The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy Paperback - 2002

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The world is experiencing unprecedented ecological, economic, social, and political challenges. Consequently, today's organizations are searching for alternative leaders, structures, systems, and ways of operating. There is growing conflict within corporations about whether to seize short-term advantage and maximize shareholder profits, or build long-term, sustainable growth for both employees and society as a whole.

The End of Management and the Rise of Organizational Democracy presents a radical new view of the organization of the future and in the process redefines leadership for the twenty-first century. In this groundbreaking book, Kenneth Cloke and Joan Goldsmith make the case for putting an end to traditional management and reveal the key elements necessary to create the collaborative, democratic, self-managing organizations that will thrive in the future. Throughout this compelling book, the authors show how corporations, government agencies, schools, and nonprofits can dramatically improve by empowering those who work on the inside to manage themselves and take responsibility for their own transformation. The authors clearly show how collaboration, self-management, and organizational democracy fundamentally alter not only the way we work but also the nature of work itself. Organizations will create policies that are flexible and value-driven, procedures that are instantly customizable and responsive to customer needs, and use conflicts as opportunities for growth and learning.
Cloke and Goldsmith offer practical, specific suggestions for fashioning a value-based organization, provide ideas for creating innovative, self-managing, high-performance teams, and identify the self-correcting systems required to keep democratic organizations on course. Their initiatives include creating a "values audit" to develop a shared set of values, democratically electing CEOs, replacing hierarchies with webs of association, developing "linking leadership," designing complex self-correcting systems, and more.