The Democratic Enterprise: Liberating your Business with Freedom, Flexibility and Commitment

by Gratton, Lynda

• ISBN13: 9780273675280
• ISBN10: 0273675281
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-01-01
• Publisher: FT Press

Summary

The Democratic Enterprise delivers the blueprint for a business built on choice and commitment. A business people would vote to work for. - Hits clear "buy-buttons" of faster business, deeper employee commitment and better career development - Addresses critical business issues of work-life balance, choice of location, balancing individual discretion and operational control - Delivers original ideas and impressive research with practical application - Extremely timely book, addressing hot topics of business values and individual fulfilment - New work from a top author, and emerging European guru

Author Biography

Lynda Gratton is Associate Professor of Organizational Behaviour at London Business School.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xii
Citizens' Tales
The story of Greg Grimshaw at BP	p. 3
Why Greg is important to the success of BP	p. 6
What Greg has done to be the best he could be	p. 8
What BP has done to help Greg become the best he could be	p. 9
The story of Nina Bhatia at McKinsey	p. 10
Why Nina is important to the success of McKinsey	p. 13
What Nina has done to become the best she could be	p. 14
What McKinsey has done to support Nina to be the best she could be	p. 15
The story of Stewart Kearney at BT	p. 16
Why Stewart is important to the success of BT	p. 18
What Stewart has done to be the best he could be	p. 19
What BT has done to support Stewart to be the best he could be	p. 20
The value of the Democratic Enterprise	p. 21
What Democracy Means
A short history of democracy	p. 26
Classical democracy	p. 26
Liberal democracy	p. 28
Direct democracy	p. 29
Competitive, elitist democracy	p. 30
Legal democracy	p. 31
The tenets of the Democratic Enterprise	p. 33
An adult-to-adult relationship	p. 36
Individuals as investors	p. 37
The expression of diverse qualities	p. 38
Participation in the determination of conditions of association	p. 40
The liberty of some individuals is not at the expense of others	p. 41
Accountabilities and obligations	p. 42
Democracy at Work
The Democracy Study	p. 44
An adult-to-adult relationship	p. 44
Individuals as investors	p. 47
The expression of diverse qualities	p. 49
Participation in the conditions of association	p. 51
The liberty of some individuals is not at the expense of others	p. 54
Accountabilities and obligations	p. 56
The state of enterprise democracy	p. 59
Why are some companies more democratic than others?	p. 65
The Drivers to Democracy
The first force of democracy: the shift in individuals	p. 69
The baby boomers want a life	p. 70
Generations X and Y want autonomy and choice	p. 72
The second force of democracy: the shift in technology	p. 74
Support for individual autonomy	p. 78
Support for flexibility and variety	p. 79
Building Individual Autonomy
The citizen investor	p. 82
The elements of human capital	p. 83
Intellectual capital	p. 85
Emotional capital	p. 88
Social capital	p. 90
Leveraging human capital	p. 94
How individuals become autonomous	p. 97
Becoming aware	p. 100
Becoming reflective	p. 103
Creating models	p. 105
Taking action	p. 108
How organizations support autonomy	p. 110
Supporting awareness	p. 111
Encouraging reflection	p. 114
Assisting model building	p. 115
How organizations understand employees	p. 117
Building employee insight at Tesco	p. 119
Crafting Organizational Variety
Pioneers of democracy	p. 128
Variety of job assignments: BP	p. 130
Variety of job assignments: the insights	p. 133
Variety of projects and task forces: McKinsey	p. 135
Variety of projects and task forces: the insights	p. 138
Choice of job content: Sony	p. 140
Variety of job content: the insights	p. 145
Choice of training: Unisys	p. 147
Variety in training: the insights	p. 151
Choice of developmental relationships: Goldman Sachs	p. 153
Variety in relationships: the insights	p. 156
Choice of rewards and benefits: AstraZeneca	p. 158
Variety in rewards and benefits: the insights	p. 160
Choice of location: BT	p. 161
Variety in location: the insights	p. 163
Choice of time: HP	p. 166
Variety in time: the insights	p. 168
The lessons of building variety	p. 169
Map of terrain of sacrifice	p. 171
Continuously expand variety	p. 171
Prepare for variety to educate	p. 172
Be prepared to tinker	p. 173
Create rich information	p. 173
Keep the rules simple	p. 175
Shaping Shared Purpose
Goals	p. 178
Accountabilities and obligations	p. 181
The obligations of clients	p. 183
The obligations of the firm	p. 184
The obligation of the members	p. 186
Trust and power	p. 188
Leaders and Citizens at Work
The role of the leader	p. 195
The leader as philosopher	p. 195
The leader as visionary	p. 197
The role of the team leader	p. 198
The team leader as creator of space	p. 198
The team leader as goal setter	p. 199
The team leader as role model	p. 200
The team leader as mentor and coach	p. 201
The HR role	p. 203
Creator of employee insight	p. 203
Builder of trials and experiments	p. 204
The Five Good Reasons to Become a Democratic Enterprise
Employees who experience democracy are more engaged	p. 208
Democratic enterprises create win-win solutions	p. 211
Democratic enterprises are more just and fair	p. 215
Democratic enterprises are more agile	p. 218
Democratic enterprises are more able to integrate	p. 220
Notes	p. 224
Index	p. 245
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