The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Office

Is corporate life really so bad? Columbia Business School professor Fisman and Harvard Business Review Press editorial director Sullivan have done an analysis of the modern office, and highlight the facets of it that are actually valuable and how they can be used to their best advantage. The authors spend some time considering how things got to be the way they are in the first place, and then dive into the meat of office organizational models that really work, such as the market-research-driven R&D of McDonald’s. Using examples of both traditional and surprising structures—HP, Kayak.com, the Catholic Church, Procter & Gamble, the U.S. Army, BP, the 9/11 Commission—the authors make a strong argument for the importance of good management and even for some of the harder-to-justify elements of office life, such as constantly distracted CEOs and dramatically high executive compensation. They propose that there’s much to be salvaged from our broken office culture; the book is not a defense of current structures, per se, but a levelheaded look at the pros of the Way Things Are Done, and a blueprint to improve it. The playful writing and thoughtful analysis make this an intriguing read for anyone interested in the structure of corporate America. Agent: Jay Mandel, William Morris Endeavor. (Jan.)