Priority Four: Stop being imprisoned with expected, predictable policies. One of Morgan's more interesting metaphors is his "psychic prison metaphor"; this alludes to a company being "trapped by favored ways of thinking" (men can do a better job because they have more experience, for example, or immigrants are too new to America to be given managerial responsibilities). In other words, managers can become imprisoned in their out-of-touch thinking, and to move forward management must look outside for fresh insights and get out of the "cave" of darkness and stagnation (Morgan, 206).
Priority Five: To create a smooth-functioning, productive work culture, management must eliminate the triggers for "counterproductive work behavior" (CWB). An article in the Psychologist-Manager Journal (Fodchuk, 2007) points to two CWBs that must be removed in any work culture - such as gossip, harassment, untruthfulness, bullying - the very moment it is apparent. When these CWBs are allowed to exist, productivity and job efficacy is diminished. Good initial interview theories should be put in place to weed out potential bad behaviors.
Priority Six: Good managers should quickly identify and reward "organizational citizenship behaviors" (OCB). Examples include "civic virtue" (doing things that enhance the company's image), "altruism" (assisting others without being told to), "conscientiousness" (going beyond role obligations), and "courtesy" (peacemaking between other employees) (Fodchuk, 2007).
Priority Seven: Managers should encourage employees to "cut out the instant messaging...[and] severely restrict email and conduct business the old fashioned way, by telephone" (Williams, 2007). That advice comes from the book the 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, which, according to the review in the New York Times, urges a management strategy of "tuning...
Morgan points out that "most innovative companies" throughout the world understand how to "envisage and create completely new industries or business niches" (Morgan, 82). He gives as examples, CNN (24-hour news cycle) and Apple (development and refinement of a PC); part of pulling of innovations is changing "norms."
Priority Nine: Learning how to learn helps organizations climb out of the "trap" that reinforces the status quo (Morgan, 106). It is clear that technology is evolving at a very fast rate, and companies that have the vision to meet new challenges with innovation and adaptation are the most apt to remain competitive in the global economic market.
Priority Ten: Making employees feel useful by giving them "as much autonomy, responsibility, and recognition as possible" is not rocket science, but makes a lot of sense. Morgan insists that this theoretical approach enriches the job experience and in fact embraces an "employee-centered" kind of leadership - an obvious alternative to authoritarian management (Morgan, 38).
Works Cited
Fodchuk, Katherine M. (2007). Work Environments That Negate Counterproductive Behaviors
And Foster Organizational Citizenship: Research-Based Recommendations for Managers.
The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 10(1), 27-46.
Morgan, Gareth. (1998). Images of Organization: The Executive Edition. San Francisco:
Berrett-Koehler Publishers / Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
Williams, Alex. (Nov. 11, 2007). Too Much Information? Ignore it. The New York Times,
Retrieved October 31, 2008, at http://www.nytimes.com.
