Introduction
Topic and Client
I have been asked to create an annotated bibliography on Information in
the Workplace for my classmates attending a hypothetical seminar. Since
information undergirds all of business (accounting and marketing are
information systems), I am taking my cue from the movie Desk Set and
limiting this topic to aspects of informal communication networks, as
opposed to the formal managerial structure often shown on organizational
charts. Recent advances in technology, such as networked
communications, are producing revolutionary changes in the way
businesses operate and, thus, the roles of literally everyone in the
workplace. This bibliography does not seek to compare and contrast
electronic communication products like Lotus Notes, nor is it an
introduction to MIS. Rather, I wish to explore the web of informal
interpersonal relationships and unofficial power structures through which
much organizational information flows. These informal structures, or
corporate cultures, affect decision making and, ultimately, the way things
get done in the workplace. Research increasingly shows that an
understanding of these relationships is vital to initiating change or
installing workable communication technology in any organization.
Our cohort is varied and dynamic. Although most of us are not business
majors, our workplace experiences range from volunteerism to careers of
twenty years' duration. Some of us have a great deal of technological
expertise, while others are just becoming comfortable with e-mail. Our
interests, career plans, and learning styles also cover a wide range. We
will all, however, be taking LI815, or the new curriculum equivalent
course on library management. Many of us will eventually become agency
or system managers, but we will all be working with or for different
kinds of organizations, either designing or implementing information
systems or providing customized information service to groups or
individuals within an organization. An understanding of the social and
political behaviors of people in organizations will help us to become
better, more effective information professionals, since it is people in
various organizational cultures who will be the end users of the services
we provide.
Purpose and Scope
The purpose of this bibliography is to provide our class a rich variety
of materials that they will find enjoyable, thought provoking, informative,
and useful in their academic and professional lives. I have tried to make
listings relevant, timely, authoritative, and reflective of current
(emergent paradigm) issues in organizational behavior and management.
Since our class includes visual learners, as well as those who learn
through fiction, I have included two novels and a video. A book on body
language in the workplace would be helpful for class members who showed
an interest in this topic during LI801. Because the majority of our class
is female, and because women and minorities make up an increasing
proportion of the workforce, several works specifically target the female
perspective. Although much of the material focuses on managerial
communication, many readings explore networking at every organizational
level. Unless otherwise noted, readings discuss organizations in general,
as opposed to specific industries or libraries, and use business case
histories to illustrate points. The authors believe their ideas have
practical applications; however, this bibliography is not intended to be a
"how to" list.
Readings vary in length from short articles to books. Aside from the
video, reading depth ranges from two popular novels to articles in
scholarly journals. The cartoon is gratis. Omitted as overly narrow in
focus are theses and dissertations. I have instead searched for materials
that are intellectually intriguing but not overly technical for the lay
reader. All works are also current. With the exception of the fiction and
Shoshana Zuboff's pioneering work, In the Age of the Smart Machine,
listings date no earlier than 1990.
With the vast amounts of literature available, this bibliography could
not, within the given time frame, be entirely comprehensive, much less
exhaustive. I have tried to hit the high points, and I believe I've found
good materials. I hope that diverse users find this bibliography
worthwhile and encourage them to add to it as needs and interests dictate.
Structure
For ease of use, I have divided this bibliography into several clusters
as follows:
I. A Literary Introduction
II. Power and Politics- Organizational Behavior
III. Networking and Communication- From the Water Cooler to the
Board Room
IV. Adding Technology to the Culture
Afterward
1. Probably Good- Unavailable by due date
2. Addenda- Other materials to explore (including an MIS text for
the interested)
Within clusters, items are listed alphabetically by author, books first,
followed by magazine or other articles. In one instance I've listed a book
first, out of alphabetical order, because users will gain a greater
appreciation of other materials in that section by reading that book first.
I have also noted in the annotations which works might usefully be read
together, which are of greatest value, and which are quick reads for those
in a hurry. Since socio-political behavior is complex, however, readers
are urged to view the above categories as arbitrary. A user might, for
example, wish to compare and contrast The Godfather with Barbarians at
the Gate or note the interrelationships between power and the use of e-
mail.
Search Information
The following describes my primary search sources, keywords, and
search techniques. I point out those areas which were most fruitful, as
well as disappointing time wasters.
I. Primary Sources
1. Databases:
CARL (Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries)- a group of
databases, including:
Denver Public Library
Auraria Library
Colorado State University
Magazine Index
Business Index & ASAP
NoveList
InfoTrac
First Search: including,
WorldCat
Article 1st
University of Colorado at Boulder (a separate library database
accessible through a
CARL gateway)
2. Book Review Index
3. The Internet
Search engines: Infoseek- http://www2.infoseek.com/
Magellan-http://www.mckinley.com
Yahoo-http://www.yahoo.com/
Websites: Harvard Business School- http://www.hbs.edu
Wired- http://www.hotwired.com
International Workplace Studies Program at Cornell-
http://iwsp.human.cornell.edu
4. Other: I browsed Tattered Cover and Barnes & Noble, asked help
from librarians and business professors accessed through the Deans'
Offices at UCD, UCBoulder, and the University of Denver. I also e-mailed
some sources. Finally my search included checking through bibliographies
and references in available sources.
