Charles Handy article on how the removal of central planning from Dresden creates the opportunity for both freedom of choice and failure, and how UK organizations can learn from Dresden's situation. Handy begins the article discussing the history of Dresden during and since World War II and how it has developed under a centrally planned economy. He proceeds to discuss how, with the collapse of the Cold War, Dresden and the rest of Germany faces the choice of democratic freedom and all of the complications that will come with this freedom. Freedom, for Dresden and eastern Germany, will now entail making what was once a planned economy vulnerable to shifting global markets, and Handy cites the decline of the waiting list for Trabant cars as an example of this market fluctuation. Handy then reflects on how Dresden's situation serves as a kind of parable for many of Britain's large organizations, which, until recently, have been centrally-planned conglomerates and are now unbundling themselves and breaking themselves down into smaller, independent, and more self-contained units called strategic business units and profit centres--or even separate companies. Like the citizens of Dresden, the personnel of these organizations are finding that they do not care for the new responsibility and accountability that accompanies more independence.
Handy, Charles B Dresden World War II Meissen porcelain Trabant automobile Organizational behavior Organizational change Organizational effectiveness Organizations Institute of Directors O'Keefe, Hanife Hassan
Source
Charles Handy article on how the removal of central plannig from Dresden creates the opportunity for both freedom of choice and failure, and how UK organizations can learn from Dresden's situation, 1991; Charles Handy Papers; Box 20, Folder 4; 1 page
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