"Gratton's book is timely and important. She is one of a small but influential band of business academics who have begun to question the "ideological gloomy paradigm" - the overwhelmingly negative assumptions about human nature that historically underpin management theorising. The Democratic Enterprise is one of the first interventions to crystallise these dissatisfactions and offer steps to a positive alternative model...The revolution is democracy and it starts here."
The Observer
"One of Britain's leading lights in human resource strategy"
Financial Times
Liberating your Business with Freedom, Flexibility and Commitment
The Democratic Enterprise delivers the blueprint for a business built on choice and commitment. A business made fast through freedom and purposeful through meaning. This is a business people would choose to work for.
These days individuals matter more than their roles, so how can we change the way we manage and organise people to make the most of their talent and energy? The free to choose are fast to act for an enterprise they believe in, but they're also the first to leave an organisation that fails them. In The Democratic Enterprise HR guru Lynda Gratton sets out a practical blueprint for designing smarter working relationships based on free choice and shared purpose - where autonomy, choice and trust breed speed, flexibility and commitment. This is the business we'd choose to work for, even if we have the talent and ability to leave.
Smart people want a more grown-up relationship with their employers these days. And most businesses too, realise that they can get more from people through flexible and intelligent working relationships. So imagine a company where people have more freedom in how, where and when they work. Where they have more personal choice in their work, but also share more commitment with their colleagues to a bigger purpose. This is a business we would choose to work with.
The Democratic Enterprise explores, from the perspective of the individual and the organization what it means to craft choice, and shows us how to use some of the basic principles of democracy to build organizations of which we can be proud.
The book examines eight companies which have pioneered choice and democracy, and shows how:
the oil giant BP has created transparent internal markets for jobs enabling every employee to develop a breadth and depth of competencies
McKinsey & Co. has brought an unprecedented level of transparency to the ways in which associates can choose the projects to work on
Sony have created a ground-breaking digital system by creating a context in which engineers have real freedom to create worthwhile and meaningful jobs
Unisys has enabled every employee to access an enormous range of training opportunities to ensure they are truly becoming the best they can be.
Goldman Sachs builds choice around the development relationships which are so crucial to personal and organizational development
AstraZeneca has brought complete transparency to employee access to pay and benefits.
BT has enabled many tens of thousands of employees to make locational choice
and finally, how HP has built discretion around time.
Learn how each of these companies have pioneered the tenets of democracy and choice and by doing so have created strong, agile enterprises powered by employee engagement and collaboration.
The Democratic Enterprise concludes by building a mandate for choice and democracy through focusing on the four building blocks: supporting individual autonomy; creating organizational insight; building organizational variety; and finally, crafting a sense of shared destiny. These challenges are set out for the role of the business leader, the role of the manager, the role of HR and the role of the employee,
Read this book and learn how to:
Create a business in which talented people can develop and change without leaving
Understand your employees as well as you understand your customers
Design work content and culture that give people the freedom to choose and the freedom to act
Create shared meaning and purpose to drive daily motivation and inform daily judgement calls
"Lynda Gratton has captured, in a very profound way, the emerging realization of what truly matters in transforming businesses: people, purpose, and participation. In a word, democracy." - Niall FitzGerald, Chairman, Unilever
"As Lynda Gratton demonstrates in this marvellously written book, there is enough that corporate leaders and human resources specialists can do today to embrace the power of democratic processes to both raise the economic performance of their companies and build delightful organizations".
- Sumantra Ghoshal, Professor of Strategy and International Management , London Business School
"Lynda Gratton has crafted a new classic. Democratic Enterprise draws on Greek and political traditions about democracy -- demo (people) and kratos (rule) -- and applies them to modern organizations. It is a masterpiece that connects individuals and their organizations with rich theory and realistic action.
- Dave Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan
"Gratton"s thoughtful and creative work breathes life into the role of people in organizations." David Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan Product Description
Gratton's book is timely and important. She is one of a small but influential band of business academics who have begun to question the ideological gloomy paradigm - the overwhelmingly negative assumptions about human nature that historically underpin management theorising. The Democratic Enterprise is one of the first interventions to crystallise these dissatisfactions and offer steps to a positive alternative model...The revolution is democracy and it starts here.
The Observer
One of Britain's leading lights in human resource strategy
Financial Times
Liberating your Business with Freedom, Flexibility and Commitment
The Democratic Enterprise delivers the blueprint for a business built on choice and commitment. A business made fast through freedom and purposeful through meaning. This is a business people would choose to work for.
