The Elephant And The Flea: Looking backwards to the futureby Charles Handy (Hutchinson, ISBN 0099415658 £7.99) Charles Handy's latest book is interesting and enlightening, if sometimes slightly irritating for those of us who are aficianados of his work. The title refers to his concept of the world increasingly inhabited by big organisations and independent workers. His style is informative, readily accessible, and peppered with personal anecdote and reflection. It cuts across the grain of much of management's current paradigms and preoccupations. Some nuggets... Talking about the increasing trend to form partnerships he says 'the time and complexity of managing new chains all activities and partners are rarely costed ... we never realize how different and difficult it is going to be.' He goes on to say 'management becomes, much of the time, a protracted negotiation between diverging agendas.' Food for thought here as many of us get drawn into increasing numbers of partnership, network and consortia groups. At one point he reminds us of the danger of relying on electronic communications, given that only 30 percent of effective communication is in the words. He speaks with equal authority on large-scale organisations and independents operating portfolio lives. Speaking about his own move from within organisations to his portfolio life, he writes ' I had grown up assuming that work had to deliver everything in one neat package ' money, satisfaction, companionship, creativity ... now I do some things for money and other things for other reasons.' An apt insight! Much of the book is relevant to our world of arts and culture. No matter how well you know his work this is a good book to add to your collection.
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