In LO13875 Ray Evans Harrell asked about the source of Peter Drucker's
quote about the company of the future being like a symphony orchestra.
See Harvard Business Review, January-February, 1988, page 45.
Many books, including one of mine, have commented on Drucker's vision. I
believe he meant it as a metaphor to stimulate thinking about the nature
of control and coordination in an information-based knowledge
organization.
Like most metaphors, it's something that can be taken only so far. I've
found several large management consulting firms that like to describe
themselves as Druckeresque knowledge businesses, but the reality of their
organization fits more the industrial revolution factory-model.
It's a good thought provoker though. Sadly I've found it gets quickly
dismissed by some more "old school" executives, especially ones who see
value being created more from brawn than brains.
Bob Tomasko
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>