These days individuals matter more than their roles, so how can we change the way we manage and organise people to make the most of their talent and energy? The free to choose are fast to act for an enterprise they believe in, but they're also the first to leave an organisation that fails them. In The Democratic Enterprise HR guru Lynda Gratton sets out a practical blueprint for designing smarter working relationships based on free choice and shared purpose - where autonomy, choice and trust breed speed, flexibility and commitment. This is the business we'd choose to work for, even if we have the talent and ability to leave.
Smart people want a more grown-up relationship with their employers these days. And most businesses too, realise that they can get more from people through flexible and intelligent working relationships. So imagine a company where people have more freedom in how, where and when they work. Where they have more personal choice in their work, but also share more commitment with their colleagues to a bigger purpose. This is a business we would choose to work with.
The Democratic Enterprise explores, from the perspective of the individual and the organization what it means to craft choice, and shows us how to use some of the basic principles of democracy to build organizations of which we can be proud.
The book examines eight companies which have pioneered choice and democracy, and shows how:
the oil giant BP has created transparent internal markets for jobs enabling every employee to develop a breadth and depth of competencies
McKinsey & Co. has brought an unprecedented level of transparency to the ways in which associates can choose the projects to work on
Sony have created a ground-breaking digital system by creating a context in which engineers have real freedom to create worthwhile and meaningful jobs
Unisys has enabled every employee to access an enormous range of training opportunities to ensure they are truly becoming 'the best they can be'.
Goldman Sachs builds choice around the development relationships which are so crucial to personal and organizational development
AstraZeneca has brought complete transparency to employee access to pay and benefits.
BT has enabled many tens of thousands of employees to make locational choice
and finally, how HP has built discretion around time.
Learn how each of these companies have pioneered the tenets of democracy and choice and by doing so have created strong, agile enterprises powered by employee engagement and collaboration.
The Democratic Enterprise concludes by building a mandate for choice and democracy through focusing on the four building blocks: supporting individual autonomy; creating organizational insight; building organizational variety; and finally, crafting a sense of shared destiny. These challenges are set out for the role of the business leader, the role of the manager, the role of HR and the role of the employee,
Read this book and learn how to:
Create a business in which talented people can develop and change without leaving
Understand your employees as well as you understand your customers
Design work content and culture that give people the freedom to choose and the freedom to act
Create shared meaning and purpose to drive daily motivation and inform daily judgement calls
Lynda Gratton has captured, in a very profound way, the emerging realization of what truly matters in transforming businesses: people, purpose, and participation. In a word, democracy. - Niall FitzGerald, Chairman, Unilever
As Lynda Gratton demonstrates in this marvellously written book, there is enough that corporate leaders and human resources specialists can do today to embrace the power of democratic processes to both raise the economic performance of their companies and build delightful organizations.
- Sumantra Ghoshal, Professor of Strategy and International Management , London Business School
Lynda Gratton has crafted a new classic. Democratic Enterprise draws on Greek and political traditions about democracy -- demo (people) and kratos (rule) -- and applies them to modern organizations. It is a masterpiece that connects individuals and their organizations with rich theory and realistic action.
- Dave Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan
Grattons thoughtful and creative work breathes life into the role of people in organizations. David Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan Features + Benefits
Covers critical business issues that will ensure people purchase: faster business, deeper employee commitment, the work-life balance, better career development, flexible location and balancing individual discretion with operational control.
Delivers original ideas and impressive research with practical application.
An extremely timely book, addressing hot topics of business values and individual fulfillment.
New work from a top author, and an emerging Human Resource guru. Lynda Gratton is a high-profile regular on the HR conference circuit, and appears on programmes such as BBC's Money Programme as an HR commentator - consistently top rated by managers on London Business School exec-ed courses.
Backcover
Lynda Gratton has captured, in a very profound way, the emerging realization of what truly matters in transforming businesses: people, purpose, and participation. In a word, democracy.
- Niall FitzGerald, Chairman, Unilever
From time to time, a new idea crops up in the world of business that most managers consider to be absurd but that ends up transforming companies. Zero defect was one such idea. The democratic enterprise is another. It is an aspirational quest but, as Lynda Gratton demonstrates in this marvellously written book, there is enough that corporate leaders and human resources specialists can do today to embrace the power of democratic processes to both raise the economic performance of their companies and build delightful organizations.