II. Keywords used in searching:
I used the following general terms in keyword searches:Informal
communication, small group interaction, learning organization,
psychology-industrial, information politics, networking, work
anthropology, communication in organizations, communication-
psychological aspects, work groups, and information technology-social
aspects. All of these words were only somewhat helpful, since my topic is
interdisciplinary. I used the title or author with or without the word
"review" when searching for book reviews.
III. Search Techniques- listed in order of greatest success:
1. The Internet: I found some quasi-tantalizing material here, but my
greatest hit was Harvard Business School. This excellent website fully
describes research areas, lists faculty (including research interests,
publications, e-mail address, phone number, and picture). There is also a
searchable gopher for the HBS Press and Harvard Business Review. Not
even the Sloan School at MIT or the School of Management at Yale can
match this site for amount of information or ease of use.Wired magazine
also has back issues on line. Searching, however, requires logon as a
member (membership is free), as I discovered after fruitlessly searching
past leadarticles for an item I wanted on Xerox PARC.
2. Searching bibliographies and references provided my greatest
source of usefulmaterials, after perusal of HBS works.
3. Database searches, especially CARL and Magazine Index, also became
far more productive after reviewing sources found at Harvard Business
School.
4. Helpful librarians aided my search. The library at Mountain States
EmployersCouncil (where Tiina Brown and her boss Mar Scully were most
helpful) keeps afile of magazine articles on topics including
communication in management. Librarians at Denver Public Library were
also very kind.
5. Several business professors pointed me to MIS journals and texts,
but Charles Beck of UCDenver is publishing a book on this bibliography
topic and generously gave me a draft copy of applicable chapters, the
table of contents, and references.
6. Other- Chatting with classmates and Pam Sandlian, my supervisor
and a SLIM PhD candidate, proved reassuring. Serendipity helped. I once
picked up a volume by mistake and opened it to a good book review.
Simply browsing the stacks at bookstores and libraries was not helpful.
There were too many books, and I had no way to evaluate what I wanted.
Annotation Information
Annotations contain the following information:
1. Citation of the document in MLA style.
2. Brief evaluation, describing: a. Information content and why the work
was chosen, usually because it adds substantially to understanding of the
topic. Where applicable, I suggest works to be read with the given item.
b. Authority- In most cases, I have selected works because of renowned
authorship, currency, reputable publishers, good reviews, publication by
reputable trade or business school journal, good references or reviews, or
any combination of the above. For collections of articles, I evaluate the
contributors as well as the editors.
c. Nature and description of the document. Unless otherwise noted, all
books (except fiction) have a table of contents and useful index. Most
contain bibliographies.
d. Where applicable, I cite critical reviews or other evidence of quality,
such as a reference in another work, or recommendation by another
recognized authority.
e. ** If you can only read one article or book, read this.
Bold Italics- Warning! Dense reading ahead. Graphs, statistics.
(Mckinnon, Sharon, _The Information Mosaic_: Nohria, Nitin, _Networks
and Organizations: Structure, Form, and Action_: Ibarra, Herminia,
"Personal Networks of Women and Minorities in Management: A Conceptual
Framework": Galegher, Jolene, _Intellectual Teamwork: Social and
Technological Foundations of Cooperative Work_)
Bibliography
I. A Literary Introduction
Books
Auchincloss, Louis. The Partners. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1974. The
author, a graduate of Groton, Yale, and the University of Virginia Law
School, is a practicing Wall Street lawyer, who, according to reviewers,
writes about the "declines and cushioned falls of good-family New
Yorkers. He is a lucid, confident and tidy observer of this small
community." Favorably reviewed by, among others, The Atlantic and
Library Journal, this book tells the ongoing story of a small but
distinguished New York law firm, as seen by a senior partner. It is
included in this bibliography because it describes the network of social
relationships and unwritten rules through which these firms operate,
wielding considerable wealth and prestige. These relationships and
attitudes infiltrate private as well as workplace lives and create a
narrowly defined, insular, very close knit society wary of any change or
intrusion. This is an example of corporate culture at one end of the social
spectrum. Quoting the blurb: "Time and change; these are the forces with
which the man of morals must strike a bargain in an amoral world. Every
day his bargaining position is slightly different. In this sense the story of
one profession today becomes timeless."
Puzo, Mario. The Godfather. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. This
popular, favorably reviewed best seller tells of networking at the other
end of the social spectrum. According to Newsweek, "Puzo proves to be a
genuine social historian. The Godfather is fiction, but it is still a valid
and fascinating portrait of America's most powerful and least understood
subculture, the Mafia." Several classmates approved the inclusion of this
book in a bibliography about informal workplace networks, because it has
become almost a metaphor for wielding (criminal) power through
organization. Whatever its illegal intent, the Mafia network is structured
and patriarchal, though unofficial. Although the "workplace" may be a
front, bonding, teamwork, shifting loyalties, and negotiated deals form a
"corporate" web through which information flows and things get done. The
Corleone family sees itself as a business that protects its members and
advances its interests through entrepreneurship.
