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Organizational Traps
Leadership, Culture, Organizational Design
Chris Argyris
224 pages
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216x138mm
978-0-19-963964-9
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Paperback
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05 January 2012
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- Argyris returns to a key theme of his celebrated work: how organizations learn - or do not learn.
- Focuses on leadership, cultural change, and organizational design
- Considers how individuals and organizations often espouse a particular objective, and yet frequently employ means of implementation that contradict the objective
Anyone who has spent time in an organization knows that dysfunctional behavior abounds. Conflict is frequently avoided or pushed underground rather than dealt with openly. At the same time, the same arguments often burst out again and again, almost verbatim. Turf battles continue for extended periods without resolution. People nod their heads in agreement in meetings, and then rush out of the room to voice complaints to sympathetic ears in private. Worst of all, when people are asked if things will ever change, they throw up their hands in despair. They feel
like victims trapped in an asylum.
And people often are trapped. But they are not trapped by some oppressive regime or organizational structure that has been imposed on them. They are not victims. In fact, people themselves are responsible for making the status quo so resistant to change. We are trapped by our own behavior.
Researchers and practitioners have often reflected on these things, but there is a puzzle. On the one hand, there is substantial agreement that these traps are counterproductive to effective performance. On the other hand, there is almost no focus on how organizational traps can be prevented or reduced.
This book argues that whatever theory is used to describe and understand such organizational
traps should be used to design and implement interventions that reduce and prevent them. Argyris is one of the world's leading management scholars whose work has consistently shed light on organizational problems. This book is essential reading for MBAs, managers, and consultants.Readership: Graduate students and academics working across the Social Sciences, and particularly within Business and Management Studies; Practitioners, especially in human resources, consultants, and thoughtful line executives.
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Chris Argyris, James Bryant Conant Professor, Emeritus, Harvard University and Director Emeritus Monitor Group Company, Boston Chris Argyris is the James Bryant Conant Professor of Education and Organizational Behavior Emeritus at Harvard University. He has consulted to numerous private and governmental organizations. He has received many awards including thirteen honorary degrees and Lifetime Contribution Awards from the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, and American Society of Training Directors. His most recent books are, Flawed Advice and the Management Trap (OUP, 1999), and Reasons and Rationalizations (OUP, 2004). A chair professorship was established in his name in 1994
at Yale University. He is a Director Emeritus of Monitor Group.
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"For over half a century, Chris Argyris has been helping those who are willing to reflect on their own behavior to become more effective. This latest work is his clearest elucidation yet of why we fall into the traps that stymie us and how we can author our own escapes. And while he is at it, he provides wise counsel on how to audit the logic of those who purport to tell us the secrets of leadership." - Roger Martin, Dean, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
"Chris Argyris is a master of revealing the universal dysfunctionalities of organisations and the challenges of dealing with them. Here he picks up the theme of Organizational Traps and successfully links them to issues of leadership, culture, and organizational design. Once again Argyris offers us insights in how to understand and tackle them." - Andrew M Pettigrew OBE, FBA, Professor of Strategy and Organisation, Saïd Business School
"Argyris has once again challenged my thinking, theories and advice. Despite an explosion of books and articles about how to lead, improve organizational effectiveness and change culture we continue to see well intentioned and competent leaders embroiled in personal and organizational failures. Using decades of research, Argyris shows us the problem; our theories and advice ignore or bypass the hard truth; people avoid conversations that will help them learn about gaps between their intention to change and reality. Argyris argues that this well documented truth must be incorporated in our theories if they are to be robust and make a sustained difference. And leaders must insist we do if they are to avoid spending millions on flawed advice." - Michael Beer, Chairman, TruePoint and
Professor Emeritus, Harvard Business School
"It is rare for a serious management book to be a real page-turner, but this one is. Drawing on fascinating cases from a lifetime of research on group and organizational dynamics, Chris Argyris shows how our own reasoning processes entrap us in patterns of behavior that we detest but cannot change. He explains how these traps become self-sealing and why even our best efforts to escape them merely tighten their bonds. The provocative strategy he offers for breaking out of our self-created traps merits close attention by anyone who seeks to improve life and work in organizations." - J. Richard Hackman, Edgar Pierce Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology, Harvard University
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Introduction
Part I: Why we Act Against our own Stated Interests
1: How we Deal with Difficult Situations
2: Actions that Trap us
3: Causes of Traps
Part II: How Conventional Approaches Bypass Traps - and What to do about it
4: Leadership and Traps
5: Culture, Leadership, and Traps
6: Strengthening New Approaches
Conclusion: Traps and the Human Predicament
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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