Sumantra Ghoshal, Professor of Strategy and International Management , London Business School
Lynda Gratton has crafted a new classic. Democratic Enterprise draws on Greek and political traditions about democracy -- demo (people) and kratos (rule) -- and applies them to modern organizations. It is a masterpiece that connects individuals and their organizations with rich theory and realistic action.
Dave Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan
The Democratic Enterprise delivers the blueprint for a business built on choice and commitment. A business made fast through freedom and purposeful through meaning. This is a business people would choose to work for.
How can we change the way we manage and organise people to make the most of their talent and energy? The free to choose are fast to act for an enterprise they believe in, but they're also the first to leave an organisation that fails them. In The Democratic Enterprise Lynda Gratton sets out a practical blueprint for designing smarter working relationships based on free choice and shared purpose - where autonomy, choice and trust breed speed, flexibility and commitment.
PREFACE
ONE: CITIZENS' TALES
The story of Greg Grimshaw at BP
The story of Nina Bhatia at McKinsey
The story of Stewart Kearney at BT
The value of the Democratic Enterprise
TWO: WHAT DEMOCRACY MEANS
A short history of democracy
The tenets of the Democratic Enterprise
THREE: DEMOCRACY AT WORK
Adult-to-adult relationships
Individuals as investors
Expression of Diverse Qualities
Participation and choice
Liberty without expense
Accountabilities and Obligations
FOUR: THE DRIVERS TO DEMOCRACY
The shift in individuals
The shift in technology
FIVE: BUILDING INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY
The citizen investor
The elements of human capital
Leveraging human capital
How individuals become autonomous
How organizations support autonomy
How organizations understand employees
SIX: CRAFTING ORGANIZATIONAL VARIETY
Pioneers of democracy
Variety of job assignment
Choice of job content
Choice of training
Choice of developmental relationships
Choice of rewards and benefits
Choice of location
Choice of time
The lessons of building variety
SEVEN: SHAPING SHARED PURPOSE
Goals
Accountabilities and Obligations
Trust and power
EIGHT: LEADERS AND CITIZENS AT WORK
The role of the leader
The role of the team leader
The HR role
NINE: THE FIVE REASONS TO BECOME A DEMOCRATIC ENTERPRISE
Employee engagement
'Win-Win' solutions
Justice and Fairness
Agility
Integration
The Observer
"One of Britain's leading lights in human resource strategy"
Financial Times
Liberating your Business with Freedom, Flexibility and Commitment
The Democratic Enterprise delivers the blueprint for a business built on choice and commitment. A business made fast through freedom and purposeful through meaning. This is a business people would choose to work for.
These days individuals matter more than their roles, so how can we change the way we manage and organise people to make the most of their talent and energy? The free to choose are fast to act for an enterprise they believe in, but they're also the first to leave an organisation that fails them. In The Democratic Enterprise HR guru Lynda Gratton sets out a practical blueprint for designing smarter working relationships based on free choice and shared purpose - where autonomy, choice and trust breed speed, flexibility and commitment. This is the business we'd choose to work for, even if we have the talent and ability to leave.
Smart people want a more grown-up relationship with their employers these days. And most businesses too, realise that they can get more from people through flexible and intelligent working relationships. So imagine a company where people have more freedom in how, where and when they work. Where they have more personal choice in their work, but also share more commitment with their colleagues to a bigger purpose. This is a business we would choose to work with.
The Democratic Enterprise explores, from the perspective of the individual and the organization what it means to craft choice, and shows us how to use some of the basic principles of democracy to build organizations of which we can be proud.
The book examines eight companies which have pioneered choice and democracy, and shows how:
the oil giant BP has created transparent internal markets for jobs enabling every employee to develop a breadth and depth of competencies
McKinsey & Co. has brought an unprecedented level of transparency to the ways in which associates can choose the projects to work on
Sony have created a ground-breaking digital system by creating a context in which engineers have real freedom to create worthwhile and meaningful jobs
Unisys has enabled every employee to access an enormous range of training opportunities to ensure they are truly becoming the best they can be.
Goldman Sachs builds choice around the development relationships which are so crucial to personal and organizational development
AstraZeneca has brought complete transparency to employee access to pay and benefits.
BT has enabled many tens of thousands of employees to make locational choice
and finally, how HP has built discretion around time.
Learn how each of these companies have pioneered the tenets of democracy and choice and by doing so have created strong, agile enterprises powered by employee engagement and collaboration.