Video
**Desk Set . Dir. Walter Lang. With Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.
Twentieth Century Fox. 1990. This is a classic Hepburn-Tracy romance,
about the head of the research department at a TV network and an absent-
minded computer genius who, information workers fear, will replace their
jobs with a machine. Although the computer technology reflects the
original 1957 release date, the video (shown in class) portrays an
intricate web of unofficial grapevine and water cooler communication.
Information travels and is interpreted, or misinterpreted, through this
network faster than through official conduits. Information sharing helps
build the relationships and teamwork which enables the workers to do
their jobs efficiently.
II. Power and Politics- Organizational Behavior
Books
Burrough, Bryan, and John Helyar. Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR
Nabisco. New York: Harper & Row, 1990. The authors, both Wall Street
Journal reporters, won UCLA's Gerald Loeb award for their work on this
story of the largest takeover ever in America: the $25 billion leveraged
buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts of RJR Nabisco in December 1988.
Reviewed favorably in The Economist, "the book also contains enough
individual examples of greed, egoism, conniving and sheer incompetence to
stun even more jaundiced observers of the Wall Street madhouse." This
book is also referenced in "Information Politics" (see below), and is
included in this bibliography because of its careful description of
unofficial strategy meetings, power politics, and social relationships that
determined how financial operations at the highest level were conducted.
Readers might want to peruse Managing with Power (see below) along with
this work.
Cohen, Allan R., and David L. Bradford. Influence Without Authority. New
York: John Wiley and Sons, 1990. Allan R. Cohen is Walter H. Carpenter
Professor of Management at Babson College. David L. Bradford teaches at
Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. Referenced in Linda
Hill's course note (below), this book provides an in depth discussion of
how political relationships, often governed by the law of reciprocity,
work in organizations. The authors are corporate trainers who take a
practical approach to their subject, offering advice on how to get things
done. This is a readable, useful book aimed at managers.
Nirenberg, John. The Living Organization: Transforming Teams into
Workplace Communities. San Diego: Pfeiffer & Company, 1993. John
Nirenberg, PhD., is an adjunct course facilitator for Interpersonal
Dynamics at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and an
adjunct professor of organizational behavior at San Francisco State
University, as well as the founder of the Center for Workplace Community.
This book won praise from, among others, Hazel Henderson, author of
Paradigms in Progress and one of the required readings for LI803.
According to the author, "the major contribution of The Living
Organization is to pull together the various aspects of the new paradigm
now piercing our organizational consciousness and to construct a system
that accommodates the many societal and technological changes now
taking place." Although it tends to be a "how to" book, this work is listed
here because it specifically discusses the new paradigm and social
change in relation to organizational politics. In addition, the preface
describes the book's content chapter by chapter, a useful feature for
readers in a hurry.
**Pfeffer, Jeffrey. Managing with Power: Politics and Influence in
Organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1992. This is the
thoroughly revised and updated version of Power in Organizations, the text
originally created by the author for use in his course, Power and Politics
in Organizations, which he developed and taught at Stanford's Graduate
School of Business, where he is Thomas D. Dee II Professor of
Organizational Behavior. Referenced in "Information Politics" (see below),
this book is thorough and comprehensive, yet readable for the lay person.
At 345 pages, it would be very useful for a neophyte needing a relatively
quick but solid conceptual overview of the subject. Readers may want to
select specific chapters as need or interest dictate. Representative
section headings include: Sources of Power; Strategies and Tactics for
Employing Power Effectively; and, Power Dynamics: How Power is Lost
and How Organizations Change. The author also includes numerous notes, a
lengthy bibliography, and an excellent index.
Schwartz, Peter. The Art of the Long View. New York: Doubleday, 1991.
This book is listed in the program bibliography distributed to us in LI801.
A leading futurist, the author uses a scenario approach to help businesses
and individuals develop strategic vision. Of particular interest for this
bibliography is the chapter, "Information-Hunting and -Gathering,"
especially pages 95-104, which discuss networking and its effects within
organizations and as a way of designing a business. Also interesting is a
quotation on page 81, attributed to Peter Drucker: "The market is really
about relationships...It's about people coming together, getting to know
and trust one another." Although not as comprehensive as Pfeffer's book,
this work received praise from Stewart Brand, founder of the Whole Earth
Catalog, and Michael Porter of Harvard Business School. It might usefully
be read in conjunction with The Living Organization (above) or The Fifth
Discipline (below).
Senge, Peter E. The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday, 1990. The
author is Director of the Systems Thinking and Organizational Learning
Program at MIT's Sloan School of Management. According to Art Kleiner in
The Whole Earth Review, "organizations that want to learn...must follow
five disciplines... The fifth and all-embracing discipline, Systems
Thinking, is a technique for modeling, predicting, and generalizing about
the behavior of complex systems." Of special interest for this
bibliography is Chapter 13, which provides a conceptual framework for
creating an open environment where learning can take place; however, the
book as a whole, though not a light read, is worthwhile for those who have
time. Senge notes, for example, that systems thinking requires seeing
interrelationships rather than linear cause-effect chains and seeing
processes of change rather than snapshots. The key to seeing reality
systemically is seeing circles of influence rather than straight lines. By
tracing the flows of influence, we can see repeating patterns.
