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 | Corporation Man; Who He Is, What He Does, Why His
Ancient Tribal Impulses Dominate the Life of the Modern Corporation, Jay,
Antony, Random House, 1971, ISBN: 0394472535 (out-of-print)
Jay, a former BBC executive and frequent author, applies the "new anthropology"
to the patterns of behavior in the modern corporation. He maps tribal structure onto
the work groups, with "hunters," and "camp." The former are
responsible for going out to bring back game (look around your own organization), the rest
of the organization are "women, children and old folks," tending the home fires.
Jay points out that the band of hunters must trust one another to
be effective: The part of the band who are downwind have to trust that the band
upwind will drive only a few animals in their direction, not a stampede. He further
posits that teams form under pressure; and a deadline (even if artificial) is a form of
pressure.
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| The Magic of Conflict : Turning a Life of Work into a
Work of Art, Crum, Thomas F., Touchstone Books, Oct. 1988, ISBN:
0671668366
Crum, applying the principles of the martial art Aikido, shows how conflict is a vital
force tht can be shaped and focused. Aikido is based on using the opponent's
strongest direction and magnitude of movement, through exploitation of the consequent
weakest direction and magnitude of movement, to transform the experience in some
significant and productive way. Conflict, Crum points out, is natural: When
two people have different desires, those desires conflict. It's how we handle
that conflict (instead of denying there is a conflict, or explaining it away)
that marks our ability to behave honorably. By (he)artfully shaping an
interaction that achieves some beneficial result for the maximum number of participants,
we achieve win-win results for all. |
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