Imaginization

by Professor Gareth Morgan

""Imaginization"" is a way of thinking and organizing. It is a key managerial skill that will help you understand and develop your own creative potential, and find innovative solutions to difficult problems. It answers the call for more creative forms of organization and management and shows how we can find new roles in a changing, uncertain world. Imaginization teaches by example, providing dozens of concrete illustrations and real-world case studies on how the approach can be put into practice. It shows how to develop new insights for your role as a manager, how to create more flexible and innovative forms of organization, and how to develop your own creative toolbox for meeting the challenges that lie ahead, and much more.

Genres: Management

347 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

Reviews

[Dustin Dye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imaginization is a bit more of a free-flowing, real-life version of Morgan's Images of Organization (although with different images provided). Like Images, it runs out of steam after a while, and can be put aside once you sense it has reached that point.

[John Fletcher · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a consultant this was a great read - helping to creatively encounter teams and organizations outside the dry, drab and disinfected way corporations are run.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off, I'm a little weird in that I like books to "feel" a certain way. This one just didn't have that element. The pages were chalky, the cover stiff...you just couldn't get comfortable with this book.

That being said, Morgan dives right into the concept of metaphor. While his metaphors can extend understanding to the masses, the book borders on being a little corny. When reading this for class, I found it interesting that many of my classmates seemed to reject the metaphors because those metaphors didn't fit neatly with their organization. These are very intelligent people, mind you. I think the main message of this book is that one needs to view the organization through the lens of the metaphor as opposed to the metaphor through the lens of the organization.

This book is meant to stimulate thought, not necessarily provide a "one through ten" how-to series. Certainly worth reading, but approach it with an open mind.

[Samir Dhond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always felt good reading Gareth's books. Imaginization is such a good title for this book. I mean, it truly shows us new ways of looking at organizations. For Human Resource professionals like me, such books are vitamins. it has given me new ideas of looking adn organizations and I have used some of them in my current assignment.

[Crazcarl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Use metaphors as a way to see things from a different perspective. This book goes through many real-world techniques for doing thing and offers a pretty clear picture of how this technique might work for you and your organization. Very good.