Lessons from the Hive: The Buzz on Surviving and Thriving in an Ever-Changing Workplace

by Charles Decker

In this brilliant reimagining of the business-fable genre, bestselling author Charles Decker presents immediately engaging characters undergoing the throes of organizational change. Going through a company merger or buy-out creates new challenges for managers and employees alike, but this unique business fable offers real-world advice for coping and even prospering. Based on the true story of a candle-making company in New England, Lessons from the Hive is actually a fictionalized look inside an organization, Bee Natural, Inc., as it deals with inevitable changes after its purchase by a consumer-products conglomerate. Using a week-in-the-life approach, five major players in the organization are profiled, ranging from the recently installed tough CEO to a brand-new junior employee. The main character is a seasoned director of marketing who must face her own personal struggles with changes both at work and at home. Fast paced and entertaining, Decker's story parable is populated with likable, realistic characters who portray the tribulations and eventual success of a company enduring organizational change. Readers will
* More positive ways of looking at changes within an organization.
* Less confrontational ways of dealing with conflicts at work.
* How to deal with fears of the unknown in a changing business environment.
* The importance of establishing trust in the workplace.
* How to deal with conflicting interpersonal relationships in a professional manner. Well experienced in organizational development, training, and human resources management through his extensive business publishing background, Decker uses this business fable to demonstrate that trust is a stronger force than fear and that organizational change can actually result in career opportunities rather than career demise. Anyone involved in dealing with personal and professional transformation (and who isn't?) will find comfort in this delightful tale of a company dealing with the challenge of reinventing itself.

112 pages, Hardcover

First published November 15, 2004

Reviews

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good business parable. I found the main character Dana annoying, and her transformation contrived, but it has a few good lessons sprinkled in there. It's good to have an outsider's point of view once in a while and I liked the characters of Jeanne, Nikki and Peter.

The questions in the back are helpful for processing as a team.