Up the Organization

Townsend is regarded as a liberal in matters of corporate social policy. He opposes racial, religious and sexual discrimination in business. His business philosophy demands that stock ownership through options be much more widely distributed than they presently are.

One of the most fundamental hypotheses of the book is found in the section "People" on page 137. "There's nothing fundamentally wrong with out country," says Townsend, "except that the leaders of all our major organizations are operating on the wrong assumptions."

He says we're in our current corporation mess because "for the last two hundred years we've been using the Catholic Church and C'sar's legions as our patterns for creating organizations.

None of this is original with Townsend. Sociologist Douglas McGregor, in his excellent book, The Human Side of Enterprise, outlined this philosophical framework as Theory X. Townsend gives McGregor credit and in the bibliography section, lists his book along with Peter Drucker's Managing for Result as "by far the best two books I've ever read on the subject of getting things done

For example, "the assistant-to recommends itself to the weak or lazy manager as a crutch. It helps him where he shouldn't and can't be helped--head-to-head contact with his people.

Up the Organization is a people-oriented book because Townsend's operating philosophy is people-oriented. "Yes," he says, "fire the whole purchasing department." But why? So people don't have to submit to a baronial purchasing czar and become demoralized. "Don't underestimate the morale value," says Townsend, "of letting your people 'waste' some money." OF purchasing departments, he says, "They'd hire Einstein and then turn down his request for a blackboard.

There should be no private elevators, no assistants-to, no private secretaries, no private air forces for the chief executive and his cronies. The leader should be accessible, able and willing to listen to his people.

Based on McGregor's Theory Y, Townsend says, "People don't hate work. It's as natural as rest or play. They don't have to be forced or threatened. If they commit themselves to mutual objectives, they'll drive themselves more effectively than you can drive them." But, says Townsend, in order for people to commit themselves, they must see ways to satisfy their ego needs.

All this requires Theory Y management: faith in the intelligence and loyalty of your people. This is essentially the philosophical backbone of Up the Organization, a very funny and thought-provoking book. Probably no corporation head is in a position (or has the faith in his people) to put Townsend's book into full practice. Perhaps it would be a disaster as some claim.

 

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