be kept.
The Agile Organization focuses on how to build both agility and resilience at individual, team, and organizational levels. Author Linda Holbeche puts the process of developing agile strategy, structures, and processes into the big picture context.
This book provides OD/HR practitioners with ways to be effective in a 24/7 business culture, to recognize and avoid the pitfalls of achieving agility without also building organizational resilience, and to understand the importance of involving people in transforming organizations for greater agility.
Combining case studies, self-assessment tools, guidelines, and practical checklists with theory, Holbeche explains how to achieve organizational agility while also maintaining and enhancing employee engagement and resilience.
Synopsis
HR and Organization Development and Design (OD+D) practitioners; CEOs; directors; senior managers; Line managers; Heads of teams and departments; Executive coaches and consultants
Synopsis
Given today's context of tough change, organizations need to be able to innovate as well as develop and implement strategy quickly and efficiently. The key to this is agility - a set of capabilities that can help organizations to rapidly adapt to changing circumstances. At the same time, resilience is also essential if benefits are going to endure over the longer term and if employees are to be kept on board. The Agile Organization focuses on how to build both agility and resilience at individual, team and organizational levels. It draws on a wealth of research, including the lived experience and learning of managers and HR and organization development (OD) professionals to show how it is possible to 'square the circle', becoming more sustainably agile while also enhancing employee engagement and resilience.
The Agile Organization showcases the latest thinking - new organizational models, ground-breaking themes and case studies - that illustrate how organizations are addressing the challenge of developing organizational agility. Packed with helpful checklists and practice pointers, this book is a 'go to' guide for senior leaders and managers, HR and OD specialists who want to help bring about organizational transformation and create the new resiliently agile 'business as usual'.
Synopsis
--Brings together the wider organizational context and the relational issues around employee engagement that effective HR leaders, OD professionals and executives cannot ignore
--Draws on insights from theory and research in strategy, complexity, organization development and design, human resource management
--Presents a new model for achieving organizational development and resilience, which facilitates the execution of an effective strategy for growth while maintaining employee engagement --Over 10,000 North American attendees at the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM)s 66th Annual Conference & Exposition in June 2014
About the Author
Linda Holbeche is Co-Director and Visiting Professor at the Centre for Progressive Leadership at London Metropolitan University, Director of The Holbeche Partnership, a development consulting company, and Adjunct Professor at Imperial College Londons Business School. She is the author of Organization Development (Kogan Page), Engaged (Jossey-Bass), The High Performance Organization (Routledge), and Reaping the Benefits of Mergers and Acquisitions (Routledge).
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements Introduction
01 Why go agile?
The business case for agility
What is organizational agility?
Does every organization need to be ‘agile?
Forces driving the need for agility
Resilience
Conclusion
Notes
02 Why are agility and resilience so elusive?
Setting the context: evolution of agility theory
What increases complexity in organizations?
The implementation gap
Organizational culture
Neglecting the human aspects of change
Talent shortages
Conclusion
Notes
03 The resiliently agile organization
The qualities and capabilities of agile fi rms
The resiliently agile model
Agile implementing
Agile linkages
Agile people
Conclusion
Notes
04 Agile strategizing
The scale of the challenge
Strategic leadership in complexity
Leading the process of strategizing
Focus intensely on the customer
Managing costs
Benchmarking for agility
Effective governance and risk management
Conclusion
Notes
05 Agile implementation
Agile operating model elements
Experimenting - the routines of exploration
Project-based working
Agile managers - from controller to coach
Conclusion: HR implications
Notes
06 HRs role in building a high-performance work climate
Stimulating learning practices
Working flexibly
Performance management
Conclusion
Notes
07 Agile linkages
The pursuit of flexibility
More flexible organizational forms
The rise of virtual working
Working in alliances
Building an alliance culture
Conclusion
Notes
08 Agile people processes
Agile people
A diverse workforce
Strategic workforce planning
Talent management
Finding the right people in the right place with the right skills
Build strategies - growing the talent pool
Agile succession planning
Conclusion
Notes
09 Nurturing employee engagement and resilience
Links between employee engagement and performance
What is employee engagement?
Getting to grips with engagement issues
The ‘engaged model
An emergent psychological contract
Team engagement
How can HR/OD help to stimulate engagement and wellbeing?
Conclusion
Notes
10 Change and transformation
Types of change
Stakeholder engagement
Mobilizing people for change - ‘pull rather than ‘push
Managing the transition
Conclusion
Notes
11 Building a change-able culture
Can culture be ‘changed?
Taking stock
Defining what ‘good looks like
Building emotional energy for change
Building a social movement
Aligning management and leadership
Conclusion
Notes
12 Agile leadership
Why values-based leadership?
From ‘I to ‘we - building shared leadership
How can agile leadership be developed?
Conclusion
Notes
Conclusion
Index