The Democratic Enterprise concludes by building a mandate for choice and democracy through focusing on the four building blocks: supporting individual autonomy; creating organizational insight; building organizational variety; and finally, crafting a sense of shared destiny. These challenges are set out for the role of the business leader, the role of the manager, the role of HR and the role of the employee,
Read this book and learn how to:
Create a business in which talented people can develop and change without leaving
Understand your employees as well as you understand your customers
Design work content and culture that give people the freedom to choose and the freedom to act
Create shared meaning and purpose to drive daily motivation and inform daily judgement calls
"Lynda Gratton has captured, in a very profound way, the emerging realization of what truly matters in transforming businesses: people, purpose, and participation. In a word, democracy." - Niall FitzGerald, Chairman, Unilever
"As Lynda Gratton demonstrates in this marvellously written book, there is enough that corporate leaders and human resources specialists can do today to embrace the power of democratic processes to both raise the economic performance of their companies and build delightful organizations".
- Sumantra Ghoshal, Professor of Strategy and International Management , London Business School
"Lynda Gratton has crafted a new classic. Democratic Enterprise draws on Greek and political traditions about democracy -- demo (people) and kratos (rule) -- and applies them to modern organizations. It is a masterpiece that connects individuals and their organizations with rich theory and realistic action.
- Dave Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan
"Gratton"s thoughtful and creative work breathes life into the role of people in organizations." David Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan Product Description
Gratton's book is timely and important. She is one of a small but influential band of business academics who have begun to question the ideological gloomy paradigm - the overwhelmingly negative assumptions about human nature that historically underpin management theorising. The Democratic Enterprise is one of the first interventions to crystallise these dissatisfactions and offer steps to a positive alternative model...The revolution is democracy and it starts here.
The Observer
One of Britain's leading lights in human resource strategy
Financial Times
Liberating your Business with Freedom, Flexibility and Commitment
The Democratic Enterprise delivers the blueprint for a business built on choice and commitment. A business made fast through freedom and purposeful through meaning. This is a business people would choose to work for.
These days individuals matter more than their roles, so how can we change the way we manage and organise people to make the most of their talent and energy? The free to choose are fast to act for an enterprise they believe in, but they're also the first to leave an organisation that fails them. In The Democratic Enterprise HR guru Lynda Gratton sets out a practical blueprint for designing smarter working relationships based on free choice and shared purpose - where autonomy, choice and trust breed speed, flexibility and commitment. This is the business we'd choose to work for, even if we have the talent and ability to leave.
Smart people want a more grown-up relationship with their employers these days. And most businesses too, realise that they can get more from people through flexible and intelligent working relationships. So imagine a company where people have more freedom in how, where and when they work. Where they have more personal choice in their work, but also share more commitment with their colleagues to a bigger purpose. This is a business we would choose to work with.
The Democratic Enterprise explores, from the perspective of the individual and the organization what it means to craft choice, and shows us how to use some of the basic principles of democracy to build organizations of which we can be proud.
The book examines eight companies which have pioneered choice and democracy, and shows how:
the oil giant BP has created transparent internal markets for jobs enabling every employee to develop a breadth and depth of competencies
McKinsey & Co. has brought an unprecedented level of transparency to the ways in which associates can choose the projects to work on
Sony have created a ground-breaking digital system by creating a context in which engineers have real freedom to create worthwhile and meaningful jobs
Unisys has enabled every employee to access an enormous range of training opportunities to ensure they are truly becoming 'the best they can be'.
Goldman Sachs builds choice around the development relationships which are so crucial to personal and organizational development
AstraZeneca has brought complete transparency to employee access to pay and benefits.
BT has enabled many tens of thousands of employees to make locational choice
and finally, how HP has built discretion around time.
Learn how each of these companies have pioneered the tenets of democracy and choice and by doing so have created strong, agile enterprises powered by employee engagement and collaboration.
The Democratic Enterprise concludes by building a mandate for choice and democracy through focusing on the four building blocks: supporting individual autonomy; creating organizational insight; building organizational variety; and finally, crafting a sense of shared destiny. These challenges are set out for the role of the business leader, the role of the manager, the role of HR and the role of the employee,
Read this book and learn how to:
Create a business in which talented people can develop and change without leaving
Understand your employees as well as you understand your customers
Design work content and culture that give people the freedom to choose and the freedom to act
Create shared meaning and purpose to drive daily motivation and inform daily judgement calls
Lynda Gratton has captured, in a very profound way, the emerging realization of what truly matters in transforming businesses: people, purpose, and participation. In a word, democracy. - Niall FitzGerald, Chairman, Unilever
As Lynda Gratton demonstrates in this marvellously written book, there is enough that corporate leaders and human resources specialists can do today to embrace the power of democratic processes to both raise the economic performance of their companies and build delightful organizations.
