Oil Change: Perspectives on Corporate Transformation is the second book in the new Oxford series The Learning History Library. Each book gets inside a company at a crucial time of change, offering a unique opportunity to see innovation from the inside out. Oil Change: Perspectives on Corporate Transformation is the story of major corporate change undertaken by OilCo, a pseudonym for a major international oil company, just after a time of layoffs and cutbacks. Key people within the company tell the story, using a technique developed at MIT's Center for Organizational Learning. One hundred and fifty employees were interviewed at all levels of the company, from hourly workers to the executive council. They worked in all primary OilCo businesses: exploration and production, refining and retail, chemical and oil consulting. During this time, all the firms values came into question, including its business practices, corporate governance structure, team management, and leadership style. Oil Change: Perspectives on Corporate Transformation gives students an inside look at what OilCo learned collectively.

Oil Change: Perspectives on Corporate Transformation (The ^ALearning History Library)

Business & Money

George Roth

Art Kleiner

Ann Thomas

Toni Gregory

Edward Hamell

Biography & History

Oxford University Press

Since Peter Senge published his groundbreaking book The Fifth Discipline, he and his associates have frequently been asked by the business community: "How do we go beyond the first steps of corporate change? How do we sustain momentum?" They know that companies and organizations cannot thrive today without learning to adapt their attitudes and practices. But companies that establish change initiatives discover, after initial success, that even the most promising efforts to transform or revitalize organizations—despite interest, resources, and compelling business results—can fail to sustain themselves over time. That's because organizations have complex, well-developed immune systems, aimed at preserving the status quo. Now, drawing upon new theories about leadership and the long-term success of change initiatives, and based upon twenty-five years of experience building learning organizations, the authors of The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook show how to accelerate success and avoid the obstacles that can stall momentum. The Dance of Change, written for managers and executives at every level of an organization, reveals how business leaders can work together to anticipate the challenges that profound change will ultimately force the organization to face. Then, in a down-to-earth and compellingly clear format, readers will learn how to build the personal and organizational capabilities needed to meet those challenges. These challenges are not imposed from the outside; they are the product of assumptions and practices that people take for granted—an inherent, natural part of the processes of change. And they can stop innovation cold, unless managers at all levels learn to anticipate them and recognize the hidden rewards in each challenge, and the potential to spur further growth. Within the frequently encountered challenge of "Not Enough Time," for example—the lack of control over time available for innovation and learning initiatives—lies a valuable opportunity to reframe the way people organize their workplaces. This book identifies universal challenges that organizations ultimately find themselves confronting, including the challenge of "Fear and Anxiety"; the need to diffuse learning across organizational boundaries; the ways in which assumptions built in to corporate measurement systems can handcuff learning initiatives; and the almost unavoidable misunderstandings between "true believers" and nonbelievers in a company. Filled with individual and team exercises, in-depth accounts of sustaining learning initiatives by managers and leaders in the field, and well-tested practical advice, The Dance of Change provides an insider's perspective on implementing learning and change initiatives at such corporations as British Petroleum, Chrysler, Dupont, Ford, General Electric, Harley-Davidson, Hewlett-Packard, Mitsubishi Electric, Royal DutchShell, Shell Oil Company, Toyota, the United States Army, and Xerox. It offers crucial advice for line-level managers, executive leaders, internal networkers, educators, and others who are struggling to put change initiatives into practice.

The Dance of Change: The challenges to sustaining momentum in a learning organization

PETER M. SENGE

Business Culture

Crown Currency

Since Peter Senge published his groundbreaking book The Fifth Discipline, he and his associates have frequently been asked by the business community: "How do we go beyond the first steps of corporate change?" They know that companies and organizations cannot thrive today without learning to adapt their attitudes and practices. But companies that establish change initiatives discover, after initial success, that even the most promising efforts to transform or revitalize organizations can fail to sustain themselves over time. That's because organizations have complex, well-developed immune systems, aimed at preserving the status quo. Now, drawing upon new theories about leadership and the long-term success change initiatives, and based upon twenty-five years of experience building learning organizations, the authors of The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook show how to accelerate success and avoid the obstacles that can stall momentum. The Dance of Change, written managers and executives at every level of an organization, reveals how business leaders can work together to anticipate the challenges that profound change will ultimately force the organization to face. Filled with in-depth accounts of sustaining learning initiatives by managers and leaders in the field, and well-tested practical advice, The Dance of Change provides an insider's perspective on implementing learning and change initiatives at such corporations as Ford Motor Company, General Electric and Shell Oil. It offers crucial advice for those who are struggling to put change initiatives into practice.

The Dance of Change: the challenges to sustaining momentum in learning organizations

Richard Ross

Peter Senge

Bryan, Smith

Management & Leadership

Random House Audio |

To the Desert and Back: The Story of One of the Most Dramatic Business Transformation on Record

Karen Ayas

Philip H. Mirvis

John Wiley&Sons

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Books by George Roth