TY  - BOOK
AU  - Light,Paul Charles
TI  - The four pillars of high performance: how robust organizations achieve extraordinary results 
SN  - 0071448799 :
AV  - HD58.8 .L54 2005
PY  - 2005///
CY  - New York
PB  - McGraw-Hill
KW  - Organizational change
KW  - Management
KW  - Strategic planning
KW  - Crisis management
N1  - Includes bibliographical references; Uncertainty Rising -- In Search of Extraordinary Results -- The Four Pillars of High Performance -- How Robust Organizations Operate -- Lessons on Managing Change
N2  - In 1999, Paul C. Light embarked on an ambitious project which, if successful, would provide organizations of all kinds with a powerful new tool for navigating the turbulent sea of change that is today's global business environment. A guide to achieving and maintaining superlative performance in a highly unpredictable world, this book is the fruit of that endeavor. In it you will learn proven methods for hardening your organization against the surprises and risks of an uncertain future, and how to maintain a competitive edge by being the first to identify and capitalize on the most promising growth opportunities; In researching The Four Pillars of High Performance, Dr. Light had unprecedented access to the vast information resources of The RAND Corporation-an international leader in the study of organizational performance for nearly six decades. He also surveyed more than 125 senior RAND researchers, and spent four years gathering information about what RAND has learned about creating and sustaining high performance. What emerged was a portrait of the "robust organization"-that rare organization which possesses both the agility to adjust to changes in the external environment at a moment's notice, and the compass needed to maintain a steady fix on its strategic horizons; In this book, Paul Light takes us inside a number of robust organizations across a range of business sectors, as well as in government, the military, and more. From the examples set by Volvo, Intel, Marriot, DuPont, and many other world-class performers, he extracts the four key traits common to all robust organizations: 1. Alertness: Spotting fluctuations as they emerge-not after their effects have already been felt, 2. Agility: Empowering employees with the authority to make routine decisions, reducing barriers between units, encouraging participatory management, and fostering open communications, 3. Adaptability: Changing with circumstances and taking advantage of new opportunities as they arise, 4. Alignment: Saturating the organization with information and providing effective information technology; Combining the wisdom of a leading national expert on organizational performance with nearly six decades of research conducted by one of the world's oldest and most revered think tanks, The Four Pillars of High Performance is an indispensable and unprecedented blueprint for transforming any company into a robust organization
ER  -