The Age of Unreason
Submitted by WorkCreatively on Sun, 06/07/2009 - 06:23
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Printer-friendly version| Title | The Age of Unreason |
| Publication Type | Book |
| Pub Year | 1998 |
| Authors | Handy, C. |
| Publisher | Harvard Business School Press |
| Keywords | caring, encouragement, leisure, supportiveness |
| Notes |
supportiveness"Organizations are not by nature forgiving places. Mistakes are magnified by myth and engraved in reports and appraisals, to be neither forgotten nor forgiven. Organizational halos are for sinners as well as saints and last for a long time. The new manager must be a different manager. He, and increasingly she, must use what, in psychological jargon, is called reinforcement theory, applauding success and forgiving failure; he or she must use mistakes as opportunities for learning, something only possible if the mistake is truly forgiven because otherwise the lesson is heard as a reprimand, not an offer of help...The new manager has to be a teacher, counselor, and friend, as much as or more than he or she is commander, inspector, and judge." (p. 131)
leisure"Leisure, if we think about it, is only true leisure if it is part of a portfolio, not the whole of it. The idea of a 'leisure society', with whole blocks of people with nothing to do except enjoy themselves, is to me a vison of hell, not of heaven. The best form of leisure is nearly always active leisure, or work of a sort. The point is that the activity is of our choice, in our time and under our control. When we have had enough of it, we can stop." (p. 208) caring"Care is not a word to be found in many organizational textbooks, or in books on learning theory, but it should be." (p. 232) encouragement"A culture of excitement, of question and experiment, of exploration and adventure cannot survive under a reign of fear. That kind of culture cannot be imposed, it can only be encouraged by demonstrations of warmth for all that is good, by celebration, by investment in individuals beyond the bounds of prudence. That kind of encouragement is only possible if one genuinely cares for the people being encouraged." (p. 233) |
| URL | http://books.google.com/books?id=nqppAAAAMAAJ |