Book Review: Evolutionary Organizations: Operating System matters most!

The alternate approach to traditional bureaucratic, hierarchy driven, rules bound, centrally controlled organization is purpose driven, collective intelligence empowered, self-managing-teams based organizations. The central theme of this book is that the latter form of organizations, which it refers as Evolutionary Organizations, are more effective in delivering sustained results and better equipped to meet the challenges that are essentially complex in nature.

Several theories from time to time have emerged that espouse the importance of basing organizations working in Theory-Y assumptions, and also recognize the diminishing effectiveness of Fredrerick Taylorism in designing modern day workplace practices.

What makes this book a valuable addition to this ongoing mission to make organizations more purpose-driven, adaptive, transparent, engaging and with healthier workplace, is its structured evaluation of twelve dimensions that form the operating system of the organization. 

The Operating System canvas covers broad aspects like Purpose and Strategy to specifics like Meetings & information sharing within the organization- describing how each of these dimensions needs to be relooked at, supported by Thought Starters and alternate practices derived from Evolutionary Organizations. The key questions at the end of each dimension are intended to help self-diagnose own organization status and opportunity for redesign. The questions, however, could have been lot more provocative and challenging!

Given the pervasive role technology is playing in all aspects of organizations functioning, it would be good to consider technology as another dimension in the OS canvas. Evolutionary Organizations may be leveraging technology to liberate and empower nor to control and monitor workforce as against traditional organizations.

The expected emphasis on managing change well, is reflected in whole section being devoted to change – but does contain interesting additions to mostly programmatic and mechanical traditional approach to managing change using kotter model or its variants: The importance of prioritizing tensions (limiting to 7), proposing alternatives to address tensions, conducting experiments and scaling the successful ones.

Dignan underlines the importance of experiments in learning, which works well provided the purpose of experiments are made explicit and we do not associate the outcome of experiments with the effectiveness or smartness of the leader guiding the experiment, as often seen in traditional organizations. This is where leaders ability to promote enabling culture and provide psychological safety to teams play pivotal role.

Isolated adoption of practices from Evolutionary Organizations to traditional organizations seldom work- the change agenda needs to cover the whole OS canvas. Book is rich in resources, be it references to original works, list of evolutionary organizations and practical ideas using games that comes handy to any evangelist that would like to provoke his organization to take the evolutionary path, starting with relooking at the existing operating system.

Mr DIGNAN has done lot more than enough to stoke disenchantment among readers that our organisations are capable of more! And the NEW BRAVE WORK means progress over perfection and courage over caution.