Beyond Management: taking charge at work

"The systems and structures that we call 'management' are obsolete. They were developed, during the industrial era, for smokestack factories. Devised for producing goods efficiently, management practices are geared to solving technical, left-brain problems: the kind that occurs when production is highly mechanized, work is repetitive, and people labor in isolation. A century and more later, work has changed but management has not. It is inflexible, top-heavy, and old. In smoke-free offices 21st century knowledge workers organize themselves. Creative and agile, they network or team to tackle complex, right-brain problems by interacting and sharing information: talking, texting, asking questions as they make decisions collectively. Beyond Management explains why the tools, rules, competition, and compliance favored by management are actually disorganizing and cause breakdowns at work. It also shows you how to replace out-dated practices with new ones that empower knowledge workers."--Publisher's website.

The end of the line -- Getting into work -- Organizing: getting the beat -- Jeff's journal: project work on the inside -- Left-brain management and right-brain organizing -- Knowledge-work in close-up -- The work of organizing with giant hairballs and wicked problems -- Tools are the empty heart of management or why strategic initiatives fail -- Practices that break the mold with agility and care -- In search of low-control organizing practices: community, care, cooperation, and commitment -- Taking on the work of organizing -- Conversations for aligning: openness, commitments, and accountability -- Organizing moves -- Handling hierarchy and more -- Good work wanted.