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Reinventing Organizations: A Guide To Creating Organizations Inspired By The Next Stage Of Human Consciousness (2014)

by Frederic Laloux(Favorite Author)

4.61 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Nelson Parker

review 1: As someone with a deep interest in organizational development and transformation this is the most accessible and applicable book I have come across for helping people see what is possible. Workplaces really can be sources of rejuvenation, self-expression and purpose.Recommended for anyone trying to wrap their head around self-directed teams, conscious practices and new ways of communicating and meeting in their workplace.
review 2: Informative, repetitive, thorough, overly long, and at times, weird.FRederic Laloux's Reinventing Organizations is an in depth survey into the evolution of organisational theory. He describes how organisations have evolved,over time, from the street gang, mafia type, impulsive, organisations, which he refers to as Red organisations, ... morethrough conformist organisations, with strong rules, structure and a rigid hierarchy, which he calls Amber; then on to Orange, green and finally teal. He describes Orange as typified by companies such as Walmart, Nike and Coca-Cola where individual and collective greed seem to dominate as does a small circle of CEOs granting themselves higher salaries, lobbying governments and gaining more and more power. Here strategy and execution are king. As cultures have evolved, so some organisational structures have evolved into “Green” organisations, typified by Southwest Airlines, Ben and Jerry's and The Container Store. Unlike Orange, where materialistic obsession dominate, and there is social inequality and a loss of community, green seeks fairness, equality, harmony, cooperation, consensus and community involvement. A simple description is, Red - wolfpack, Amber – army type organisations, Orange – a machine and green - a family.The strength of the book is in the investigations into so called Teal organisations, that Laloux sees as the new evolutionary state. He has spent considerable time interviewing and examining several organisations, how they work, their strengths and the applicability of the teal structure to existing organisations. In simple terms, a Teal organisation is one that pushes authority downwards, and is run by the decisions made by the workforce. The reality is more complex as are the difficulties. Laloux feels that a founder of a Teal organisation should see such an organisation as having a life and purpose of its own, distinct from his own wishes and desires. His supporting examples make for fascinating study.This is not a book that one would pick up to get a general feel for the evolution of organisational theory as it appears to be aimed at the text book market where it makes few assumptions about its readers. Therefore it gives considerable background to the theories. Unfortunately this tends to make the book long and, at times, repetitive.It's major weakness is the incorporation of the writers personal prejudices as he seems to have embraced New Age and Gaia philosophies. “We need the consciousness of Green and Teal organizations to start healing the world of the wounds of modernity” seems reasonable as does “Teal organizations make peace with a complex world” but describing “The Evolutionary Teal” organisation “no longer as property, not even shared property in service of its different stakeholders. The organization is viewed as an energy field, emerging potential, a form of life that transcends its stakeholders, pursuing its own unique evolutionary purpose.” seems to be stretching language a bit far. He takes us further though with “Spiritual Re-enchantment” when he describes Teal people as seeking “unity and transcendence through personal experience and practices. This offers the perspective of teal societies that heal previous religious divisions and re-enchant the materialistic world of modernity through non-religious spirituality.” Laloux then goes on to promote something that he calls “Transcendent consciousness” whereby people seek “wholeness, to integrate all parts of the self, big and small. Sometimes, through meditative practices, or sheer luck, they have a peak experience beyond even the big self; they merge an become one with the absolute, with nature, with God. … People who transition to transcendent consciousness start to actively seek such experiences. … [personal development techniques] help to access non-ordinary states of consciousness – to experience, beyond separateness, beyond time and space, the oneness with all of manifestation.” He then describes some Buddhist types of transcendent consciousness leading to “oneness with nature, divinity, and the Absolute.” He proposes creating organisational “practices that work directly with the world of energy and spirit to help manifest an organization's evolutionary purpose with less effort and more grace.” Anyone who is captivated by this needs to contact the SCP (Spiritual Counterfeits Project) straight away.This book is a “Curate's Egg”. The good is very good, but the bad seriously detracts from that good. Don't be put off. Just don't read it through rose tinted spectacles (to mix my metaphors.) less

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