Transforming Organizations

This book examines how organizations can, and should, transform their practices to compete in a world economy. Research results from a multi-disciplinary team of MIT researchers, along with the experiences and insights of a select group of industry practitioners, are integrated into a model that stresses the need for systemic and transformative rather than piecemeal or incremental changes in organization practices and public policy. This integration of research and experience results in an argument for a new organizational learning model--one capable of gaining advantage from employee diversity, cooperation across organizational boundaries, strategic restructuring, and advanced technology. The book begins with a foreword by Lester C. Thurow.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1: Thomas A. Kochan and Michael Useem: Achieving Systemic Organizational Change I. Strategic restructuring 2: Ronald Dore: Japan's Version of Managerial Capitalism 3: Richard M. Locke: The Political Embeddedness of Industrial Change: Corporate Restructuring and Local Politics in Contemporary Italy 4: Michael Useem: Corporate Restructuring and Organizational Behavior 5: Paul M. Healy: The Effect of Changes in Corporate Control on Firm Performance 6: Edgar H. Schein: The Role of the CEO in the Management of Change: The Case of Information Technology 7: John C. Henderson and N. Venkatraman: Strategic Alignment: A Model for Organizational Transformation Through Information Technology 8: Rebecca M. Henderson: Technological Change and the Management of Architectural Knowledge II. Using human resources for strategic advantage 9: Lisa M. Lynch: Using Human Resources in Skill Formation: The Role of Training 10: Deborah Gladstein Ancona and David E. Caldwell: Cross-Functional Teams: Blessing or Curse for New Product Development? 11: Thomas A. Kochan and Robert B. McKersie: Human Resources, Organizational Governance, and Public Policy: Lessons from a Decade of Experimentation 12: Lotte Bailyn: Changing the Conditions of Work: Responding to Increasing Work Force Diversity and New Family Patterns III. Using technology for strategic advantage 13: John Paul MacDuffie and John F. Krafcik: Integrating Technology and Human Resources for High-Performance Manufacturing: Evidence from the International Auto Industry 14: Marcie J. Tyre: Managing the Introduction of New Process Technology: An International Comparison 15: D. Eleanor Westney: Organizational Change and the Internationalization of R&D 16: Michael S. Scott Morton: The Effects of Information Technology on Management and Organizations 17: Robert J. Thomas: Organizational Change and Decision Making About New Technology IV. Redesigning organizational structures and boundaries 18: Michael J. Piore: Work, Labor, and Action: Work Experience in a System of Flexible Production 19: Stephan Schrader: Informal Information Trading Between Firms 20: Edward B. Roberts: Strategic Alternatives for Technology-Based Product and Business Development 21: Peter M. Senge and John D. Sterman: Systems Thinking and Organizational Learning: Acting Locally and Thinking Globally in the Organization of the Future V. Leadership and change: the practitioners' perspective 22: Raymond Stata: A CEO's Perspective 23: Donald Ephlin: A Labor Leader's Perspective Conclusion 24: Michael Useem and Thomas A. Kochan: Creating the Learning Organization Contributors and Participants Index

Review :
"A timely contribution. Most major corporations are grappling with the issues discussed in this book. It provides a wealth of good ideas and real experience. I highly recommend it."-- Paul A. Allaire, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Xerox Corporation "At a time when corporations are undergoing a paradigmatic change in organizing and managing people, this book makes an important contribution to out understanding of that change. It contains many new and diverse insights which together provide a comprehensive and systematic perspective of the corporate transformation taking place....[T]his book joins many of the omprtant issues which managers and academicians must come to understand if a new and more adaptive learning organization is to emerge."--Michael Beer, Harvard Graduate School of Business "Transforming Organizations reports an especially wide ranging perspective on systematic organization change. This multi-faceted project has been able to effectively link economic, strategic, organizational, technological, and ouman resource management issues as they relate to organization learning. Ideas in this book will be of importance for any student or manager."--Michael Tushman, Columbia University Graduate School of Business "This [is a] very insightful book....The belief that the process of change is elusive and difficult to manage makes the collection of lessons presented in this book extremely useful. The scope of Transforming Organizations is quite broad, and it should be very helpful to anyone who has to deal with the process of organizational change."--Paul Lego, Chair, Westinghouse Electric Corporation "It is rare to read a book, like this one, in which all the contributions are excellent....Each is full of food for thought. The authors go to the heart of the most difficult issues and their analyses are crisp and tight....The book helped me to reflect, to agree, and to disagree. I recommend the book."--Chris Argyris, Sloan Management Review "A timely contribution. Most major corporations are grappling with the issues discussed in this book. It provides a wealth of good ideas and real experience. I highly recommend it."-- Paul A. Allaire, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Xerox Corporation "At a time when corporations are undergoing a paradigmatic change in organizing and managing people, this book makes an important contribution to out understanding of that change. It contains many new and diverse insights which together provide a comprehensive and systematic perspective of the corporate transformation taking place....[T]his book joins many of the omprtant issues which managers and academicians must come to understand if a new and more adaptive learning organization is to emerge."--Michael Beer, Harvard Graduate School of Business "Transforming Organizations reports an especially wide ranging perspective on systematic organization change. This multi-faceted project has been able to effectively link economic, strategic, organizational, technological, and ouman resource management issues as they relate to organization learning. Ideas in this book will be of importance for any student or manager."--Michael Tushman, Columbia University Graduate School of Business "This [is a] very insightful book....The belief that the process of change is elusive and difficult to manage makes the collection of lessons presented in this book extremely useful. The scope of Transforming Organizations is quite broad, and it should be very helpful to anyone who has to deal with the process of organizational change."--Paul Lego, Chair, Westinghouse Electric Corporation "It is rare to read a book, like this one, in which all the contributions are excellent....Each is full of food for thought. The authors go to the heart of the most difficult issues and their analyses are crisp and tight....The book helped me to reflect, to agree, and to disagree. I recommend the book."--Chris Argyris, Sloan Management Review "What distinguishes the contributions in Transforming Organizations is the depth with which each expert makes the case for the particular part of the system he or she is examining, creating frameworks for analyzing his or her issue....Transforming Organizations stretches the conventionally understood realm of "organizational change" in a necessary direction by adding to it such ators as: political and socioeconomic effects; the historical and developmental backgrounds in which organizations arise; the various markets for enterprise influence, control, and ownership; and a recognition that an organization's members have important lives and relationships outside work."--Contemporary Sociology "A very valuable book....Both managers and researchers can draw a host of lessons from the collection, ranging from its questioning of panaceas and of technical change without human resource changes, to the highlighting of such neglected matters as middle management."--Industrial and Labor Relations Review