They rule us, but do we rule them? The social structures and institutions in which we live and work.
We move around in organizations every day – at work, in universities or authorities. But how organizations work (or don’t work) often remains a mystery, like the labyrinths of a Kafka novel. The SZ author Peter Laudenbach, together with the management consultants and organizational sociologists Kai Matthiesen and Judith Muster, sheds light on the abysses of these special social structures. The authors describe why rules do not regulate everything and how organizations collapse immediately when their members comply with all regulations at all times. One of the misunderstandings that unnecessarily complicate being in organizations is the assumption that the core and core problem of an organization are the people who work in it. This assumption turns the individual into a buffer that has to absorb the organizational failure – you can only fail because of that. Instead of coaching people to adapt them to the needs of the organization, it would be helpful to adapt the organizational structures to the needs of its members and the work processes.
Kai Matthiesen, Judith Muster, Peter Laudenbach: The humanization of the organization. How to do justice to man by ignoring much of his essence. Vahlen, Munich, 256 pages, 24.90 euros.