In search of excellence - advanced organizational behavior

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search of excellence, advanced organizational behavior

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Abstract

“In Search of Excellence” is a well-known book published in 1982 by Peters and Waterman and has been considered a fundamental book in the business world (Thomas & Robert, 1982). It has been read and recommended by some of the biggest businesses in the planet who have borrowed some of the ideas and concepts explored in their book. Other writers have cited ideas from the book owing to the nature of publicity that it has received about its content over the years (Colville, Waterman & Weick, 1999). The book largely dwells on the principles that an organization must implement, if it seeks to be successful.

The book came up as a result of a research activity that they had undertaken on various companies with a different aim in mind. As consultants at McKinsey, they were tasked with the role of collecting information concerned with organization – structure and people (Peters & Watergesman, 2006). So with no particular theory in mind, Peters visited several companies and interviewed them as relates to organizational structure. He was later on asked to present the results of his study to several organizations whose need for a simple summary of information led to his development of eight themes that enabled success in an organization.

Introduction
The eight attributes
Criticism
Conclusion

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[...] Entrepreneurs should only start companies in a field that they are able to run (Peters & Waterman, 2006). A person who knows nothing about food production should not engage in the food production business because it is likely to fail. Once a company has delved into the production of one type of product then it should only stick to the production of this product and not engage into other area where it does not have operational knowledge. He however acknowledged that there were odds to this principle when applied to business. [...]

[...] Bearing this in mind, it would seem callous that Peters would suggest that leadership style was irrelevant to company success (Johnson, Natarajan & Rappaport, 1985). His research had a bias towards leadership claiming that its role would have been referred to heavily when determining the success of a company. The assumption that every company knows the importance of effective leadership is misleading. The aspect should have been tackled within the themes so that other companies seeking to utilize these strategies may have the facts correct. [...]

[...] This is not however the case because these concepts were not represented in totality in the companies that were researched upon. In fact, the best practices of each company was identified and listed to make the eight themes. His research created the impression that those companies that were included in the study were perfect and operating optimally. This was not the case because some of the businesses that were incorporated in the study have either collapsed or have been acquired by other companies. Some of these ideas he recommended should be tried out in a controlled setting before being implemented. [...]

[...] A company should allow employees to take practical risks in order to develop new products. Every employee in an organization has the opportunity to act as a potential source of ideas for the company. Successful companies treat their employees well with the belief that they can be a source of efficiency. They do not foster attitudes or regard capital investment as a fundamental source of efficiency improvement but place emphasis on respect towards their employees. A hands-on approach is also important for the success of a business (Peters & Waterman, 2006). [...]

[...] They maintained a simple form of management that focused on a lean staff structure. Management is vicinity that is essential to decision making and success of a business. When there are many members, there are several disadvantages that go along with it. These include the high costs that will be incurred in paying their salaries and the decision making process that will be hampered. When there are several people through which a decision should be passed through. As a result of differences in ideologies, it may be difficult to reach a consensus on any issues that the business has to decide upon. [...]

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