| A
COMPANY OF CITIZENS:
WHAT THE WORLD'S FIRST DEMOCRACY TEACHES LEADERS ABOUT CREATING
GREAT ORGANIZATIONS
Harvard Business School Press 2003
Brook Manville and Josia Ober
Book Review
by Herb Rubenstein
President and Founder, Herb Rubenstein Consulting
Introduction
The authors combine their extensive knowledge of the Athenian culture
with their real world experience in American business to show how
key organizational development values, structures and practices
invented by Athenians are appropriate to guide leaders of organizations
today. Four key elements gleaned from the Athenian culture of 500
to 400 BCE may yield significant improvements in the efficiency
and effectiveness of today’s businesses and non-profits. They
are:
- Alignment
of the values of individual excellence and community focus
- Creation
of a reliable model of self-governance based on significant participation
by the members of the organization
- A passionate
quest for greatness, excellence and justice on the part of the
leaders and all members of the organization
- A renewed
emphasis on the values of freedom and equality.
These approaches
are important in the Knowledge Age as workers demand independence
while they seek meaning and community in their work place.
Athens
The culture,
governing apparatus and economy of Athens were built on the principal
of knowledge sharing. Athens supported the ideals of giving rights
to workers in exchange for their taking on responsibilities. Workers
were treated as “members” and passionate about their
work. This “citizenship model” is similar to the thoughts
expressed by Charles Handy in his 1998 essay, “The Citizen
Company.”
The
Current Content
Organizations
today must perform and innovate at a fever pitch. They must produce
near perfect quality. They must add value with every dollar they
invest, every new product and service they invent. And they need
to keep their work force happy, engaged, energized and dedicated
in tight labor markets. Companies and non-profits must continuously
form strategic alliances and therefore must find ways to insure
that “freedom seeking, entrepreneurial organizations”
work together, for the common (company’s) good. This book
suggests that there is much from the Athenian society that can help
organizations “harmonize the goals of strong individuals with
a cohesive [high performance] organization.”
For example,
the Athenian culture appeared to make great strides in solving the
dilemma that companies must be able to act as “one,”
to scale human capability and nurture its workers (citizens) along,
while at the same time, they must be able to build individuality
and a strong work force at the same time. Resolution of the individual/community
dilemma or paradox is a key learning from the book.
Athens created
an “ethics.” Athenians were proud to be a citizen of
Athens. In Athens, decision making was “knowledge driven,
participatory and efficient.” Leaders were accountable to
their citizens. When they failed, they were tried and convicted
quickly and paid a high price.
Athens was built on three tiers – “values, structure
and practices,” plus a “civic identity.” Citizens
were directly involved in the day to day workings of their government.
In today’s companies employees are not engaged to any great
extent in helping make the great decisions that guide an organization.
Three core values
of Athens that are relevant for the modern organization are: “individuality,
community and moral reciprocity.” Moral reciprocity means
that every citizen had a duty to become educated and to educate
others, to reach their potential, to contribute to the common good
and to participate actively in governing Athens and carrying out
the decisions of that government.
In Athens, people’s
desire for participation and their values guided their development
of a complex, but efficient governance structure. The structure
for Athens was shaped by the values of the people. Today, we do
this backward. We first develop structures and then try to fit people
into the system. Under the Athenian model it is the practices of
the people that translate values into action.
The
Current Workplace and the Relevance of Athens
Knowledge workers
want to control their own destiny. Leaders must share power with
their people in order to be effective. Leaders need to build “engagement”
among their workers, their supply chain, vendors, strategic alliance
partners, boards and all key elements of their production function.
Leaders must focus the knowledge and talents of an organization
and build motivation around the organization’s vision.
Today, companies
need people who can both plan and be decisive, can learn quickly
and be willing to share what they learn, can analyze and implement
effectively. Companies also need workers who will speak up to sound
the alarm if they see that something is awry. The unfettered free
speech environment of Athens, unique for its time and place in history,
promoted this type of discourse, learning, teaching, action and
planning. Athenian culture fostered a union of values and structure
through participatory practices that maximized collective knowledge
and human potential. Every organization needs to do the same in
today’s business and non-profit environments.
Democracy
in Athens
Athens faced
five “organizational imperatives” that molded its democratic
structure around 500 BCE.
- It aligned
change around a steep performance challenge. This led to the creation
of a new organizational model that had to be comprehensive and
effective.
- Athens harnessed
the power of collective action - stimulating maximum effort and
wise use of talent, knowledge and resources. Athens used an inclusive
model, open architecture and built systems quickly that promoted
citizen action.
- Athens expanded
and enhanced the meaning of “belonging” to a community.
