The Character of Organizations: Using Personality Type in Organization Development

The Character Of Organizations identifies sixteen types of organizational character using the framework of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator instrument and clarifies what people actually experience on the job. Utilizing "real world" corporate examples, William Bridges shows that an organization's character shapes how decisions are made and new ideas are received, how employees are treated and how change is accepted or rejected, and how such things affect company performance. Written in a lively, contemporary, and completely accessible style, and in a new edition enhanced with a foreword by Sandra Krebs Hirsh and a new preface by the author, The Character Of Organizations is highly recommended reading for anyone seeking to transform their own business to take advantage of their strengths and become aware of their weaknesses with which ever corporate character style they are employing.

William Bridges' "Character of Organizations" provides a valuable understanding of the journey of an organization through its' "life cycles" as well as how to understand some of the confusing and counter productive actions of its' members as it progresses on that journey. Dr. Bridges has skillfully utilized the richness of Type, combined with his own knowledge and experience working with organizations, to develop a framework for understanding their strengths and limitations. His work then demonstrates for the reader how to build on this framework to help the organization improve critical aspects of its' operations such as strategic planning, problem-solving processes, communication systems and decision-making approaches, "The Character of Organizations" is a must for organizational leaders at every level.

If a deeper understanding of a company or organization is important to you, this book could help! Conceptual in nature, Bridges' book outlines a framework for understanding different types of organization personalities, or character. He provides a quick assessment instrument, succinct descriptions of the 16 types in his framework, and poignant organizational examples for each. He relates this framework to stages of organizational life cycle, the three phases of organizational transition (about which he has written prolifically), and individual type and leadership. This book does not provide "how to" or checklists for action, but it leads me to important questions and possible implications about: what character the organization is and why, the transition process required to help the organization develop different character, movement from one stage of the life cycle to another, the role of leadership in doing so, and how one's individual personality relates to the character of the organization. With each reading I uncover something more or different in this gem of a book. Although the framework and assessment instrument have not been subjected to statistical analysis, The Character of Organizations is an enormously thought provoking and helpful resource.

If you use the MBTI, then you'll want to have "The Character of Organizations" in your tool kit. I use it all the time to help teams and organizations understand their character and then use that knowledge to make plans for heightened effectiveness. The 16 organizational stories for each of the 16 types concretely illustrate the differences. Buy it; you'll soon have its pages crinkled with wear. Sandra Krebs Hirsh, Author of "SoulTypes", "LifeTypes", "LifeKeys", "Work It Out" and other books on psychological type.

Bridges argues that organizations differ in character just as much as individuals do. He groups organizations into 16 personality types - which had originally been developed by Carl Jung and then further developed by the Myers-Briggs team for their Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. He calls his version the Organizational Character Index. According to his sixteen point matrix, the organization that I am in right now would be considered an ISTJ organization - one that takes cues and draws power from within, concerns itself with actualities, depends upon impersonal procedures, likes things spelled out and seeks closure. Pretty darned close to reality.Its a great book if you want to understand a new culture. If you are changing roles, or getting promoted to a new part of the organization.I turned to this book because I became a CIO, which put me in a different category than I had ever been in before. I needed to quickly assess the situation within the organization and learn how to address me new peers.I would couple this book with Seth Godin's Permission marketing and Geoffrey Moore's Inside the Tornado as the definitive "big three" for CIOs if they want to learn how to market their services in a corporation.