Margaret J. Wheatley
Encyclopedia
Margaret J. Wheatley is a writer and management consultant who studies organizational behavior. Her approach includes systems thinking
, theories of change
, chaos theory
, leadership
and the learning organization
: particularly its capacity to self-organize. Her work is often compared to that of Donella Meadows
and Dee Hock
. She describes her work as opposing "highly controlled mechanistic systems that only create robotic behaviors."
systems thinking from New York University. She has worked on every inhabited continent in "virtually every type of organization" and considers herself a global citizen. Her practice as an organizational consultant and researcher began in 1973. Since then she served as a professor of management in two graduate programs. She has been Associate Professor of Management at the Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, and Cambridge College, Massachusetts. Wheatley has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) has named her one of five living legends. In May 2003, ASTD awarded her their highest honor: “Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance.”
Her books include:
"Over many years of work all over the world, I've learned that if we organize in the same way that the rest of life does, we develop the skills we need: we become resilient, adaptive, aware, and creative. We enjoy working together. And life’s processes work everywhere, no matter the culture, group, or person, because these are basic dynamics shared by all living beings."
"Western cultural views of how best to organize and lead (now the methods most used in the world) are contrary to what life teaches. Leaders use control and imposition rather than participative, self-organizing processes. They react to uncertainty and chaos by tightening already feeble controls, rather than engaging people's best capacities to learn and adapt. In doing so, they only create more chaos. Leaders incite primitive emotions of fear, scarcity, and self-interest to get people to do their work, rather than the more noble human traits of cooperation, caring, and generosity. This has led to this difficult time, when nothing seems to work as we want it to, when too many of us feel frustrated, disengaged, and anxious."
"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about."
"To resolve most dysfunctional situations, the first thing to do is flood them with information."
Systems thinking
Systems thinking is the process of understanding how things influence one another within a whole. In nature, systems thinking examples include ecosystems in which various elements such as air, water, movement, plants, and animals work together to survive or perish...
, theories of change
Change
Change may refer to:- The process of becoming different:* Social change* Biological metamorphosis* Change , the mathematical study of change* Percentage change, in statistics* Fold change, in statistics...
, chaos theory
Chaos theory
Chaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
, leadership
Leadership
Leadership has been described as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task". Other in-depth definitions of leadership have also emerged.-Theories:...
and the learning organization
Learning organization
A learning organization is the term given to a company that facilitates the learning of its members and continuously transforms itself. Learning organizations develop as a result of the pressures facing modern organizations and enables them to remain competitive in the business environment...
: particularly its capacity to self-organize. Her work is often compared to that of Donella Meadows
Donella Meadows
Donella H. "Dana" Meadows was a pioneering American environmental scientist, teacher and writer. She is best known as lead author of the influential book The Limits to Growth, which made headlines around the world.- Life :Born in Elgin, Illinois, Meadows was educated in science, receiving a B.A...
and Dee Hock
Dee Hock
Dee Ward Hock is the founder and former CEO of the VISA credit card association. In 1968, Hock convinced Bank of America to give up ownership and control of their BankAmericard credit card program. The new company, called National BankAmerica, was a non-stock membership corporation equally owned...
. She describes her work as opposing "highly controlled mechanistic systems that only create robotic behaviors."
Background
During the 1960's, Wheatley served in the Peace Corps in Korea for two years while teaching high school English. She received her doctorate from Harvard University and holds an M.A. insystems thinking from New York University. She has worked on every inhabited continent in "virtually every type of organization" and considers herself a global citizen. Her practice as an organizational consultant and researcher began in 1973. Since then she served as a professor of management in two graduate programs. She has been Associate Professor of Management at the Marriott School of Management, Brigham Young University, and Cambridge College, Massachusetts. Wheatley has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates. The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) has named her one of five living legends. In May 2003, ASTD awarded her their highest honor: “Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance.”
Current work and publications
She is presently president of The Berkana Institute, a global charitable leadership foundation.Her books include:
- A Simpler Way (coauthored with Myron Kellner-Rogers, 1996)
- Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World (1999, 2006)
- Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future (2002)
- Finding Our Way: Leadership For an Uncertain Time (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2005)
Quotes
"There is a simpler, finer way to organize human endeavor. I have declared this for many years and seen it to be true in many places. This simpler way is demonstrated to us in daily life, not the life we see on the news with its unending stories of human grief and horror, but what we feel when we experience a sense of life’s deep harmony, beauty, and power, of how we feel when we see people helping each other, when we feel creative, when we know we’re making a difference, when life feels purposeful.""Over many years of work all over the world, I've learned that if we organize in the same way that the rest of life does, we develop the skills we need: we become resilient, adaptive, aware, and creative. We enjoy working together. And life’s processes work everywhere, no matter the culture, group, or person, because these are basic dynamics shared by all living beings."
"Western cultural views of how best to organize and lead (now the methods most used in the world) are contrary to what life teaches. Leaders use control and imposition rather than participative, self-organizing processes. They react to uncertainty and chaos by tightening already feeble controls, rather than engaging people's best capacities to learn and adapt. In doing so, they only create more chaos. Leaders incite primitive emotions of fear, scarcity, and self-interest to get people to do their work, rather than the more noble human traits of cooperation, caring, and generosity. This has led to this difficult time, when nothing seems to work as we want it to, when too many of us feel frustrated, disengaged, and anxious."
"There is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about."
"To resolve most dysfunctional situations, the first thing to do is flood them with information."
External links
- http://www.berkana.org/index.html
- http://www.margaretwheatley.com