The Three Ways of Getting Things Done

Hierarchy, Heterarchy and Responsible Autonomy in Organizations

Gerard Fairtlough author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Triarchy Press

Published:30th Apr '05

Should be back in stock very soon

The Three Ways of Getting Things Done cover

An organization must have a hierarchy. That's the conventional wisdom. It's what everyone believes. It's also the easy and familiar option. Many think that the only alternative is chaos. They think proper organizations need hierarchy to get things done effectively. But hierarchy is just one possible way of getting things done in an organization. This book looks objectively at hierarchy and shows us why it has such a grip on us. It also shows how well the alternatives can work in practice. The book is vital reading for anyone who wants organizations to work better.

"Imagine a company without bosses. Impossible? I would be inclined to agree, but Gerard Fairtlough, author of a new book called The Three Ways of Getting Things Done, begs to differ and, the more I listen to his arguments, the more I believe he is on to something. Mr Fairtlough, a biochemist, former Shell executive and founder of Celltech, the UK biotechnology company that was sold in 2004 to UCB, the Belgian biopharmaceutical company, for GBP1.5 bn, believes that for too long society has accepted hierarchy as the natural order of organisations. The pecking order, after all, is a common feature of animal communities, but there are instances where some animal groups - meerkats for example - have developed interchanging roles for the good of the colony. Even here, however, there are alpha males and females. Mr Fairtlough believes what he calls our "addiction to hierarchy" is draining the energy of collaborative projects and sometimes failing, as a result, to either recognise or pay due regard to the input of able individuals whose significant contributions can be overlooked in a formal reporting structure." Richard Donkin, Financial Times

ISBN: 9780955008108

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

130 pages