The Organization of the Future

Citation

Coghlan, D. (1998), "The Organization of the Future", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 347-347. https://doi.org/10.1108/lodj.1998.19.6.347.2

The Organization of the Future is the second volume published by the Peter Drucker Foundation for Non‐profit Management. The first volume was The Leader of the Future (1996) (reviewed in Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 18 No. 3, 1997, p. 175). Like its predecessor, this book is a collection of 39 contributions on changes in organisations.

The 39 contributors are scholars, practitioners and leaders of a wide range of organisations. They include such notables as: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Philip Kotler, C.K. Pralahad, Dave Ulrich, Jeffrey Pfeffer, James Champy, Mike Hammer, Jay Conger, Frances Hesselbein, Jay Galbraith, Paul Hersey, Charles Handy, Chris Argyris, Dick Beckhard. Many of the themes are similar. Areas discussed are: new models for working and organisations, restructuring in the face of shifting strategy, preparing for change, organisational learning, core competencies, the boundaryless organisation, civic contributions, new age management, managing in the digital age, leadership, the healthy organisation and so on.

The format follows the model of its predecessor volume. Each chapter is a personal reflection by its author and is about eight pages in length, with no references or bibliographies. It is not a book to read from cover to cover rather one to dip into. lt is a useful book for executives to have by the bedside or to read while travelling.

There is promise of a third volume later in 1998 on the theme of “The Community of the Future”. This volume, its predecessor and presumably its successor, provide nontechnical, easy‐to‐read portraits of how organisations are developing, what they will look like and how they will be led in the 21st century.