A Company of Leaders: Five Disciplines for Unleashing the Power in Your Workforce - Hardcover

"Finally, we have a book that demonstrates the power of true empowerment and how it can motivate an entire workforce. This book will become a classic in no time."--Warren Bennis, University Professor and Distinguished Professor of Business Administration, University of Southern California Marshall School of Business To be successful in today's business environment, organizations need the knowledge, ideas, energy, and creativity of every employee, from the workers on the front line to the top-level managers in the executive suite. The best companies accomplish this by turning themselves into a company of leaders-an organization in which employees at every level take the initiative without prodding, act in the collective interest of the company without being monitored, and, in short, act like owners of the business. But how do you transform your workplace into a company of leaders? Create an environment that will empower employees to bring their whole person to work and work together for the good of the organization. This eighth book in the University of Michigan Business School Management Series provides a step-by-step guide for turning any organization into a company of leaders. Gretchen M. Spreitzer and Robert E. Quinn draw on ten years of empirical research to show how to transform a workforce and create a very real competitive advantage. They describe five key disciplines that help empower employees to take initiative, be more innovative, engage in transformational change, and act as leaders. Throughout the book, the authors provide real-life organizational examples that illustrate the disciplines of empowerment and present specific tools, techniques, and strategies that will help you to put those disciplines to work in your own organization. THE AUTHORS Gretchen M. Spreitzer is an associate professor of management and organization at the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, where she is a faculty affiliate of both the Center for Effective Organizations and the Leadership Institute. Her research has been published in Sloan Management Review, Academy of Management Review, Organizational Dynamics, and many other professional journals. Robert E. Quinn holds the M. E. Tracy Collegiate Professorship at the University of Michigan and is a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Michigan Business School. His most recent book is Change the World: How Ordinary People Can Accomplish Extraordinary Results (Jossey-Bass, 2000).

Good employees are your organization's most valuable resource. But attracting, developing, and retaining talented people requires an environment where people are energized and connected to their work, and where they take the initiative and act as owners of the business. A Company of Leaders shows how to navigate the often difficult journey to real empowerment at all levels of the organization and create a kind of "volunteer employee" workforce-employees who choose to work because they are energized by what they do. This book shows how to stimulate the kind of creative tension that fosters leadership throughout an organization through the practice of five key disciplines: ? Self-Empowerment: how to set the stage for others-because only an empowered leader can develop an empowered workforce ? Vision and Challenge: how to inspire and align people to the organization and its mission ? Support and Security: how to create the psychological safety necessary for people to feel comfortable in taking on the risk of leadership ? Openness and Trust: how to create an atmosphere that fosters real employee involvement in the organization ? Guidance and Control: how to create the boundaries and structures necessary to assure the empowered behavior stays on track