Articles
Bartolome, Fernando. "Nobody Trusts the Boss Completely--Now what?."
Harvard Business Review March-April 1989, n.2, pp. 135-142. This article
is included despite its 1989 publication date because the subject matter,
as noted below, deals with developing and using networks for information
transfer. As stated in the abstract, "catching problems early is important
to managers, and the best way to find out about developing headaches is to
have subordinates tell you. This depends on candor and trust, but both
have strict natural limits. Managers must carefully nurture trust and be
aware of the six areas critical to its development: communication,
support, respect, fairness, predictability, and competence. But managers
must also watch for telltale signs of trouble. Managers must develop a
communication network based on properly using, spreading, and creating
information." This could usefully be read with "Information Politics"
(below).
Charan, Ram. "How Networks Reshape Organizations-For Results," Harvard
Business Review September-October 1991, pp.104-115. Ram Charan is a
Dallas-based management consultant who advises companies on
implementing global strategies. The author discusses the concepts
developed as a result of four years' observation and participation in the
creation of networks in ten companies. The social architecture of
networks and the role of information are reviewed. Although these were
formal networks, designed by managers, they began to make a significant
difference in organizations when they affected patterns of relationships.
Over time, the members of the network influenced values and behavior
both above and below them in the larger organization.
**Davenport, Thomas H., Robert G. Eccles, and Laurence Prusak.
"Information Politics." Sloan Management Review Fall 1992, pp.53-65.
Thomas H. Davenport is a partner and director of research at Ernst &
Young's Center for Information Technology and Strategy in Boston. Robert
G. Eccles is professor of business administration at the Harvard Business
School. Laurence Prusak is a principal, also at the Center for Information
Technology and Strategy. Quoting the abstract: "Information technology
was supposed to stimulate information flow and eliminate hierarchy. It
has had just the opposite effect, argue the authors. As information has
become the key organizational 'currency,' it has become too valuable for
most managers to just give away. In order to make information-based
organizations successful, companies need to harness the power of
politics--that is, allow people to negotiate the use and definition of
information, just as we negotiate the exchange of other currencies. The
authors describe five models of information politics and discuss how
companies can move from the less effective models, like feudalism and
technocratic utopianism, and toward the more effective ones, like
monarchy and federalism." This is a key article which might usefully be
read in conjunction with Managing with Power (above).
Hequet, Marc. "E-Mail Spins a Web at Work." Training August 1995, vol.32,
n.8, pp.53-60. The author is associate editor of Training, a standard trade
journal. This article describes the effects e-mail can have on
interpersonal and corporate behaviors. At its best, e-mail enables an
environment in which teams organize, do a job and dissolve to re-form in
different incarnations elsewhere in the company. Problems, however, can
include privacy issues and abuse, as well as misinterpretation of
messages. This is a short readable article, a good choice for the reader
who wants a quick overview of several e-mail issues.
Hill, Linda A. Power Dynamics in Organizations. Harvard Business School.
9-494-083 (rev. March 22, 1995, 15 pages). Professor Linda Hill prepared
this note to be used in the second-year MBA elective course Power and
Influence and generously provided a copy for use in this bibliography. The
note contains a bibliography and exhibits and is aimed at developing
students' diagnostic skills in assessing the power dynamics in their
particular situation. The document considers a definition of power, why
political conflict is inevitable in organizations, where power comes from,
and how the student can make sense of the power dynamics in a given
organization. This short overview might usefully be read in conjunction
with "Information Politics" (above).
Kleiner, Art. "The Battle for the Soul of Corporate America." Wired 3.08,
http://www.hotwired.com/wired/3.08/features/reengineering.html Art
Kleiner is a writer, teacher, and consultant of topics involving culture and
business. He works with MIT's Center for Organizational Learning and
NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. Two major theories, one
based on the work of W. Edwards Deming, and the other on the work of
Michael Hammer, are competing for how the corporation should be
governed in the information age. This article describes both models and
considers their implications for corporations. "Ultimately, the question
lingers: What should a large institution be? Specifically, what do we want
of corporations? Demingism promises that the individual worker will
have more power to answer that question; Hammerism, that corporations
will fit much more effectively and responsively into a fast-changing
world." How organizations align themselves will determine, to a great
extent, their corporate culture.
Larson, Erik, and Jonathan King. "The Systemic Distortion of Information:
An Ongoing Challenge to Management." Organizational Dynamics Winter
1996, pp. 49-61. Erik Larson is an associate professor of management at
the College of Business, Oregon State University. Jonathan King is a
professor of business at the University of Washington. This article
discusses information distortion in organizations, why it happens, and
how to guard against it. The study is essentially an examination of the
dynamics of information politics within organizations. A bibliography at
the end of the article references The Fifth Discipline (above). This is a
short but very informative read.
Zuboff, Shoshana. "The Emperor's New Workplace." Scientific American
September 1995, pp. 203-204. Shoshana Zuboff is Benjamin and Lillian
Hertzberg Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business
School and author of the pioneering work In the Age of the Smart Machine
(below).This essay succinctly describes the core issue facing business:
information technology evolves more quickly than behavior. Old paradigm
industrial hierarchy rested on the premise that complexity could
constantly be removed from lower level jobs and passed up to the
management ranks. Exploiting information technology (the informated
environment) means opening the information base of the organization to
members at every level, redefining the social contract of the workplace.
