How Organizations Work: Taking a Holistic Approach to Enterprise Health

by Alan P. Brache

A groundbreaking approach to successful performance improvement

Almost every executive in business today is faced with the challenge of improving performance, from incremental improvements to wholesale organizational change. Here, a world-renowned expert in organizational improvement asserts that most hard-won changes don't last for long, however, because of the inability to identify the root causes of the problem. How Organizations Work offers a clear, integrated solution to performance improvement via a new "Enterprise Model"-which takes into account all variables that influence performance. Alan Brache provides a comprehensive "physical exam" for checking an organization's vital signs and a 360-degree picture of how organizational dynamics can be harnessed to effect permanent improvements in performance.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 21, 2001

Reviews

[Sergiy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a big disappointment, rather a waste of time.

Compared to the book "Improving Performance" co-authored with Geary Rummler, there is nothing new here, everything is the same, only in a more simplified way (in the negative sense of that word).

I recommend to read Improving Performance: Managing the White Space instead.

Skip this one, you won't loose anything.

[Dave Applegate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Branche's book describes the "organizational levers" that determine the health of an organization. I'd given Branche high marks for organizing the book eloquently and posing good questions to determine areas of weakness in your business. I feel like I'm reading a medical text book on how to diagnose different diseases. On the downside, Branche takes too much of a "academic" view on fixing organizations and I felt like little was applicable after reading his book other than "diagnosing" my companies "diseases" (still a very important thing.)

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reads like a text book, and receives the high rating for its sheer volume of information. I tackled it with a highlighter and pencil and read only one chapter in a sitting. However, it is the best explanation of all of the factors surrounding businesses and organizations that I have ever read. I don't recommend it unless your job demands that you know such information.