Belonging to the community provided security and freedom that
Athenians held in the highest regard.
- Athens balanced
the goals of individual autonomy and community responsibility.
People had to be voted on by their peers for citizenship at age
18.
- Athens built
and defined networks of people to people relationships. Athenians
also practiced “moral reciprocity” as discussed earlier.
The goal of
Athens was the same goal that every company today (and every non-profit
or government agency) should aspire to:
To build knowledge,
productivity, innovation and flexibility among multiple, connected
subcommunities without creating a self-serving bureaucracy or
a demotivating system of command and control.
Modern
PR and Marketing in Athens
Athens participated
fully in one of today’s hottest business strategies, “branding.”
Athens adopted a symbol – “The mature bearded man”
and called it the “Demos” (meaning Mr. People). This
was the symbol of Athens and like successful brands, logos or tagline,
it “invited” those who saw the symbol to want to be
a part of it, to participate the “shared identity” that
the symbol communicated. Demos represented the union of Athen’s
core values (participation based on equality and freedom) and governance
structures that promoted execution, justice and decision making.
It was an immensely successful branding campaign.
Governance:
The Athenian Distinction
Athens showed
the world the difference between aristocracy and democracy. In a
democracy stakeholders make the key decisions. Passion was the engine
of commitment and decision making in Athens. Unlike Sparta and unlike
the Athens of old, by the 400’s BCE Athens shed its aristocratic,
command and control past in favor of democracy and freedom.
The
Essence of the Athenian Moral Code
Citizens of
Athens were committed to moral as well as material improvement;
to the expansion of public virtue as well as private wealth and
individual prosperity. An often quoted phrase sums up the moral
code that guided each Athenian’s life.
- “If
he had good ideas, he felt a moral responsibility to let them
be known.”
More reciprocity
was defined by an unwritten agreement for the exchange of value
between a community and its citizens. The Athenian community at
large served as the educator, security provider and constantly created
new and innovative structures to promote opportunities for personal
development. Individual teachers gave substantial time, resources,
participated in government decision making and action and took personal
responsibility for community. In Athens leaders were held accountable
on a regular basis by citizens. Public opinion was informed and
knowledgeable. Athens was a learning community. Athens balanced
innovation and experimentation with leveraging value from traditions.
In Athens, there was a fundamental respect for the dignity of each
citizen. In Athens, every organization was first and foremost, a
moral community. After a decision was made by the citizenry, everyone
was expected to support it, even if the citizen vigorously opposed
it during the debate. However, over time bad decisions were expected
to be challenged openly, publicly and without fear of retribution.
Lessons
Learned
In Athens, the
citizenry knew that maximum alignment (and all of the benefits that
flow from it) occurs when the implementors and the decision-makers
are one in the same. This is one of the key theoretical bases for
the current movement toward participatory management.
In Athens, disputes
between citizens were solved by fellow citizens – mediators,
arbitrators and juries (without judges); and this was done quickly
and informally and without great societal or personal expense. Trials
in Athens were generally limited to one day, stressing the importance
of speed, efficiency and finality. Majority verdicts ruled. Plaintiffs
that lost had to pay a penalty.
Other key elements
of Athenian decision making were: simplicity, openness and trust.
One major goal of Athens was that: everyone learned from everyone
all of the time. People who suggested harmful legislation or actions
that were very unsuccessful could be sued in the courts for leading
Athens in the wrong direction. All actions of the Athenian citizenry
carried reward for success and risks/penalties for failure. All
public officials were accountable to the community. In Athens each
citizen had a duty to prosecute another individual or public official
whose actions, behavior or proposals were injurious to the community
or were misaligned with the values of the organization.
Conclusion
The lessons
of the book call for a redirection of many of the American practices
in business, government and the non-profit worlds. Since there will
need to be much “learning” to accommodate these new
practices and to build the mental infrastructure and culture to
make these practices successful, when an organization today wants
to embody these practices in it’s organization and give “citizenship”
to its employees, it will need to build the values, structures and
practices that fit that particular organization to enable these
practices to be successful. Organizations will need to share leadership,
can experiment with several classes of citizenship to reflect part
time status and will need to declare the set of rights and responsibilities
that each class of citizenship shall have.
The bottom line
is that the authors of Company of Citizens believe and argue successfully
that creating a “company of citizens” can increase an
organization’s performance, agility, vitality, human capital
development, innovation trajectory, and dramatically increase its
potential for growth and self renewal over time. It is no guarantee
of success, but in our ever increasing knowledge-based economy,
it appears to be as relevant an organizational model today as it
was in 400BC.
back |
