Management and Organisation Development

Citation

Washbush, J.B. (2001), "Management and Organisation Development", Journal of Management Development, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 275-277. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmd.2001.20.3.275.1

Keith Patching, director of development at Cranfield University School of Management, has provided managers and organizational development practitioners with a provocative and multi‐faceted examination of processes, potential, and challenges facing those who aspire to improve managerial performance through formal interventions. This book, however, is anything but a “how‐to” compilation of methods and techniques. This is by intention. The author tells the reader that the book is written, from the perspective of his management and organizational development (M&OD) experiences at the Cranfield University School of Management, on two levels:

1. (1)

   a summarization of what seems to work;

2. (2)

   a theoretical exploration of why some things work better than others.

In addition, he describes his book as having a dual purpose:

1. (1)

   to share what he believes he and his colleagues have learned about M&OD as a discipline;

2. (2)

   to identify what they don’t know enough about and thus to create a research agenda for the future.

In these intentions, the author succeeds. However, the reader may not at first be fully willing to accept a perspective that at least suggests that the “Cranfield way” and its concerns represent the breadth and depth of the issues that might be explored. Nevertheless, one would be well advised to plunge ahead with an open mind, remembering that this is a book that is open to the possibility of generating debate.

From a structural perspective, chapters 1‐6 contain the bulk of the “what we know” portion of the book, and they discuss issues such as OD and the OD process, types of interventions, needs analysis, and developing a learning agenda. A number of useful concepts and techniques, while not emphasized, are presented in this section of the book. These include a list of 15 steps of an M&OD intervention, providing a technique for determining the appropriate type of intervention (the management development grid), guidelines for delivery and follow‐up, and the challenge of doing accurate situation and needs analysis. Anyone interested in gaining an improved understanding of why M&OD might be considered or who are interested in improving M&OD performance can surely benefit from a careful and thoughtful reading of these chapters. To this point, even a naïve reader can follow the discussion.

In chapter 7, the book changes direction quite abruptly with a psychologically, philosophically, and theoretically penetrating discussion of learning. Here, and for most of the rest of the book (chapters 7‐11), a reader would be well advised to possess or acquire at least some awareness and knowledge of learning theories, personality theories, the concept of the subconscious, anthropological language, and neural physiology. Lacking these, the discussion in these chapters will be abstract and difficult to follow. Nevertheless, the heart of the book is contained here. The author takes great pains to develop a conceptualization of learning as more than a process of rational cognition, and he argues persuasively that the emotional side of personality needs to be attended to in the M&OD learning agenda. In popular parlance, this might be described as giving equal time to the right and left brains and to the conscious and unconscious minds. The author himself identifies his key issue when he states (p. 227):

We cannot teach management, but we can help managers to continue to learn about themselves as people who happen to be managers.

This section of the book relies heavily on Jungian personality theory and concepts related to personality dimensions as described by the Myers‐Briggs type indicator (MBTI). While much of the discussion in this half of the book is abstract and theoretical, MBTI concepts are effectively and creatively employed by the author in a discussion of the “Learning Diamond”. This conceptual diagram provides practical arguments for and methods of incorporating into learning designs processes engaging the learner’s interaction with facts, logic, ideas, and emotion. This second major section of the book concludes with a chapter focusing on the manager as a developing person. This last is very reflective of concepts of self‐development and fulfillment as outlined long ago by scholars such as Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor, and the discussion, consistent with managerial development themes identified throughout the book, is a fitting conclusion for the author’s purposes.

Throughout the book, the author provides, in addition to useful lists and diagrams, a series of in‐chapter case vignettes which provide examples of actual M&OD experiences which are intended to illustrate issues discussed in the text. At the end of the volume is a lengthy case presentation describing a start‐to‐finish M&OD experience, which, because of its lack of success, provides a reality base for what is presented and discussed in the book.

The is not a “must read” book, but it is a useful “might read” for managers, teachers of management and organizational behavior, and M&OD professionals, particularly if they are open to challenging themselves and what they think they know. It is not an easy read under any circumstances, and it cannot be read in a straight‐through manner. The best approach is to read the Preface and Introduction, then the ending case (which is often referred to in the text), and then the body of the book itself in a slow‐paced and thoughtful topical sequence. I recommend taking a deliberate break of some duration between chapters 6 and 7 to allow some subconscious processing time between the practical and theoretical parts of the book. Some readers might need recourse to exploring original or interpretive explanations of the learning, personality, etc. theories discussed in chapter 7 and following. This is especially true in the case of the MBTI which is presented in chapter 9 (despite being relatively knowledgeable of and experienced in the use of the MBTI, I found the discussion here to be confusing and incomplete).

Weaknesses of the book include a cumbersome and overly elaborate writing style, examples that do not always relate well, and relatively poor organization of topic flow. Too often the book reads like a collection of scholarly papers that have not been thoughtfully or effectively sequenced and linked. These are not major flaws, however.

Strengths of the book include the communication of personal experience that has been thoughtfully and carefully researched, presentations of basic concerns and methods used in developing and delivering M&OD interventions, and the provision of a personality‐based model for learning. The greatest service of the book is in its recognition that each manager can and should be actively engaged in the process of developing personal understanding and potential. Though most will find the book a rather difficult, and even contentious, read, it is worth the effort.