-------"Informate the Enterprise: An Agenda for the Twenty First
Century" National Forum Summer 1991, v.71, n.3, pp. 3-7. Zuboff uses the
example of a pulp mill to expand upon the ideas discussed in the previous
article. She describes the post-hierarchical organization, including
changed roles and relationships as the front lines become empowered with
information and intellective skills. The issues are systemic. It might be
useful to read this article in conjunction with The Fifth Discipline
(above).
III. Networking and Communication- From the Water Cooler to the Board
Room
Books
Beck, Charles E. Managerial Communication: The Lifeline of Organizations.
Upcoming The author, Associate Professor of Communication at the
University of Colorado at Denver, graciously provided draft copies of
applicable chapters of this soon to be published book. Meant to be used as
a text in a course on communication for business and industry, it is a
comprehensive, thorough, but readable overview of the subject.
Representative chapters of interest for this bibliography include:
Organizational Culture, Models of Communication, Organizations as
Systems, and Networks and Lifelines in Organizations. Also included is a
lengthy (43 page) list of references. Readers will probably want to
augment this work with other materials; however, it is a good starting
point for someone needing an introduction to the topic.
Fast, Julius. Subtext: Making Body Language Work in the Workplace. New
York: Viking, 1991. This update to the bestselling Body Language is
essentially a "how to" book, included here because several classmates in
previous classes wanted to discuss the effects of body language in
communications with library customers. Julius Fast is the guru of this
genre, who believes that body language is a subtext in all our
communications. Chapter headings include: Supertalk, The Job Interview,
The Magic Behind the Sale, and, interestingly, Aspects of Power, and
Subtext and the Global Workplace. Favorably reviewed in Library Journal
and Working Woman, this book also discusses speech habits and cultural
issues. Although not scholarly, it is, nonetheless, an interesting read on
this aspect of interpersonal communication.
Helgesen, Sally. The Female Advantage: Women's Ways of Leadership. New
York: Doubleday, 1990. This book was referenced in both Tom Peters'
Liberation Management (below), and also in Herminia Ibarra's article,
"Personal Networks of Women and Minorities in Management A Conceptual
Framework" (below). A former contributing editor of Harper's, Helgesen is
a journalist whose work has appeared in national publications and The
New York Times. In this book, the author describes her research on the
strategies and organization theories of four successful women leaders.
Through what Helgesen calls "diary studies," she explores how women
leaders make decisions, gather and disperse information, and structure
their organizations. These women picture themselves at the center of an
inclusive spiderweb. Their workplaces emphasize community and
information sharing. Although there are notes at the end, this book
unfortunately lacks an index. Otherwise, it is a pleasant read.
Hill, Linda A. Becoming a Manager: Mastery of a New Identity. Boston:
Harvard Business School Press, 1992. Linda Hill is Associate Professor of
Organizational Development/ Human Resource Management at Harvard
Business School, where one of the courses she teaches is Power and
Influence. This book provides insight into the challenges that new
managers face. Their most important task, and the most difficult to
master, is managing relationships with subordinates and others, and
developing information and resources networks. Hill based her work on the
experiences of nineteen new managers at two Fortune 500 companies;
however, this is not a "how to" book. Instead, the author leads readers
through a procession of anecdotes and narratives, as she describes the
young managers' transformation from specialists to generalists. The book
is aimed at new managers or potential managers and has some
shortcomings. Its boundaries are narrow; the final chapter relies on
traditional tools for managerial development; and it could have given
greater discussion to the traits, behaviors or situations that led to
managerial failure. It is, however, an interesting study of the learning
process. This book was favorably reviewed in the journal Academy of
Management Executive.
McKinnon, Sharon M. and William J. Bruns, Jr. The Information Mosaic.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1992. Sharon M. McKinnon is
Associate Professor of Business Administration at Northeastern
University and William J. Bruns, Jr. is Professor of Accounting and Control
at Harvard Business School. This book explores how managers actually
obtain and use the information they need. The authors were surprised to
learn that the managers they interviewed rely on accounting information
primarily to corroborate impressions of organizational performance. To
gather the information they require and to communicate it quickly,
managers develop their own personal information systems, which rely to
significant extent on direct observation and interpersonal contacts inside
and outside their firms. This book is aimed primarily at accounting and
MIS professionals and describes, for example, research methodology and
interview protocols. Users of this bibliography, however, should be
interested in chapters describing where managers find information and
what gives information value to managers.
**Peters, Tom. Liberation Management. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992
Tom Peters is the author of Thriving on Chaos and co-author of both In
Search of Excellence and A Passion for Excellence. This, his latest much-
praised book was selected at a Book of the Month Club main selection.
