The Spirit of the New Workplace: Breathing Life into Organizations

Dr. Joseph W. Harder is an Associate Professor at the Darden School of Business. He teaches first-year organizational behavior and an elective titled the “Spirit of the New Workplace” (with Hayden Woodward). Previously, he was Assistant Professor and Associate Director of the Leadership Program at the Wharton School of Business. He has published in journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, Sloan Management Review, and Social Justice Research. He has taught executive education programs around the globe on topics of leadership, teamwork, motivation, and change for groups from United Technologies, Unilever, PriceWaterhouse Coopers, Lucent Technologies, and Siam Cement Abstract This paper argues that the environmental conditions of global society are generating a significant change in the nature of the organizational species. In particular, we posit that the mechanistic bureaucratic model of organization is being replaced by a new form of organization that reflects the characteristics of a living being. We first discuss essential properties of all living systems as determined by the “new science” emerging from contemporary research across the natural sciences. This research demonstrates that living systems comprise interconnected components whose interactions generate a self-organizing entity that coevolves with the broader system of which it is a component part. We then identify various “signs of life” evident in the organizational world, as manifested in the numerous changes already taking place that are congruent with a shift towards a living systems perspective. The bulk of the paper then extends these observations by specifying in more concrete terms the key qualities of a healthy organization being. These qualities are discussed in terms of four general themes, namely, purpose, governance, membership, and rewards. We conclude the paper by pointing out that, ultimately, the animation of an organization entails making systemic changes so as to no longer deny the heart and soul of its members, but instead to release their spirits and let them soar.

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