The democratic enterprise : liberating your business with freedom, flexibility and commitment / Lynda Gratton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gratton, Lynda.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Management--Employee participation.

Management.

Personnel management.

Physical Description:

xviii, 254 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Prentice Hall/Financial Times, 2004.

Summary:

How can we change the way we manage and organize people to make the most of their talent and energy? The free to choose are fast to act for an enterprise they believe in, but they're also the first to leave an organization that fails them. In The Democratic Enterprise Lynda Gratton sets out a practical blueprint for designing smarter working relationships based on free choice and shared purpose -- where autonomy, choice and trust breed speed, flexibility and commitment. Imagine a company where people are free to build their potential. Where they have choice and flexibility in the time and location of their work. Where parents can take responsibility for their children and every employee can balance work and life. This is a business that combines individual autonomy and accountability with organizational variety and shared meaning. This is a business we would choose to work with. The Democratic Enterprise explores, from the perspective of the individual and the organization what it means to craft choice, and shows us how to use some of the basic principles of democracy to build organizations of which we can be proud.

Contents:

1 Citizens' Tales

The story of Greg Grimshaw at BP 3

Why Greg is important to the success of BP 6

What Greg has done to be the best he could be 8

What BP has done to help Greg become the best he could be 9

The story of Nina Bhatia at McKinsey 10

Why Nina is important to the success of McKinsey 13

What Nina has done to become the best she could be 14

What McKinsey has done to support Nina to be the best she could be 15

The story of Stewart Kearney at BT 16

Why Stewart is important to the success of BT 18

What Stewart has done to be the best he could be 19

What BT has done to support Stewart to be the best he could be 20

The value of the Democratic Enterprise 21

2 What Democracy Means

A short history of democracy 26

Classical democracy 26

Liberal democracy 28

Direct democracy 29

Competitive, elitist democracy 30

Legal democracy 31

The tenets of the Democratic Enterprise 33

Tenet 1 An adult-to-adult relationship 36

Tenet 2 Individuals as investors 37

Tenet 3 The expression of diverse qualities 38

Tenet 4 Participation in the determination of conditions of association 40

Tenet 5 The liberty of some individuals is not at the expense of others 41

Tenet 6 Accountabilities and obligations 42

3 Democracy at Work

Tenet 1 An adult-to-adult relationship 44

Tenet 2 Individuals as investors 47

Tenet 3 The expression of diverse qualities 49

Tenet 4 Participation in the conditions of association 51

Tenet 5 The liberty of some individuals is not at the expense of others 54

Tenet 6 Accountabilities and obligations 56

The state of enterprise democracy 59

Why are some companies more democratic than others? 65

4 The Drivers to Democracy

The first force of democracy: the shift in individuals 69

The baby boomers want a life 70

Generations X and Y want autonomy and choice 72

The second force of democracy: the shift in technology 74

Support for individual autonomy 78

Support for flexibility and variety 79

5 Building Individual Autonomy

The citizen investor 82

The elements of human capital 83

Intellectual capital 85

Emotional capital 88

Social capital 90

Leveraging human capital 94

How individuals become autonomous 97

Becoming aware 100

Becoming reflective 103

Creating models 105

Taking action 108

How organizations support autonomy 110

Supporting awareness 111

Encouraging reflection 114

Assisting model building 115

How organizations understand employees 117

Building employee insight at Tesco 119

6 Crafting Organizational Variety

Pioneers of democracy 128

Variety of job assignments: BP 130

Variety of job assignments: the insights 133

Variety of projects and task forces: McKinsey 135

Variety of projects and task forces: the insights 138

Choice of job content: Sony 140

Variety of job content: the insights 145

Choice of training: Unisys 147

Variety in training: the insights 151

Choice of developmental relationships: Goldman Sachs 153

Variety in relationships: the insights 156

Choice of rewards and benefits: AstraZeneca 158

Variety in rewards and benefits: the insights 160

Choice of location: BT 161

Variety in location: the insights 163

Choice of time: HP 166

Variety in time: the insights 168

The lessons of building variety 169

1 Map of terrain of sacrifice 171

2 Continuously expand variety 171

3 Prepare for variety to educate 172

4 Be prepared to tinker 173

5 Create rich information 173

6 Keep the rules simple 175

7 Shaping Shared Purpose

Goals 178

Accountabilities and obligations 181

The obligations of clients 183

The obligations of the firm 184

The obligation of the members 186

Trust and power 188

8 Leaders and Citizens at Work

The role of the leader 195

The leader as philosopher 195

The leader as visionary 197

The role of the team leader 198

The team leader as creator of space 198

The team leader as goal setter 199

The team leader as role model 200

The team leader as mentor and coach 201

The HR role 203

Creator of employee insight 203

Builder of trials and experiments 204

9 The Five Good Reasons to Become a Democratic Enterprise

Employees who experience democracy are more engaged 208

Democratic enterprises create win-win solutions 211

Democratic enterprises are more just and fair 215

Democratic enterprises are more agile 218

Democratic enterprises are more able to integrate 220.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 224-244) and index.

ISBN:

0273675281

9780273675280

OCLC:

488513902