Chapter 11 - The organizational context

Question 1

elaborate on the issue and the paradox

Answer 1

The issue is organizational development. In other words, how should an organization develop.

There are two ways to look at it:
1) Top management try to tightly control it
2) Top manageemnt allow “chaos” with the goal of self-organization

Before discussing the perspectives, we need some info on development.

First of all, in order to have development in organizations, we need leadership. Leadership can take differnet forms, but is most typically associated with power. Power has differnet forms as well.

There is a key dinstinction between a manager and a leader.

Leaders who wish to create organizational development must battle at 3 primary arenas:
1) Political arena
2) Cultural arena
3) Psychological arena

This leads us to the paradox. In general, managers like control. They like to decide shit.
managers want control, but also understand the need for letting go of control. letting go of control is crucial to navigate complex organizations.
The demand for “chaos” is presented as a pressure for a participative leadership style.

The perspectives here differ in their understanding of the organization. The leadership perspective believe the manager can set the stragic directions. The other perspective believe that managers rarely have the ability to shape their organizations at will, but rather that organizations change at their own dynamics. Managers should focus their energy on facilitating self-organization processes.