Strategic Organizational Change: A Practitioner's Guide for Managers and Consultants [Englisch] [Gebundene Ausgabe]

This is one of two of Michael Beitler's books I recently read, the other being Strategic Organizational Learning. In the most successful organizations, both learning and change must always be "strategic" to ensure that they support initiatives which achieve and sustain continuous improvement in all areas and at all levels. In fact, as Michael Marquardt among others correctly insist, learning and change must not only be interdependent; they must occur simultaneously. That is essentially what "action learning" is all about and is most valuable only when in proper alignment with an organization's strategy. As Beitler clearly indicates in his earlier book, learning without then taking appropriate action demonstrates what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton characterize as the "Knowing-Doing Gap"; similarly, action without learning demonstrates what they characterize as the "Doing-Knowing Gap." In this volume, Beitler explains how to avoid or escape from such gaps while making certain that "all the horses are pulling in the same direction" because "all the organizational members are aware of the organization's mission and its strategy to fulfill that mission."

He offers a strategy-driven approach to the real-world practice of organizational change (OC) and has carefully organized his material within three parts: The Practice of Organizational Change (Chapters1-6), OC Interventions - Tools of the Profession (Chapters 7-12), and Other Issues in OC (Chapters13 and 14). Whenever I encounter a discussion of change initiatives, I am again reminded of what Peter Drucker said in an article which appeared in the Harvard Business Review in 1963: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all." One of Beitler's most important points is that before formulating and then implementing an OC program, it is first necessary to decide (a) what needs to be changed, (b) why the changes are needed, and (c) which specific benefits such changes will produce. Otherwise, worth repeating, "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all."

It is worth noting that a high percentage of change initiatives fail. Reasons vary, of course, but one of the most common is what James O'Toole characterizes as "the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom." Some of Beitler's most valuable material is provided in Chapter 4, "Leading Versus Facilitating Change," as he examines a step-by-step process when leading change initiatives in the face of barriers such as those to which O'Toole refers.

Even an organizational change program such as the one Beitler provides in this volume, however, is doomed to failure unless and until everyone involved in the program knows how to overcome such barriers...and they must do so together, as an effective team, led by someone who possesses the requisite temperament and knowledge as well as skills which include what Beitler refers to as "political savvy." With uncommon precision and eloquence, Beitler explains how to achieve your organization's objectives, what ever their nature and extent may be.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check of Beitler's Strategic Organizational Learning, Pfeiffer and Sutton's The Knowing-Doing Gap and their more recently published Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense, O'Toole's Leading Change, Michael Hammer's The Agenda, and The Oz Principle co-authored by Tom Roger Connors, Tom Smith, and Craig Hickman as well as other sources provided in Beitler's Comprehensive Reference List.

This is necessity for any personal library! I am a PhD-ABD (doctoral candidate) and have done vast research on organizational change over the past four years. Dr. Beitler's writing covers the topic expansively and thoroughly. His books are not filled with the usual dry-academic and mundane language found in similar books, but is amazingly very interesting, filled with sound theory and application--yet, backed with supporting academic literature tucked away for verification and further reference. His writing style is very comfortable, easy to process, yet academically thorough and sound.

If you want to know more about how organizations work, how to motivate people or how to be a more effective leader, this book is for you! I use it regularly as a reference as an instructor in my own college classes I teach. Likewise, I have also found it quite helpful in my own research work as a doctoral scholar.

I highly recommend picking up a copy of Dr. Beitler's work. It will be one of the best investments you can make in a book. You can find samples of his work at his website [...].

This book has been such a valuable resource to my executive students that several commented that they plan to keep it as a working resource in their offices. In addition, Beitler's writing style is real and natural, not stuffy or overly academic. I reviewed several books on organizational change for my MBA class and felt that Beitler's "Strategic Organizational Change" was my pesonal favorite.