Beyond Leadership: Balancing Economics, Ethics and Ecology, Revised Edition

Conclusion

In so far as managers are able to deal with progressively higher degrees of abstraction, so they will be helping their institutions to evolve through their organizational strata. At the same time, to the extent that any organization is “requisitely organized” so it will enable its members not only to manage appropriate levels of complexity but also to learn and develop as they mature. Managerial learning, for Jaques, is reflected in an individual's ability to cope with progressively higher levels of complexity, as he or she matures. Moreover, organizational learning and development takes place when there is a good match between organizational strata and cognitive capacities. Such development is individually preordained and organizationally orchestrated.

Finally, in this section on organizational learning, we turn to Charles Hampden-Turner's approach to “Charting the corporate mind,” by managing dilemmas.