The organisation and not the individual

I usually recommend books face to face. But here I’d like to do it here in public. Perhaps the everlasting focus on the individuum is also bothering you at the moment. The following book offers a mirror and hence a centre of thought. Warning, this book is currently available in German language only. Maybe you auto-translate a eBook-Version.

The individual as the father of successful projects, as the rotten egg in the basket, as the upcoming hero or as the personified failure are nothing but stories. Why certain people have been able to achieve success has many roots. Current market events, a bit of luck, and certainly the people involved themselves, no doubt about it. What is discussed far too seldom for me is the organisation. Organisation can make the greatest things possible, or it can also be the guarantor that the simplest transformations always end in nothing.

“Die Humanisierung der Organisation” translated “The Humanisation of the Organisation” by Kai Matthiesen, Judith Muster and Peter Laudenbach looks at organisations as observers in the spirit of and with reference to Niklas Luhmann. In some sections, this creates a very harsh picture of organisations. But that is fine, because it creates a touchstone for one’s own preconceptions of organisations.

The book is born out of consultant practice and is full of wonderful quotes. “There is a belief amongst people that working well together as a team means that everyone in the team must always agree with each other and have identical opinions. This is a misconception. Working well together means rendering the different opinions and interests productive.” p. 161f (translated by me for the Original quote switch to German).

“Visiting this parallel universe, one understands that the possibility of insolvency is one of the greatest assets of the market economy. It enforces a certain rationality in the interest of survival.” p. 239 (translated).

After 240 pages of showing organisations the mirror down to the last bone, the book ends with a wonderful call to action: humanisation as the effect of good organisation that is enlightened about itself. S. 248.

Well written, I can only recommend this fresh look in a book form.

Book "Die Humanisierung der Organisation"
Book “Die Humanisierung der Organisation”