Page 78 - (DK) The Business Book

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NO GREAT MANAGER

OR LEADER EVER

FELL FROM HEAVEN

GODS OF MANAGEMENT

n his influential 1978 book who have the expertise to solve
IN CONTEXT Gods of Management, Charles problems. In Dionysus’s “existential
I Handy used the allegory of the culture,” the organization exists to
FOCUS
gods of ancient Greece to describe support the individual’s needs.
Organizational dynamics
the nature of organizations. Handy Handy’s typology provided an
KEY DATES proposed that four management entirely new and original method
20th century Typologies styles could be identified, a for managers to analyze a
emerge to help management combination of which are likely to company’s dynamics, and to
thinkers sort organizations into be present in every organization. understand culturally embedded
identifiable classifications, and Zeus represents the “club culture,” behaviors, biases, and beliefs.
in which relationships with the However, it soon became clear that
individuals into distinct types.
leader are more important than because organizations are vast and
What motivates each person is
formal titles or positions. Apollo’s diverse entities, and are seldom
thought to be determined by
“role culture” is defined by static, organizational behavior
their “type.”
functions, divisions, rules, and evolves over time. Under pressure
1978 Charles Handy’s Gods rationality. In Athena’s “task externally and internally, most
of Management proposes culture,” power lies within teams companies operate in a constant
that understanding which
classification an organization
fits into is key to understanding
the type of people it contains
Handy’s Gods of
and, thus, the way to lead them. Management reveals ...but organizations are
different types of complex at institutional
1989 In The Age of Unreason, and the individual level.
organizational dynamic...
Handy puts forward the theory
of the Shamrock Organization.
21st century Management
thinking increasingly
acknowledges that stylistic Therfore, typologies can Effective leadership requires
typologies are just one of many still be helpful for God-like omniscience, but
methods of understanding and understanding organizational no great leader ever fell
managing companies and staff. and individual complexity. from heaven.