Book description
New breakthrough thinking in organizational learning, leadership, and change
Continuous improvement, understanding complex systems, and promoting
innovation are all part of the landscape of learning challenges
today's companies face. Amy Edmondson shows that organizations thrive,
or fail to thrive, based on how well the small groups within those
organizations work. In most organizations, the work that produces
value for customers is carried out by teams, and increasingly, by
flexible team-like entities. The pace of change and the fluidity of
most work structures means that it's not really about creating
effective teams anymore, but instead about leading effective teaming.
Teaming shows that organizations learn when the flexible, fluid
collaborations they encompass are able to learn. The problem is teams,
and other dynamic groups, don't learn naturally. Edmondson outlines
the factors that prevent them from doing so, such as interpersonal
fear, irrational beliefs about failure, groupthink, problematic power
dynamics, and information hoarding. With Teaming, leaders can
shape these factors by encouraging reflection, creating psychological
safety, and overcoming defensive interpersonal dynamics that inhibit
the sharing of ideas. Further, they can use practical management
strategies to help organizations realize the benefits inherent in both
success and failure.
- Presents a clear explanation of practical management concepts
for increasing learning capability for business results
- Introduces a framework that clarifies how learning processes
must be altered for different kinds of work
- Explains how Collaborative Learning works, and gives tips for
how to do it well
- Includes case-study research on Intermountain healthcare,
Prudential, GM, Toyota, IDEO, the IRS, and both Cincinnati and
Minneapolis Children's Hospitals, among others
Based on years of research, this book shows how leaders can make
organizational learning happen by building teams that learn.
Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professorof Leadership and
Management at the Harvard Business School, where she teaches coursesin
leadership, organizational learning, andoperations management in the
MBA andExecutive Education programs.
