A Skimmer’s Guide to The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Workplace, by Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan.
The book: The Org: The Beneath­lying Logic of the Workplace, by Ray Fisman and Tim Sullivan.
The huge notion: Organizations operate the way they do for a reason. Accepted signifiers of workplace dysfunction, such as endless meetings and rigid policies, are frequently the outcome of necessary tradeoffs amongst such aspects as innovation and coordination. Understanding those tradeoffs can support leaders make choices as their organizations scale.
The backstory: Fisman is a professor of social enterprise at Columbia Company School. His final book, Economic Gangsters, was about the corruption that prevents economic aid from reaching the world’s poor.
If you read nothing at all else: Chapter 5 wipes some of the luster from inventive kinds while polishing the reputations of the significantly-maligned suits who oversee them. Amongst other circumstances, it cites a study of video-game companies that attribute far far more revenue to the operate of project managers than designers. Chapter Six reassures leaders that their meeting-packed schedules are great for the company, simply because that’s where CEOs collect info and cut via the spin that managers embed in a single-on-one conversations and reports.
Rigor rating: 8 (1=Who Moved My Cheese? 10=Excellent to Wonderful). The Org effortlessly blends the history of management theory with present finest practices. Although the authors cite mostly secondary sources, they display a extensive grasp of academic literature and the well-liked organization press.
