Dave Ulrich - Reinventing The Organization: How Companies Can Deliver Radically Greater Value In Fast-Changing Markets

In a time of fast-changing business conditions, this book is intended to reinvent organization thinking by introducing leaders to new principles of organization design that will enable them to implement management practices and help their organizations

• Deliver innovative products and services to customers
• Create market value for investors
• Increase employee sentiment and productivity
• Provide value to a broader society or community interest

We followed three tracks to reinvent organization thinking. First, we synthesized and integrated a plethora of innovative organization ideas (holacracy, exponential, amoeba, team of teams, boundaryless, network, platform, agile, ambidextrous, lattice, and so forth). Each of these organizational innovations offers unique insights on components of what makes an organization effective in todays changing world. We combined these insights into an integrated framework that guides leaders as they reinvent their organizations.

Second, we identified some of the most innovative and successful organizations of our time from China (Alibaba, Huawei, Tencent), the United States (Amazon, Facebook, Google), and Europe (Supercell) and did deep dives into each one to explore how they are reinventing themselves to win. Our goal was not merely to examine what they were doing as exemplary companies, but more importantly to study the logic and principles behind their practices. Operating in a hyperdynamic environment, these iconic companies demonstrate how organizations are being reinvented. In fact, it would not be surprising if some of the companies we studied changed again, even by the time this book is published. But the principles of the new organization will remain much the same, and the practices (tools and actions) may be somewhat stable over time.

Third, we drew on our personal experiences. For the last four decades we have observed, studied, and advised organizations. After completing his PhD in organization theory, Arthur served on the senior executive teams at Acer and Tencent. He has taught for more than a decade at CEIBS (the leading Chinese business school), sits on many boards as an independent director, and has advised many CEOs to build or transform the capabilities of their companies. He also founded the Organizational Capability Learning Association and has facilitated the learning of about three hundred Chinese entrepreneurs and CEOs through quarterly meetings since 2010. Dave has taught at the University of Michigan for over thirty years, advised over half of the Fortune 200, and won numerous lifetime achievement awards. Together, we have published over forty books on organization, talent, human resources, and leadership. We have been instrumental in defining and shaping concepts such as organization capability, boundaryless organization, right culture, transformation, learning organization, HR value-added and HR outside-in, networks, platforms, leadership brand, leadership capital, business partner, paradox navigator, and strategic agility.

From these streams of work we have written this book to advance both the principles and practices that reinvent how to think about and build organizations. We hope these ideas will help leaders tasked with building stronger organizations and organization architects (in HR, organization development, or consulting) asked to shape and deliver this new organization form.

Writing this book has been very complex, with background research and approximately eighty interviews in China and the United States. We are grateful for the incredible help of the research team that conducted in-depth interviews and literature reviews of the eight iconic companies featured in these pages: Sharon Li, Emily Chen, Janet Huang, Devon Shu, and Wingwing Wangall of you are great colleagues to work with. Special thanks to Kate Sweetman and Janet Huang, who turned company interviews into stories. We are especially grateful to Melinda Merino, our editor at Harvard Business Review Press, who helped shape our thinking, and to Patricia Boyd, who has been a remarkable copy editor as she masterfully turned our ideas into words with impact.

We are grateful to the interviewees who participated in our research, both for their time and their insights, and also to our close colleagues in the organizations where we work, teach, and consult. These colleagues have influenced our thinking far beyond our personal capacity. We have assimilated their ideas and made them ours (hopefully giving proper credit). Last, but certainly not least, we wish to recognize the long-term, persistent, and patient support of our families, in particular Jenny and Wendy, who are our intellectual, social, emotional, and spiritual partners.