The Conductive Organization: Building Beyond Sustainability - Softcover

Saint-Onge, Hubert

Softcover

ISBN 10: 075067735X ISBN 13: 9780750677356

Publisher: Routledge, 2004

Synopsis

An organization's culture lies at the heart of its ability to perform. In the knowledge economy, new rules are emerging and organizations must rethink how they will compete by leveraging their tacit knowledge - their intangible assets - in order to create and sustain a strategic advantage. In this book, Hubert Saint-Onge and Charles Armstrong, two corporate leaders who have been in the forefront of using knowledge management to gain strategic advantage, focus on knowledge-based customer relationships, innovative internal structures, and self-initiated learning cultures, in order to explain the building blocks that must be in place to create and sustain a knowledge-based culture within organizations―a culture that they argue is integral to a high-performance organization.

An organization's culture lies at the heart of its ability to perform. In the knowledge economy, new rules are emerging and organizations must rethink how they will compete by leveraging their tacit knowledge - their intangible assets - in order to create and sustain a strategic advantage. In this book, Hubert Saint-Onge and Charles Armstrong, two corporate leaders who have been in the forefront of using knowledge management to gain strategic advantage, focus on knowledge-based customer relationships, innovative internal structures, and self-initiated learning cultures, in order to explain the building blocks that must be in place to create and sustain a knowledge-based culture within organizations―a culture that they argue is integral to a high-performance organization.

This book provides a blueprint for creating and leading organizations with strong knowledge-based cultures to achieve breakthrough performance. Using the idea of conductivity, the authors describe the successful organization of the future as one that increases the quality and flow of knowledge within the organization and within its network of suppliers, customers, and other collaborators. The narrative is based on the thoughts, experience, and models of Hubert Saint-Onge and Charles Armstrong, who have successfully led high-performance companies in the financial services sector and the engineering and manufacturing sector. Each chapter includes practical examples from their experience and from other successful leaders.

About this title

Review

"This book is a personal and insightful guide for organizations wishing to better engage with the knowledge economy. It is deeply grounded in the authors own experiences, which makes their recommendations that much more cogent and sensible."
- Laurence Prusak, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Babson College, USA

"Hubert St-Onge discusses powerful concepts essential to achieving breakthrough performance in the knowledge era. This book draws from the rich practical experience of the author. It will be helpful to all those who want to see their organizations create sustained value in a turbulent environment."
- Anne Golden, President and CEO of The Conference Board of Canada

From the Back Cover

The Conductive Organization: Building Beyond Sustainability

Hubert Saint-Onge and Charles Armstrong

"...Saint-Onge and Armstrong provide us with a new way of thinking -- of concentrating on strategy-making not just strategies; on calibrating to the customer, not just becoming client-centric; on increasing knowledge flows, not just gaining knowledge. The Conductive Organization provides leaders at all levels with a framework that is grounded in the authors' cumulative experiences with success and shaped by their values."
— Tom Jenkins, CEO, Open Text Corporation

"... a personal and insightful guide for organizations wishing to better engage with the knowledge economy. It is deeply grounded in the authors’ own experiences, which makes their recommendations that much more cogent and sensible."
— Laurence Prusak, Distinguished Scholar in Residence, Babson College

"My prediction is that The Conductive Organization will become the most conductive new idea in management circles and business schools around the world. The central idea that all organizational structures in processes must become customer dictated is currently being written about by other authors, but only as a theory. Where the authors differentiate themselves is in providing the actual organizational blue print for making customers permanent creative partners in the innovation, manufacturing, and delivery processes. The Conductive Organization book is a platform that will generate thousands of fruitful management practices and methods."
— Dan Sullivan, President, The Strategic Coach

"Organizational success relies heavily on the capability to leverage both institutional and personal knowledge...This book provides insights coupled with practical applications that can guide any organization toward a more effective management and use of its most valuable asset-- the unique knowledge of its people."
— Maseo Maekawa, Chairman of the Board, Mayekawa Mfg. Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; President, Mayekawa Holding AG, Zug, Switzerland; President, Mycom Intertec AG, Zug, Switzerland

In The Conductive Organization, Hubert Saint-Onge and Charles Armstrong focus on knowledge-based customer relationships, innovative internal structures, and self-initiated learning cultures in order to explain the building blocks that must be in place to create and sustain a knowledge-based culture within organizations—a culture that they argue is integral to a high-performance organization.

This book provides a blueprint for creating and leading organizations with strong knowledge-based cultures to achieve breakthrough performance. The narrative is based on the thoughts, experience, and models of Saint-Onge and Armstrong, who have successfully led high-performance companies in the financial services sector and the engineering and manufacturing sectors. Each chapter includes practical examples from their own experiences and those of other successful leaders.

Hubert Saint-Onge is Co-Chairman of Konverge Digital Solutions Corp., Principal of Saint-Onge/Alliance, and former Senior VP of Strategic Capabilities at Clarica Life Insurance Company, Waterloo, Ontario.
Charles Armstrong is President and CEO of S.A. Armstrong Limited, Ontario.

About this edition

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 075067735X
• ISBN 13: 9780750677356
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 268