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Charles Handy's latest book, Beyond Certainty: The Changing Worlds of Organizations, is a collection of 35 interrelated essays giving his views on new purposes and structures for organizations and for those who work in them. According to this British business philosopher, organizations are destined to practice federalism, where there are many sources of power and expertise, rather than just one. He also proposes a new work culture where the individuals must develop a portfolio of assets and go out and find customers for them. In addition, Handy gives his views on management, the MBA, the Japanese and taxes. His essays are a primer for his wide-ranging views on organizations and the nature of work. They include many of the concepts found in his earlier books, The Age of Unreason (1991) and The Age of Paradox (1994). Handy's reflections are derived from his experiences as an oil executive, an economist, and a professor at the London School of Business. He contends that today's changes are as significant as the invention of the printing press six hundred years ago. We are now in a period of discontinuous change where "certainty is out; experiment is in."
Handy poses his ideas more as questions than as statements of fact. However, he presents his reasoning for his predictions and encourages readers to think for themselves about the issues he raises. He likes to turn conventional wisdom about the organization upside down. He feels profit is a means to an end, not...