Good managers and leaders sustain a tension-!lled poise between extremes. They combine core values with elastic strategies. They get things done without being done in. They know what they stand for and what they want and communicate their vision with clarity and power. But they also understand and respond to the vortex of forces that propel organizations in con”icting trajectories. They think creatively about how to make things happen. They develop strategies with enough elasticity to respond to the twists and turns of the path to a better future.
There is a misguided notion that a leader ventures into uncharted terrain with omniscient foresight and unlimited courage. Keller comes closer to the reality: “The greatest leaders are often, in reality, skillful followers. They do not control the “ow of history, but by having the good sense not to stand in its way, they seem to (1990, p. 1).
Leaders need con!dence to confront gnarly problems and deep divisions. They must expect con”ict, knowing their actions may unleash forces beyond their control. They need courage to follow uncharted routes, expecting surprise and pushing ahead when the ultimate destination is only dimly foreseeable. Most important, they need to be in touch
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with their hearts and souls as well as their heads. It has been said that the heart has a mind of its own. Good leaders listen.
COMMITMENT TO CORE BELIEFS Poetry and philosophy are neglected in managerial training, and business schools seldom ask if spiritual development is central to their mission. It is no wonder that managers are often viewed as chameleons who can adapt to anything, guided only by expediency. Analysis and agility are necessary but not enough. Organizations need leaders who can provide a durable sense of purpose and direction, rooted deeply in values and the human spirit. “We have a revolution to make, and this revolution is not political, but spiritual” (Guéhenno, 1993, p. 167). There is cause for hope.
Leaders need to be deeply re”ective and dramatically explicit about core values and beliefs. Many of the world’s legendary corporate heroes articulated their philosophies and values so strikingly that they are still visible in today’s behavior and operations. In government, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle, Margaret Thatcher, and Lee Kuan Yew were controversial, but each espoused enduring values and beliefs. These served as a guiding beacon for their respective nations.
MULTIFRAME THINKING Commitment to both resilient values and elastic strategies involves a paradox. Franklin Roosevelt’s image as lion and fox, Mao’s reputation as tiger and monkey, and Mary Kay Ash’s depiction as fairy godmother and pink panther were not so much inconsistencies as signs that they could embrace contradiction. They intuitively recognized the multiple dimensions of society and moved “exibly to implement their visions. The use of multiple frames permits leaders to see and understand more—if they are able to employ the different logics that accompany diverse ways of thinking.
Leaders fail when they take too narrow a view. Unless they can think “exibly and see organizations from multiple angles, they will be unable to deal with the full range of issues they inevitably encounter. Jimmy Carter’s preoccupation with details and rationality made it hard for him to marshal support for his programs or to capture the hearts of most Americans. Even FDR’s multifaceted approach to the presidency—he was a superb observer of human needs, a charming persuader, a solid administrator, a political manipulator, and a master of ritual and ceremony—miscarried when he underestimated the public reaction to his plan to enlarge the Supreme Court.
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Multiframe thinking is challenging and often counterintuitive. To see the same organiza- tion as machine, family, jungle, and theater requires the capacity to think in different ways at the same time about the same thing. Like surfers, leaders must ride the waves of change. Too far ahead, they will be crushed. If they fall behind, they will become irrelevant. Success requires artistry, skill, and the ability to see organizations as organic forms in which needs, roles, power, and symbols must be integrated to provide direction and shape behavior. The power to reframe is vital for modern leaders. The ability to see new possibilities and to create new opportunities enables leaders to discover alternatives when options seem severely constrained. It helps them !nd hope and faith amid fear and despair. Choice is at the heart of freedom, and freedom is essential to achieving the twin goals of commitment and”exibility.
Organizations everywhere are struggling to cope with a shrinking planet and a global economy. The accelerating pace of change continues to produce grave political, economic, and social discontinuities. A world ever more dependent on organizations now !nds them evolving too slowly to meet pressing social demands. Without wise leaders and artistic managers to help close the gap, we will continue to see misdirected resources, massive ineffectiveness, and unnecessary human pain and suffering. All these af”ictions are already present and there is no guarantee that they will not worsen—unless we can enlarge our palette of options.
We see prodigious challenges ahead for organizations and those who guide them, yet we remain optimistic.Wewant this revised volume to lay the groundwork for a new generation of managers and leaders who recognize the importance of poetry and philosophy as well as analysis and technique. We need pioneers who embrace the fundamental values of human life and the human spirit. Such leaders and managers will be playful theorists who can see organizations through a complex prism. They will be negotiators able to design resilient strategies that simultaneously shape events and adapt to changing circumstances. They will understand the importance of knowing and caring for themselves and the people with whom they work. They will be architects, catalysts, advocates, and prophets who lead with soul.
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NAME INDEX
Note: Page references in italics refer to exhibits.
A Ackoff, Russell, 288 Adams, A. S., 39 Adams, Scott, 10, 128 Adler, P. S., 52 Agrawal, A., 9 Ajila, C. O., 121 Alban, B. T., 155 Alderfer, C., 121, 195 Allen, George, 102 Allen, Woody, 206, 392 Alsing, Carl, 268–269, 271–275 Alterman, E., 195 Alton, R., 9 Amar, V., 116 Anderlini, J., 187 Anders, G., 46 Andrews, P., 202 Ansari, S., 12 Applebaum, E., 137, 147 Argyris, Chris, 33, 35, 54, 124–128, 147, 160–166, 161,
164, 168, 177, 334, 349 Aristotle, 390 Armstrong, David, 248 Arndt, M., 62, 67, 116, 151 Arnold, Matthew, 265 Arnold, P., 369 Arteta, F., 147 Arthur, M., 333 Ash, Mary Kay, 255, 421 Atwater, L., 343 Austin, N., 338 Autin, F., 15 Autor, D., 234 Avolio, B., 343 Axelrod, R., 213
B Bader, P., 338 Bailey, D. E., 170, 176 Bailey, T., 137, 147 Baily, M. N., 130 Bakan, J., 230 Baker, C., 119 Bakken, Earl, 387 Baldridge, J. V., 191, 192, 277 Bales, F., 170 Balkundi, P., 173 Bamforth, Ken, 148 Bandler, R., 241 Baptista, J. P. A., 131 Barboza, D., 116, 188 Bardach, E., 11 Barley, S. R., 66, 230 Barnard, Chester, 334–336 Barnes, L. B., 337 Barnett, W. P., 368 Barra, Mary, 245 Barrett, Colleen, 392 Barrick, M. S., 137 Barstad, A., 151 Barstow, D., 132, 133, 386, 387 Bartel, C. A., 147 Barth, Shirley, 302 Bass, B. M., 331, 339, 343, 355 Bateson, G., 241, 257 Batstone, D., 128 Becker, B. E., 137, 139 Beckett, G., 227 Beer, M., 361 Bell, Heyward, 153 Bell, M. P., 324 Bell, T. E., 183, 208
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Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership, Sixth Edition. Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal. ! 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2017 by Jossey-Bass.
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