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Organizations as Communities

July 5, 1999

"When I was growing up, my parents owned and ran a summer resort north of Toronto, Canada.  People often returned for the same two weeks each year, for thirty years or more.  It was fascinating to watch the community reemerge each summer.  I had a sense that my family was the glue that created and maintained that environment.  Everyone who had stayed there regularly became a friend of our family.  I think organizations are similarly defined by the commitment which people build to each other and to something they value in common. 

On the most practical level, redefining organizations as communities means using the approaches of community development in organizations, particularly business organizations.  It also means seeing organizations as centers of meaning and larger purpose to which people can commit themselves as free citizens in a democratic society.  And it involves developing new answers to such nuts-and-bolts questions as how and why people get hired and fired, who makes what decisions, and how to assure people's contribution to success is fairly rewarded.  Finally, 'organizations as communities' reflects a growing body of thought about an organization's conscience - the role which corporations, for example, must play in our nation and in the world if they are to attract and retain the people with the most to offer.(Senge et.al, pp. 507-508)."

Reference:  Senge, P.M., Kleiner, A., Roberts, C., Ross, R.B., Smith, B.J., (1994).  The fifth discipline fieldbook:   Strategies and tools for building a learning organization. New York:  Doubleday

Is your organization a community in which others would want to live?

* The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook:  Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization is available on loan at the OSU Leadership Center.  A listing of all the Leadership Center's resources is available on our website www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~leaders

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Created: 2009-01-06, Updated: 2009-01-16