Peters is known as the management guru who first enunciated the concept
of Management by Walking Around, gathering needed information by
informal means. At over 830 pages, including notes and index, this is not a
quick read. Of special interest for this bibliography are the several
chapters on networking as a way of doing business. Firms can have a very
small core staff and yet handle complex projects by networking with
appropriate resources as necessary. Work is done in semipermanent
networks of small project-oriented teams, each one an autonomous,
entrepreneurial center of opportunity. Hierarchical management
structures cannot respond to the speed and flexibility needed for these
projects. Peters believes that this kind of economy is liberating both for
society and for the individual. Readers might want to consider The Female
Advantage (above) with this book. The Doonesbury comic is added below
because is so aptly illustrates some of the above ideas. (Doonesbury,
_Rocky Mountain News_, May 8, 1996. Mike is wondering how his
girlfriend Kim, who has just left his Seattle computer firm, has found
another job so quickly. "I don't get it, Kim- How did you get picked up by
that French Company so quickly?" "Good coders are hot, Mike. Word of the
firings this morning spread through the campus like a virus. Everyone
stopped working. A systems operator for Chien Fou in Paris noticed the
lack of company activity on the net. Within minutes, he e-mailed us all
contracts" Mike: "Whoa.. Who _thinks_like that?" Kim: "Successful
companies. Think Bernie'll be back from Maui?") Nohria, Nitin, and Robert
G. Eccles, eds. Networks and Organizations: Structure, Form, and Action.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1992. Both editors are professors
at Harvard Business School. This book is a collection of articles by
professors in the fields of sociology, cultural anthropology, and business.
All articles contain notes and references. The editors suggest that several
basic premises underlie a network perspective on organizations. All
organizations are in important respects social networks and need to be
addressed and analyzed as such. An organization's environment is properly
seen as a network of other organizations. The actions (attitudes and
behaviors) of actors in organizations can be best explained in terms of
their position in networks of relationships. Networks constrain actions,
and in turn are shaped by them. The comparative analysis of organizations
must take into account their network characteristics. These are scholarly
articles, many of which contain charts, graphs, and statistical analysis,
but most are worth the effort. Readers might want to start with Herminia
Ibarra's contribution: "Structural Alignments, Individual Strategies, and
Managerial Action: Elements toward a Network Theory of Getting Things
Done."
Reardon, Kathleen Kelley. They Don't Get It, Do They? Boston: Little,
Brown and Company, 1995. Kathleen Reardon is Associate Professor of
Management and Organization at the University of Southern California.
This is a handbook on the different perceptions, objectives, statements,
and body language that open up the chasm between the sexes at work.
Women don't have to become men, the author believes, but they must learn
how to respond to the hidden subtext of professional interactions to
advance their careers. This book has won favorable comment from Betty
Friedan and Warren Bennis, a colleague of Reardon's at the University of
Southern California. Even though it tends to be a "how to" book, They Don't
Get It, Do They? is included in this bibliography as an adjunct to the Julius
Fast book on body language and Helgesen's work on female leadership
style.
Articles
Hirschhorn, Larry, and Thomas Gilmore. "The New Boundaries of the
'Boundaryless' Company." Harvard Business Review May-June 1992, pp.
108-115. The authors are principal and vice president, respectively, at the
Center for Applied Research in Philadelphia. They discuss in this article
the emotional boundaries necessary for interpersonal relationships in the
workplace. Included are the authority boundary, task boundary, political
boundary and identity boundary. Because these boundaries are different
from the traditional kind, they tend to be invisible to many managers.
Knowing how to recognize these new boundaries and use them productively
is the essence of management in the flexible organization where team
work is of major importance. The authors suggest managers use their own
feelings as tools in thinking and managing.
Ibarra, Herminia M. "Personal Networks of Women and Minorities in
Management: A Conceptual Framework." Academy of Management Review
18, no. 1 (1993), pp. 56-87. Professor of Management at Harvard Business
School, Herminia Ibarra has done considerable research on how managers
develop and use informal networks of relationships. Quoting the abstract:
"The central thesis of this article is that the organizational context in
which interaction networks are embedded produces unique constraints on
women and racial minorities, causing their networks to differ from those
of their white male counterparts in composition and characteristics of
their relationships with network members. Organizational context is
hypothesized to affect personal networks directly, as well as through its
impact on individuals' strategies for managing constraints. A theoretical
perspective that views women and minorities as active agents who make
strategic choices among structurally limited alternatives is offered." This
is a scholarly article with extensive references, included here because of
its research emphasis.
**Krackhardt, David, and Jeffrey R. Hanson. "Informal Networks: The
Company Behind the Chart." Harvard Business Review July-August 1993,
pp. 104-111. David Krackhardt is Associate Professor of Organizations and
Public Policy at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and
Management at Carnegie Mellon University. Jeffrey R. Hanson is president
of his own management consulting firm in New York. According to the
abstract: "A formal organizational chart won't reveal which people confer
on technical matters or discuss office politics over lunch. Much of the
real work in any company gets done through an informal organization, with
complex networks of relationships that cross functions and divisions.
According to the authors, managers can harness the power in their
companies by diagramming the advice network, which reveals the people
to whom others turn to get work done; the trust network, which uncovers
who shares delicate information; and the communication network, which
shows who talks about work-related matters." This is a fascinating read,
complete with sample diagrams.
