Synopses & Reviews
Productive Workplaces
It's been twenty-five years since the publication of Marvin Weisbord's classic book Productive Workplaces. This third edition of the bestselling text revises that thoughtful, well-written, well-researched, somewhat provocative, one-of-a-kind inquiry into the integration of economics, technology and people. Weisbord shows how "experts solving problems" evolved toward "getting everybody improving whole systems," and why the latter strategy is the only one likely to satisfy you in a diverse world of non-stop change.
From his work in corporations and medical schools, Weisbord demonstrates how novel practices grounded in scientific management, participative management, and sociotechnical systemsall based on shared values of ration- al cooperationbecame obsolete over time. He traces today's practices back more than 100 years, using his experiences as manager and consultant to illuminate what works and what doesn't. Reviewing the influence on workplaces of Frederick Taylor, Kurt Lewin, Douglas McGregor, Eric Trist, and Fred Emery, the author encourages you to explore their evolving change theories in concert with your own values.
Against the mindless repetition of shopworn techniques, Weisbord juxtaposes effective methods for getting everybody improving the whole. He goes further, advocating work on selfe.g., awareness of your own assumptions about human natureas the bedrock for change strategies that trump "shorter, faster, cheaper." His themes, illustrative case studies, and useful models come across as relevant today as they were a quarter of a century ago.
This third edition includes many new featuresa robust Instructor's Manual, a revisioning of organization development myths, a critical appreciation of new large group methods, case study follow-ups across 15 to 30 years, and 40 personal essays by practitioners influenced by earlier editions. Their writings show how the themes and values they share with Weisbord influence current practices around the world.
Synopsis
Strategy and Business 2012 Organizational Culture Book of the Year
This third edition of the classic resource, Productive Workplaces is smart, well-written and well-researched, thoughtful, somewhat provocative, and a one-of-a-kind review of the integration of economics, technology, and people. It covers such topics as: the work on self as integral to organizational change; the revision of Lewinian concepts for a new era; and the history behind “getting everybody improving whole systems” as a response to fast change and increasing diversity (not the same as using any particular method). The themes, case studies (many revisited), and models are as relevant as ever.
Synopsis
Praise for Productive Workplaces
"Weisbord has been a major voice in the theory and practice of organization development (OD) since the early 1970's. This book is a wonderful history and reinterpretation of many of the events, schools of thought, and controversies that have punctuated the field from its beginnings. It should be required reading for every Organization Behavior and Development scholar. Among its many virtues, the book is beautifully written." Peter Vaill, senior scholar and emeritus professor of management, Antioch University Ph.D. Program in Leadership and Change; author, Learning as a Way of Being: Strategies for Survival in a World of Permanent White Water, and Spirited Leading and Learning
"During my 33-year career, I have been involved in publishing well over 1,000 books. Productive Workplaces is certainly among the top five most influential in terms of its impact on the organizations in which I worked, as well as on my personal leadership, and management concepts, and practices." Steven Piersanti, president and publisher, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.; formerly president, Jossey-Bass Publishers
"As a professor in graduate studies in leadership and business psychology, I see my role as passing on to a new generation the values and lessons learned from a 25-year career in organizational effectiveness. Marvin Weisbord is a master whose wisdom I encourage my students to seek out." Connie S. Fuller, Ph.D., associate chair and assistant professor, Business Psychology, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology; coauthor, Bridging the Boomer-Xer Gap: Creating Authentic Teams for High Performance at Work
"If somebody asks me to name just one good book on management, or organizational development, or social psychology, I give them the same answer: Productive Workplaces. It addresses the heady topic of meaning and dignity in work with writing that is as engaging as a well-written novel." Gil Steil, Gil Steil Associates, Boston, Massachusetts
Table of Contents
Updates from the Field xxi
Foreword by Billie Alban: The Existential Question xxiii
Preface:Welcome to Productive Workplaces, 25th Anniversary Edition xxvii
Introduction: Getting the Most from Productive Workplaces xxxiii
PART ONE Mythology and Managing 1
ONE A Mythology of Organizational Change 3
TWO How I Learned to Manage by Managing 15
PART TWO Searching for Productive Workplaces 33
THREE Scientific Management: A Tale of Two Taylors 35
FOUR Taylor Invents a New Profession 59
FIVE Action Research: Lewin Revises Taylorism 79
SIX Lewin’s Legacy to Management 97
SEVEN The Transition to Experiential Learning 113
EIGHT McGregor and the Roots of Organization Development 133
NINE Theories X and Y for a New Generation 149
TEN Emery and Trist Redefine the Workplace 167
ELEVEN Learning to Work in a New Paradigm 185
PART THREE Learning from Experience 203
TWELVE Putting Action Research to Work 207
THIRTEEN Rethinking Diagnosis and Action 221
Case 1. Food Services Turnover: Action Research and Human Resource Accounting 223
Case 2. Chem Corp R&D: Managers Do Their Own Feedback 230
Case 3. Packaging Plant: Operators Meet Expert Analysis 235
Case 4. Solcorp: Expertise Can’t Fix the Old Paradigm 244
FOURTEEN Managing and Consulting in Permanent White Water 253
FIFTEEN Involving Everyone to Improve the Whole 269
Case 5. Medical School: Stakeholders Plan the Future 270
Case 6. Printing Inc.: Getting the Report Out of the Drawer 277
SIXTEEN Revising Theories of What Works 289
SEVENTEEN Making Systems Thinking Experiential 303
PART FOUR Integrating the Past into the Present 317
EIGHTEEN 21st Century Managing and Consulting 321
NINETEEN Changing Everything at Once 343
TWENTY Teamwork in a Fast-Changing World 375
TWENTY ONE Designing Work for Learning and Self-Control 387
TWENTY TWO Future Search: The Whole System in the Room 411
TWENTY THREE Cross-Cultural Future Searching 427
PART F IVE Learning Then and Now 443
TWENTY FOUR Ten Cases Decades Later: What’s Sustainable About “Change”? 445
TWENTY FIVE Changing the World One Meeting at a Time 459
TWENTY SIX The Future Never Comes, It’s Already Here 471
References 483
Acknowledgments 501
About the Author 505
Index 507