- Sumantra Ghoshal, Professor of Strategy and International Management , London Business School
Lynda Gratton has crafted a new classic. Democratic Enterprise draws on Greek and political traditions about democracy -- demo (people) and kratos (rule) -- and applies them to modern organizations. It is a masterpiece that connects individuals and their organizations with rich theory and realistic action.
- Dave Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan
Grattons thoughtful and creative work breathes life into the role of people in organizations. David Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan Features + Benefits
Covers critical business issues that will ensure people purchase: faster business, deeper employee commitment, the work-life balance, better career development, flexible location and balancing individual discretion with operational control.
Delivers original ideas and impressive research with practical application.
An extremely timely book, addressing hot topics of business values and individual fulfillment.
New work from a top author, and an emerging Human Resource guru. Lynda Gratton is a high-profile regular on the HR conference circuit, and appears on programmes such as BBC's Money Programme as an HR commentator - consistently top rated by managers on London Business School exec-ed courses.
Backcover
Lynda Gratton has captured, in a very profound way, the emerging realization of what truly matters in transforming businesses: people, purpose, and participation. In a word, democracy.
- Niall FitzGerald, Chairman, Unilever
From time to time, a new idea crops up in the world of business that most managers consider to be absurd but that ends up transforming companies. Zero defect was one such idea. The democratic enterprise is another. It is an aspirational quest but, as Lynda Gratton demonstrates in this marvellously written book, there is enough that corporate leaders and human resources specialists can do today to embrace the power of democratic processes to both raise the economic performance of their companies and build delightful organizations.
Sumantra Ghoshal, Professor of Strategy and International Management , London Business School
Lynda Gratton has crafted a new classic. Democratic Enterprise draws on Greek and political traditions about democracy -- demo (people) and kratos (rule) -- and applies them to modern organizations. It is a masterpiece that connects individuals and their organizations with rich theory and realistic action.
Dave Ulrich, Professor of Business, University of Michigan
The Democratic Enterprise delivers the blueprint for a business built on choice and commitment. A business made fast through freedom and purposeful through meaning. This is a business people would choose to work for.
How can we change the way we manage and organise people to make the most of their talent and energy? The free to choose are fast to act for an enterprise they believe in, but they're also the first to leave an organisation that fails them. In The Democratic Enterprise Lynda Gratton sets out a practical blueprint for designing smarter working relationships based on free choice and shared purpose - where autonomy, choice and trust breed speed, flexibility and commitment.
PREFACE
ONE: CITIZENS' TALES
The story of Greg Grimshaw at BP
The story of Nina Bhatia at McKinsey
The story of Stewart Kearney at BT
The value of the Democratic Enterprise
TWO: WHAT DEMOCRACY MEANS
A short history of democracy
The tenets of the Democratic Enterprise
THREE: DEMOCRACY AT WORK
Adult-to-adult relationships
Individuals as investors
Expression of Diverse Qualities
Participation and choice
Liberty without expense
Accountabilities and Obligations
FOUR: THE DRIVERS TO DEMOCRACY
The shift in individuals
The shift in technology
FIVE: BUILDING INDIVIDUAL AUTONOMY
The citizen investor
The elements of human capital
Leveraging human capital
How individuals become autonomous
How organizations support autonomy
How organizations understand employees
SIX: CRAFTING ORGANIZATIONAL VARIETY
Pioneers of democracy
Variety of job assignment
Choice of job content
Choice of training
Choice of developmental relationships
Choice of rewards and benefits
Choice of location
Choice of time
The lessons of building variety
SEVEN: SHAPING SHARED PURPOSE
Goals
Accountabilities and Obligations
Trust and power
EIGHT: LEADERS AND CITIZENS AT WORK
The role of the leader
The role of the team leader
The HR role
NINE: THE FIVE REASONS TO BECOME A DEMOCRATIC ENTERPRISE
Employee engagement
'Win-Win' solutions
Justice and Fairness
Agility
Integration