Book Description
Just as people have personalities, Bridges explains organizations have character.


From the Publisher
"Today we can say that William bridges 'wrote the book' on organizational character just as we can say he 'wrote the book' on change. I have been using the insights in The Character of Organizations with assurance and great success for years. In this book, he offers helpful information on organizational character so that we can use it in a responsible, effective way for team building, career transition, leadership development, and change management. His writing is direct, crisp, and contemporary, with examples that speak to all of us in the field. Our clients who live in the 'real' world will find it a practical guide once they have learned about type and their organization's character. This book needs to be a part of your tool kit if you want to extend what you already know into more powerful applications for organizations."--from the Foreword by Sandra Krebs Hirsh This book is the foundation of a larger training program by Bridges and his associate Chris Edgelow, called Working with Organizational Character. It includes a facilitator's guide, participant workbook, and the Organizational Character Index.


About the Author
William Bridges, Ph.D., principal of William Bridges & Associates, has been a leader in the field of transition management since the publication of his best-selling book TRANSITIONS in 1980. A frequent presenter and keynote speaker, he has worked for over twenty years with organizations and individuals to help them manage more positively through change. Bridges and his firm have provided assessment, training, and consulting services to hundreds of organizations, including Amoco, AT&T, Intel, Kaiser Permanente, Motorola, and the U.S. Veterans Administration. Author also of MANAGING TRANSITIONS, JOBSHIFT, and CREATING YOU & CO., he has become one of the most widely read and quoted experts on what's happening to jobs in today's organizations. He has been listed by the Wall Street Journal as one of the top ten independent executive development presenters in America.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

An enormous consulting industry has sprung up promising to help organizations overhaul themselves to meet today's competitive pressures. Yet far too often, such change efforts fail. The solution, according to best-selling management author William Bridges, lies in identifying, understanding, and working with what he calls organizational character.

Just as people have personalities, Bridges explains, organizations — as well as their component departments, teams, and other work groups — have characters. An organization's character shapes how decisions get made and new ideas are received, how employees are treated and change is accepted or rejected — all factors that affect company performance. Using examples from McDonald's, Hewlett-Packard, GE, and others, Bridges identifies 16 organizational character types using the framework of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument and shows how these influence an organization's growth and development, and ultimately its success or failure in the marketplace.

With a foreword by Sandra Krebs Kirsh and a new preface by the author, this updated edition of the time-tested classic includes the Organizational Character Index, Bridges's popular tool for assessing the character of your own organization or team.

FROM THE CRITICS

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