Organization Development - Book Report/Review Example

These same behaviors may also cause a person to hesitate doing something he/she knows it helpful due to fear of causing conflicts. These same behaviors are also pointed out to possibly cause a group to aim to figure out what is going wrong in the team, but gets angry at the member who actually exerts every effort to find the cause of the problems. These can be summed up as defensive routines. Harvard's Business School graduate Chris Argyris has been studying these particular behaviors for many years, and is now one of the renowned experts on subjects regarding management.

This fairly short book is filled with numerous examples and ideas about how different groups (or organizations) are becoming more and more excellent at dodging the actual issues concerning its group. As one reads through the book, one may find self discovering similar patterns of behaviors in different groups one is familiar with. The author's primary theory in the book is that organizational management groups create a world that is not in line with the managerial supervision they support and what they declare they desire.

It appears as if these management groups are instinctively bound to a procedure that makes it impossible for them to modify or alter what they actually consider should be modified or altered. This evaluation serves as the author's basis in dismissing these organizational change obstacles. The primary topics in the book include: 1) the long-established beliefs of the society that, while hypothetically admirable, are usually used in ways that do not really benefit the group or organization; 2) how people usually avoid getting themselves and others involved in situations that may be considered embarrassing or threatening even if it would be for the greater good for the greater number; 3) how several groups and organizations develop defensive set of processes and unconsciously but expertly use them; 4) how groups and organizations cope with these unhealthy routines by using evasive or "underground" processes; 5) how the virtues people act upon are not parallel to the ones they support; 6) how people tend to not discuss these defensive set of processes, and tend to not discuss why these defensive set of processes are not discussed, and; 7) how all these issues promote a feeling of dissatisfaction among members of any group or organization who see what is happening but feel unable to discuss, much less, change things.

These concerns enumerated by the author may seem simple to solve at the onset. However, while it is true that the suggested solutions in the book are theoretically direct, reflecting on some situations presented herein will definitely prove that successful execution of these solutions would take a great amount of tolerance and effort. Per the author, every group or organization should learn to frankly and sincerely discuss the real issues. Groups and organizations should also be able to see underneath the symptoms to recognize the real causes of the problems.

They should also learn to create tangible solutions to the problems and improve communications so as to decrease misinterpretations, miscommunications, and misunderstandings within the