The Path of Least Resistance for Managers

by Robert Fritz

Overview

How to design your organization for success . . Science tells us that energy travels where it is easiest to go. Drawing on this concept, Robert Fritz adds a missing piece to management literature: the structural causes of success and failure, and explains how to redesign the organization or team for success. The Path of Least Resistance for Managers teaches readers to take structural laws into account when they restructure their own organizations so the changes they attempt to make do succeed, and they can achieve their highest goals.

Fritz examines four crucial elements that contribute to an organization's success:

How to move the organization from wasteful oscillating patterns to successful advancement;

How a management strategy can best support the business strategy;

How to compose the organization so that all the parts support each other;

How people can align to the spiritual purpose of the organization.

This revolutionary guide prescribes a direct approach that managers can use immediately to develop the paths of least resistance that will lead to success for their organizations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780972553667
Publisher:	Newfane Press
Publication date:	01/01/2011
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.72(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Fritz is the founder of the field of structural consulting. He is a founding partner, along with Peter Senge and Charlie Kiefer, of Innovation Associates.

PETER M. SENGE is the founding chairperson of the Society for Organizational Learning and a senior lecturer at MIT. He is the co-author of "The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook, The Dance of Change," and "Schools That Learn "(part of the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook series)" "and has lectured extensively throughout the world. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ..... xv
Prologue ..... 1

Part 1: The Path to Advancement ..... 11

Chapter 1: An Organization's Structure: The Path to Success or Failure ..... 13
Chapter 2: Structural Tension: The Secret of Your Success ..... 27
Chapter 3: Structural Tension Charting: The Key to Organizational Design ..... 43
Chapter 4: Telescoping: Creating Organizational Counterpoint ..... 59
Chapter 5: Checklists: Refining the Chart ..... 79

Part 2: The Path of Oscillation ..... 89

Chapter 6: Structural Conflict: Why Organizations Oscillate ..... 91
Chapter 7: The Problem with Problem Solving ..... 105
Chapter 8: Structural Conflicts of the Rich and Famous ..... 115
Chapter 9: Now to Address Structural Conflicts: The Key to Structural Redesign ..... 135

Part 3: Elements of Design: Moving from the Rocking Chair to a Ferrari ..... 147

Chapter 10: Purpose: What Unifies the Organization ..... 149
Chapter 11: Business Strategy. The Path of Least Resistance to Our Purpose ..... 157
Chapter 12: Frames: The Best Way to See Reality ..... 175
Chapter 13: Discovering Our True Vision ..... 183
Chapter 14: The Power of Shared Structural Tension ..... 199
Chapter 15: Organizational Greatness: Building on Structural Tension ..... 207

Epilogue ..... 217

Appendix: Some Afterthoughts and Add-on Points ..... 219

Index ..... 225
About the Author ..... 733

Editorial Reviews

Fritz's style is concise and diresct, and he draws on his expertise in qualitative analysis and corporate business to convincingly get the message across.
—ForeWord

Cindy Patuszynski