apecs

By Martin Vogel Oct 10, 2014

The core of the book is a detailed description of the organisations. It is an invigorating read since it demonstrates with example over telling example how organisations can thrive while swimming against the tide of instrumentalist, shareholder-value-driven bureaucracy. He provides exhaustive detail on the structures, practices and processes the organisations adopt so as all the time to put themselves, whenever there’s a choice to be made, on the side of human growth and emancipation. Employees are encouraged to find their own roles and play to their strengths. Decisions are taken by peer groups rather than by leaders, or often by individuals acting simply on advice from relevant colleagues, with the consequence that corporate centres are largely redundant. Employees are trusted rather than controlled to do the right thing, so that cumbersome compliance practices are no longer needed. Throughout the book, the costs of the old ways of doing things are revealed. Many of the organisations described found their own organisational model, but it’s striking that the practices are common across the group.