Organizations Organizing Themselves with Saul Eisen

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Saul Eisen is a brilliant innovator with the unassuming demeanor of a gentle mentor. He travels the world empowering employees to recreate the institutions they work for. This man, who bridges divergent traits in his own character and work, is himself a bridge between the often disparate viewpoints of psychology and business, and is a conduit to new outcomes for his clients. Eisen emerged as a pioneer in the new field of organizational development (O.D.) just as humanistic psychology was gaining recognition as a valid framework for business management. He applied those principles to develop new models for organizational process in both business and education. At Sonoma State University, in Northern California, he pioneered a program that allows the dynamics of a group to teach its own members about the broader principles of group dynamics. Why is his approach so effective? As Eisen explains, "Just as much as we are a competitive society, we are also a collaborative society. So what O.D. consultants do, in effect, is create a setting in which the possibilities of collaboration emerge more than the tendencies toward competition, subjugation or coercion. And under those circumstances great new knowledge and effectiveness emerge naturally." (hosted by Bec Kageyama)

Bio

Saul Eisen, Ph.D. holds an M.B.A. from U.C.L.A. and a doctorate in organizational behavior from Case Western Reserve. He is coordinator of the master's program in organizational development at Sonoma State University. His international consulting practice integrates strategic planning and organization development, and his work has been widely published in professional journals and books on O.D. He is a frequent presenter at regional and national conferences.

Topics Explored in This Dialogue

• Why is psychology important in business
• Why employees are better suited to restructuring the company than managers are
• What managers do when employees no longer need to be managed
• How you bring your family with you to work, every day
• Why many of the most important problems can be called "wicked problems"
• How your innate creativity can be unleashed.