Tesis

T HE POWER
OF

MINDS
AT WORK

This Page Intentionally Left Blank

THE POWER
OF

MINDS
AT WORK
O rganizational
Intelligence in Action
KARL ALBRECHT

American Management Association
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Albrecht, Karl
The power of minds at work : organizationalintelligence in action /
Karl Albrecht.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8144-0737-4
1. Knowledge management. 2. Organizational learning. 3. Corporate
culture. I. Title.
HD30.2 .A385 2002
658.4'038--dc21
2002005079

© 2003 Karl Albrecht.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.

This publication may not be reproduced,
stored in aretrieval system,
or transmitted in whole or in part,
in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of AMACOM,
a division of American Management Association,
1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

Printing number
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS
PREFACE

PART I. THE CASE

ix
FOR

SMARTER ORGANIZATIONSCHAPTER 1. ALBRECHT’S LAW
Collective Stupidity: It’s Normal
The Entropy Tax: Energy Lost Forever
Organizational IQ: When 1 + 1 + 1 Don’t Add Up to 3
Does an Organization Have a “Mind”?
Collective Intelligence: Brain Power Writ Large

1
3
3
6
7
10
14

CHAPTER 2. LEARNED INCAPACITY: HOW PEOPLE COLLUDE TO FAIL
Corporate DNA: The Internal Codes of Success
and Failure
Seventeen BasicSyndromes of Dysfunction
The Crisis Mode: Start with Denial
GroupThink: Deciding Not to Think
Profiles in Dysfunction: How the Great
Become Mediocre

17

PART II. ORGANIZATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

39
41

CHAPTER 3. WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL INTELLIGENCE?

18
21
26
29
34

v

vi

C ONTENTS

Syntropy: Multiplying Brain Power
Seven Traits of the Intelligent Organization
Profiles inIntelligence: You Know It When You See It
The Causes of Organizational Intelligence
Should We Train Brains?
CHAPTER 4. STRATEGIC VISION: EVERY ENTERPRISE
NEEDS A THEORY
The Arc of Success: The “Golden Age” Syndrome
Bifocal Vision: What Now and What Next?
Seeing Through the Fog: Management Fads,
Fallacies, and Folklore
The Manifesto: Vision, Mission, Values, and Strategy
Leadership,Vision, and Action: Horses for Courses
The Pathology of Power
The Neurology of Leadership
Key Indicators of Strategic Vision

42
43
48
59
61

66
67
72
74
83
87
92
99
103

CHAPTER 5. SHARED FATE: THE HOLODYNAMIC ORGANIZATION
I, We, They, Us, and Them: The “Rabble Hypothesis”
The Hologram as Metaphor
Culture as the Collective Unconscious
Our History: Who Are We and How Did We GetHere?
Lifeboat Politics: Zero-Sum Thinking
Organizing Across Cultures: Ethnic and
Social Interfaces
Key Indicators of Shared Fate

105
106
108
110
113
116

CHAPTER 6. APPETITE FOR CHANGE: PLANNED ABANDONMENT
Homeostasis and the Dominant Neurosis:
How Organizations Avoid Their Futures
The Dominators Are Rarely the Innovators
The Sick-Sigma Syndrome: Perfection or Destruction?...