Thanks to the pioneering work of people such as Common Cause founder John Gardner, bestselling author M. Scott Peck, and the George Washington University economist Amitai Etzioni, the field of building community has found its way into organizational life. As workers at all levels in organizational hierarchies experience a sense of disconnectedness from one another in the pursuit of the "bottom line", a yearning has developed among the populations of companies and other workplaces. This yearning originates from a need to feel connected to others is driving good people out of organizations or, worse yet, into unhealthy lifestyles should they resign themselves to endure the separations they find at work and seek ways to "numb out" the pain.
As M.I.T.'s Peter Senge said in a Fortune magazine interview, "We live under a massive illusion of separation from one another, from nature, from the universe, from everything. It's the liability we have inherited from the Industrial Revolution..."
Community Building: Renewing Spirit & Learning in Business is an incredible collection of essays; forty-three authors offer their unique contributions to reestablishing community in our modern organizations. The lead authors include Senge, Gardner, and Etzioni, with Peck having written the book's Introduction. Other eminent authors in this book include John Nirenberg (The Living Organization), Beth Jarman and George Land (Breakpoint and Beyond), and Marvin Weisbord (Discovering Common Ground).
| Where to go from here: Choose one of the pop-up menus, then an option from it, and click the "GO" button next to it. If your browser doesn't support forms click here for a table of links. | |