EJBO Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization Studies
Vol. 12, No. 1 (2007)
Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership
BOOK REVIEW
Christian T. K.-H. Stadtländer
Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership Lee G. Bolman and Terrence E. Deal (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, California, U.S.A.; 2003;ISBN 07879-6427-1) U.S. $38.00
Organizations are complex entities, often difficult to understand. Many factors make organizational life complicated, ambiguous, and unpredictable. The biggest challenge for managers and leaders is to find the right way to frame our organizations in a world that has become more global, competitive, and turbulent. The book by Bolman and Deal is a marvelous work on understanding how organizations function. It also provides practical suggestions for reframing organizations in order to adapt them better to current business realities. Bolman and Deal focus on both management and leadership. The authors believe that organizations face several dangers. If, for example, an organization is overmanaged but underled, it will eventually lose any kind of sense of purpose and spirit. On the other hand, a poorly managed organization with a strong and charismatic leader may soar briefly only to experience a significant downfall shortly thereafter. Bolman and Deal suggest that we need today more people in managerial roles who can deal with organizational confusion and chaos by establishing order and finding simplicity; we need managers who love their work and organizations, and respect the people whose lives they affect. Leaders should be both artists and analysts, who are flexible and versatile enough to reframe their experience, as well as constantly seek new issues and discover possibilities. The authors also suggest that leaders and managers should view management more as a moral and ethical undertaking and should attempt to combine business realism with a passionate commitment to larger values and purposes....