Mishra, Jitendra. "Managing the Grapevine." Public Personnel Management
vol. 19, no 2 (Summer 1990), pp. 213-228. Jitendra Mishra is a professor
at Weidman College of Business Administration, Grand Valley State
Colleges. According to the author, nearly all of the information within the
grapevine is undocumented and is thereby open to change and
interpretation as it moves through the network. It often travels faster
than formal channels. The grapevine is very useful in supplementing
formal channels, since it provides people with an outlet for their
imaginations and apprehensions as well. It also helps satisfy a natural
desire to know what is really going on. This articles develops a
conceptual model of the grapevine, discusses reasons for the grapevine, as
well as types, roles, and accuracy of information. The author believes
that those who are able to understand the power of the grapevine will be
better prepared to utilize it to provide stability and credibility in the
work environment.
IV. Adding Technology to the Culture
Books
**Zuboff, Shoshana. In the Age of the Smart Machine. New York: Basic
Books, Inc., 1988. This is the pioneering study aimed at understanding the
implications of the massive diffusion of information technology for the
nature of work, organization, and management. It has won critical
acclaim and has become the definitive work on this subject. Readers in a
hurry might want to start with Chapter 10, "Panoptic Power and the Social
Text," which deals with issues of interpersonal communication in a
computerized organization, followed by the concluding chapter, "Managing
the Informated Organization." Zuboff covers the root dilemmas of change
from old paradigm hierarchies to new paradigm heterarchical
organizations. This book should be read first in this section.
Galegher, Jolene, Robert Kraut, and Carmen Egido, eds. Intellectual
Teamwork: Social and Technological Foundations of Cooperative Work.
Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1990. This is a collection of
scholarly articles contributed by experts in the areas of electrical
engineering, social sciences, psychology, and business management. It is
referenced in Connections: New Ways of Working in the Networked
Organization (below). Since some of the technologies described are
somewhat exotic, readers will probably want to focus on the first section,
which deals with basic social processes and group interaction. Two
chapters, The Development of Working Relationships, and Mutual
Knowledge and Communicative Effectiveness are of special interest for
this bibliography. All contributor chapters end with references, and most
contain abstracts. This book would be particularly worthwhile for those
who want more in depth material after reading Shared Minds (below).
Jolene Galegher is a professor at the University of Arizona, Department of
Management and Policy.
Schrage, Michael. Shared Minds. New York: Random House, 1990. Michael
Schrage completed this book while a visiting scholar at MIT's Media Lab.
It has gained favorable comment from, among others, Tom Peters (above)
and Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus Development Corporation. According
to reviewer Howard Rheingold (author of Virtual Communities), "human
communication in all its emotional volatility, its unpredictable
creativity, and especially its fuzzy, rich, invisible networks of
context...constitutes the real information revolution that is just beginning
to take place. Schrage starts by considering the hypothesis that the most
powerful revolutions triggered by communication technologies are
revolutions in human working relationships. Shared Minds is about what
collaborative technologies are likely to mean to us, at best and worst, and
provides a framework for thinking about the social changes likely to
erupt, blossom, diffuse, and emerge if computer supported cooperative
work turns out to be as important as PCs and work processors." This is a
clear, very readable work on what could be a highly technical subject.
Sproull, Lee and Sara Kiesler. Connections: New Ways of Working in the
Networked Organization. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1991. Lee Sproull is
Professor of Management at Boston University and Sara Kiesler is
Professor of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University.
According to Howard Webber's review in the Sloan Management Review,
"Lee Sproull and Sara Kiesler examine change with an unusually discerning
eye and a critical intelligence that tolerates ambiguity and conditions its
claims. In their balanced and insightful analysis, the authors urge us to
understand that technologies may deliberately be used to reinforce a clear
chain of command, to structure and even block pathways of information
exchange, to suppress extracurricular use of the system, and to improve
security through surveillance. Sproull and Kiesler raise crucial questions
about our technical and particularly our human strategies as a producing
society." This book was referenced in "Information Politics" (above), and
is worth reading in conjunction with "Working it Out" (below) and Shared
Minds (above). Although it contains some charts and tables, it is not overly
technical for the lay reader.
Articles
**Brown, John Seely. "Research that Reinvents the Corporation." Harvard
Business Review January-February 1991, pp. 102-111. John Seely Brown
is a corporate vice president at Xerox and director of the Xerox Palo Alto
Research Center (PARC). Research today must do more than simply
innovate new products. It must design the new technological and
organizational "architectures" that make possible a continuously
innovating company. In working with its corporate customers, Xerox PARC
has found that innovation takes place at all levels of the company- not
just in the research department. Some of PARC's most important
research has been done by anthropologists, who often find that people
don't follow formal procedures as outlined in company manuals. Instead,
they rely on a rich variety of informal practices that aren't in any manual
but are crucial to getting the job done. In another example, a researcher
found that the stories tech-reps tell each other around the coffee pot are
crucial to continuous learning. Rather than impose a new technology on a
corporate structure, PARC tries to design new uses of technology that
leverage the incremental innovation coming from within the entire
company. This article is a fascinating application of new paradigm
thinking to technology research.
Davenport, Thomas H. "Saving IT's Soul: Human-Centered Information
Management." Harvard Business Review March-April 1994, pp. 119-131.
