Dr. Kilmann, a best selling author, professor, and consultant to Fortune 500 companies and the Office of the U.S. President, lucidly and systematically busts through the traditional barriers separating business, science, and western philosophical thought to create a new paradigm likely to change the scope of how we view our careers and lives in general for decades to come.
On my book shelf, I have purposely placed Quantum Organizations next to Drucker's The Practice of Management, Peters' In Search of Excellence, and Grove's Only the Paranoid Survive. More importantly, it is also not too far away from De Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind. Quantum Organizations is that important to our culture and how we organize and adapt our businesses and lives for optimal performance and personal growth.
It is my guess that folks who won't take this book seriously are also those who are susceptible to fads, buzzwords, and quick fixes. It is also these exact same folks who seem to end up more vulnerable than most to strategic inflection points, layoffs, takeovers, and liquidation.
An added note, although this is an organizational change management treatise, career-minded individuals struggling with their jobs and lives after the events of 9/11/01 will find added depth and meaning after reading this work. Additionally, B-School graduates can utilize this work to fill some the void left as a result of academic specialization. Dr. Kilmann is particularly adept at connecting the silos of the liberal arts and sciences with "Business 101."
The quantum organization is profiled by seven attributes including: inclusion of consciousness in self-designing systems; cross-boundary processes; and, internal commitment of active participants. Kilmann presents a five-stage process for closing the gap between the old and the new (i.e., quantum) organization.
The author delves into the primary change initiatives for achieving self-transformation consisting of quantum infrastructures, formal systems, and process management. Eight tracks are used to address these three components. These tracks concern: culture, skills, teams, strategy-structure, reward system, learning process, gradual process (continuous improvement on a unit level), and radical process (cross-boundary redesign on the macro level).
Self-awareness and growth are critical in the overall scheme. This emphasis on the individual makes this a highly unique work. Stern's Management Review Online (hrconsultant) finds this book to be fascinating, eclectic, and HIGHLY innovative in its approach to deep organizational change. The liberal use of full-color, lively diagrams greatly helps convey the meaning of key concepts.
The author has tried to bring together just about everything having to do with organizational transformation into one grand design; we believe he has been successful. For those searching for a different perspective on organization, out to 'push the envelop,' this is a book well worth your time. Highly recommended.