Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Modern technology and changing economics are forcing corporations away from traditional hierarchial management models. A new model is arising: the cluster organization, which imaginatively combines individual initiative with teamwork and is a workable alternative to the Japanese emphasis on the group (Theory Z). The cluster organization reflects basic changes in decision rules and in the number and role of managers. A ``cluster'' comprises people drawn from different disciplines who work together to complete a mission, and who handle administrative functions themselves--its purpose is to create and exploit competitive advantage. Shows how to develop a cluster in an organization, and contains real-life examples of cluster organization in different industries.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

As corporations enter the more competitive and global marketplace of the 21st century, top managers rightly wonder what changes need to be made. Mills, author of The New Competitors ( LJ 7/85), contends that the answer lies in a new form of corporate structure that he calls the ``Cluster Organization.'' This is a multidimensional concept that, in part, harkens back to elements of matrix organization. But it also capitalizes on the latest in communication technology and shifts primary accountability and initiative away from top management to individuals. Drawing on his wide-ranging experiences at British Petroleum, DuPont, and G.E. Canada, Mills provides a provocative road map for these executives looking to eliminate bureaucracy and shorten their lines of communication. Recommended for all managers interested in organizational theory and structure.-- Gene R. Laczniak, Marquette Univ., Milwaukee (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Recent authors have had the corporation reinvented, tamed, saved, defended, and down-sized. Now, Mills has it reborn. Mills, a consultant, Harvard Business School professor, and author of The New Competitors (Wiley, 1985), agrees with much of the criticism of today's corporations: they are inflexible, inefficient, unresponsive to customers and employees alike, and unwieldy. But unlike many critics, Mills offers a solution. He sees organizational structure as the root of the problem and proposes the concept of the "cluster organization." A cluster is a "group of people drawn from different disciplines who work together on a semipermanent basis." Mills cites examples of corporations already effectively utilizing this structure, which is self-administering and action oriented, relies on teamwork, develops its own expertise, shares information, and accepts responsibility. For larger business collections. ~--David Rouse

Kirkus Book Review

A grand design for radically restructuring multinational corporations to make them not only more adaptive and accommodating but also better able to compete in domestic as well as global markets. At the heart of the master plan outlined by Harvard Business School professor Mills (Not Like Our Parents, 1987) is duster (as opposed to hierarchical or matrix) organization, which would allow cutting-edge enterprises to encompass almost any number of effectively autonomous, self-directing work groups with from 30 to 50 members apiece. Such cadres, including so-called core teams (equivalent to top management), would be able to take full advantage of advanced information technology; thanks to the elimination of bureaucratic obstacles, new opportunities for productive collaboration, and allied gains, task forces could also enhance the performance of their parent companies. Departmental and divisional experiments apart, however, examples of duster organization remain thin on the ground. Mills nonetheless offers a fair selection of upbeat case studies drawn from the blue-chip likes of British Petroleum, DuPont, IBM Canada, Square D, Swissair, and Volvo. He also provides step-by-step instructions on how to create a cluster organization, cautioning that makeovers require thoroughgoing, even convulsive, changes in administrative procedures, attitude, executive behavior, physical layouts, and other areas. By the author's account, moreover, duster organizations are vulnerable on several fronts. They are dependent upon first-rate leadership, and, without clear lines of authority, keeping morale and motivation at acceptable levels can prove a trickier proposition than at traditionally ordered concerns. In addition, there may be discernible losses of supervisory control and lower-echelon expertise. But Mills also argues that cluster organizations better suit the professional aspirations of today's educated and independent employees, making them more responsive to customer needs. Just how this beguiling notion squares with corporate America's complaint that literate, numerate hirelings are increasingly hard to come by, he does not say. In brief, then, a detailed blueprint for industrial/commercial renewal that's provocative and plausible, if not wholly persuasive. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.