Thomas H. Davenport is a partner and director of research at Ernst &
Young's Center for Information Technology and Strategy in Boston and an
adjunct professor at Boston University's School of Management. The
proponents of information technology, notes the author, usually
concentrate on management information systems and hardware, and ignore
the human element. A more logical approach, he argues, would be to start
with a determination of how people use information, rather than how
people use machines. Davenport adds that, in making such a
determination, it is well to remember that information can take on many
meanings, that changing an information system will not in itself
transform a company, and that information is not easily shared. The
author discusses corporate examples of human-centered information
management. Hallmark, for example, has established "information
guides"- translators between information users and the IT staff. This is a
good follow-up to the John Seely Brown article (above).
Hays, Laurie. "Working it Out." The Wall Street Journal pR22 (W) pR22
(E), Nov. 14, 1994. Computer networks are enhancing communications at
some companies, but are also causing problems in communications. Some
employees use networks to spy on other workers, or to leave thoughtless
messages that would be difficult to convey in a more direct manner.
While networks and groupware help some employees stay in touch with
coworkers, other staffers dislike the impersonal communications
represented by computer networks. Some managers have noticed morale
problems associated with the lack of socialization workers are
experiencing because their work with computers isolates them from other
humans. Other employees have used computer technology to become more
efficient at removing confidential company information and bringing it
with them to new jobs. This article might be read in conjunction with the
article on e-mail (above) and is a good choice for someone wanting a very
quick overview of some often unanticipated problems with groupware.
Rheingold, Howard. "PARC is Back!" Wired 2.02.
http://hotwired.com/wired/2.02/features/parc.html Howard Rheingold is
the author of Virtual Communities. This article has much in common with
the John Seely Brown piece in Harvard Business Review (above). Rheingold,
however, describes in detail how one researcher is looking at MUDs as the
water coolers of the Internet and a way to bring informal, playful
communication back into organizations. This researcher envisioned a
multimedia MOO to include a suite of tools for creating collaborative
environments quickly. Users would modify their virtual collaboration
space, creating a unique arena for each project. This is a good alternative
to the Brown article for those who prefer a more computer oriented (as
opposed to business school) slant.
Schrage, Michael. "Groupware Requires Much More Than Bandwidth."
Business Communications Review Nov. 1995, vol.25, n.11, p.35-39. Client-
server groupware implementations on the enterprise network depend as
much on organizational culture and politics as on technical expertise,
argues Schrage. Groupware products like Lotus Notes restructure
relationships as readily as they restructure data. The goal becomes to
create value through better human interaction, not just better
information. Consequently, information technology leaders should stress
that incentives to share information are needed whenever groupware is
installed. Schrage believes that issues regarding information access will
likely lead to intelligent agents that will manage information
dissemination and interpersonal interactions. The author states that
managers cannot talk of building a brain or nervous system while glibly
insisting that the mind isn't their responsibility. This article is drawn
from Schrage's latest book, No More Teams: Mastering the Dynamics of
Creative Collaboration (below).
Afterward
1. Probably Good- Unavailable by Due Date
Information Technology for Workplace Communication. Report by the
International Workplace Studies Program at Cornell, 1995. The report
discusses, among other things, how the use of electronic communication
technologies affects face-to-face communication.
Manning, George, Kent Curtis, and Steve McMillen. Building Community: the
Human Side of Work. Cincinnati: Thomson Executive Press, 1996.
People, Managing Your Most Important Asset. Boston: Harvard Business
Review, 1990. This is a collection of articles previously published in HBR,
including an article by Abraham Zaleznik, "Management Communication and
the Grapevine."
Sproull, Lee, and Sara Kiesler. "Computers, Networks and Work." Scientific
American Sept. 1991 v.265, n.3 pp. 116-124. (Includes related article on
how people work via electronic mail. Special Issue: Communications,
Computers and Networks.)
Schrage, Michael. No More Teams: Mastering the Dynamics of Creative
Collaboration. New York: Doubleday, 1995.
Whetten, David A. and K.S. Cameron. Developing Management Skills: Gaining
Power and Influence. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1993.
Referenced in the note by Linda A. Hill (above).
2. Addenda- Other Materials to Explore
Management Information Systems. An excellent, comprehensive text,
recommended by Professor Thompson at the University of Denver Business
School, is: Laudon, Kenneth C., and Jane P. Laudon. Management Information
Systems: A Contemporary Perspective. New York: Macmillan, 1995.
Office relationships between the sexes- friendships and romance to
sexual harassment. Consider starting with news coverage of current
harassment problems at Mitsubishi.
Organizational learning. Both Chris Argyris and David Garvin of Harvard
Business School have written extensively in this area.
Chaos theory. Thriving on Chaos, by Tom Peters, and Chaos: Making a New
Science, by James Gleick.
Telecommuting and how it affects workplace relationships. Start with
Cornell's International Workplace Studies Program.
Work and the family- tensions and overlap.
(_Real Life Adventures_ cartoon from _Rocky Mountain News_, April 15,
1996, shows two workers holding coffee mugs and chatting. He: "He did?
Then What?" She: "Then she checked the file." He: "Wow. Then What?"
Caption: It's not the money that keeps us going to work. It's the fear that
we might miss something.)
