The Possibilities of Organization

I am an organizational consultant and human resources professional. I found out about this book in my Master of Arts program in organizational development. This is a fun, simple and incredibly accurate way in which people play out roles in organizations based upon status (tops are the owners, presidents, CEO's, etc., middles are middle managers, and bottoms are the workers). You've seen this drama play out. Barry Oshry helps you understand it and work with it.

Anyone working with (or in) an organization can benefit from this book. The power is in its simplicity. But don't let the simplicity fool you. It is the real deal. Good, effective writing and presentation. I'm director of a nonprofit that does training, and I'll be using these principles within our organization, and with clients, every day. Thank you, Barry Oshry, for making them so accessible.

Oshrey has a knack for making the realities and possiblites of organizational life and behavior simple and understandable. It provides insight into the world of burdened Tops, oppressed Bottoms, torn Middles, and screws Cusotmers, why the relationships don't work and some possibilites and staregies on how they might work.By looking at organizations as systems, the reader can get useful insights into why organizaitons works as well as they do and fail as dismally as they fail. If, like me, you struggle with systems thinking but are intrigued with the concept, Oshrey uses simple models that are easy to grasp and profound in their reflections of reality.This book is a great intoduction into Oshrey's world of power, systems, leadership and partnership. We've all been burdered Tops, torn Middles, oppressed Bottoms, and screwed Customers. The book gives us insight into why these conditions happen and offers some alternative strategies for making organization work both for us and for the organization's purpose.I'm a great fan of the author and have taken two of his workshops. Along with the reading, the experience of Oshrey's model fun, challeneging, and holds the potential for great personal and organizational change.