Resumo de The Path Of Least Resistance For Managers (designing Organizations To Succeed)

There are many factors for the success of an organization. In our efforts for the results, we may not look towards & take care of, seemingly less important factors, such as the structure of the organization. In spite of serious efforts, pressures, motivation & focusing on the results etc., most of the organizations are unable to give performance to their potential. Possibly, the existing organization structure may be lacking in some thing, & unable to contribute to the results as required. By looking into & revising the structure, it amounts to our designing it for its success. In fifteen Chapters contained in three parts of the book, the author discusses various aspects of this topic, & enunciates nine laws, for considering for restructuring the organizations. With the changes effected & thus developing paths of least resistance, higher successes can be achieved. In author's view, organizations having structural tension dominating, advance consistently, while those having structural conflict, oscillate consistently. The whole book explains the operation of these two. But the good thing is that, the shaping of the organization is in the hands of its personnel. conflict is said to be existing e.g. when we are requiring innovations but risks & failures can not be accepted, & also we are encouraging people for freely talking about the problems limiting success, but this may not be palatable to some, & such a person may land in trouble himself. In structural conflict organizations, considerations like being goody-goody, pleasing the boss, maintaining power & not giving surprises etc., get precedence over obtaining results. Structural tension organizations know, honouring vision & reality equally, they can face the situations admirably well & they operate in the direction of creativity. Some amount of structural conflict does exist in them also. To avoid manager's control, there is talk of self-organizing of activities, which leads to structural conflicts. Hence, discipline is required as focused effort. We may be resolving the problems one after another, but not knowing what & why it is going on. We have to see the interconnectedness & relationships, which lead to employees behaviour. Understanding of the structure & its power to support the efforts for successes is required, by creating a path of least resistance, with the forces in play. The author discusses about converting the organization from oscillating to advancement stage; management strategy supporting business strategy; arranging so that all parts of the organization support each other; aligning the persons to the purpose of the organization.
In one of the important Chapters the author talks about, obtaining greatness of the organization based on structural tension. A lot depends on the leadership, who may have the intuition based understanding about structure, but it has to permeate the whole organization. When all persons understand the structure & use it wisely, true greatness can be achieved. The author lists seven elements for this purpose viz. properly & widely distributing power; managing local interests well; making it a social force; making principles determine the policies; defining the expansion clearly; proper managing of resources; continually & systematically aligning of persons. It is a guide book for the managers for a proper study of the different aspects of this subject, for using it for developing paths of least resistance, for obtaining successes in our organizations.

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