The Agility Factor
Building Adaptable Organizations for Superior Performance
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What does it take to guarantee success and profitability over time? Authors Christopher G. Worley, a senior research scientist, Thomas D. Williams, an executive advisor, and Edward E. Lawler III, one of the country's leading management experts, set out to find the answer. In The Agility Factor: Building Adaptable Organizations for Superior Performance the authors reveal the factors that drive long-term profitability based on the practices of successful companies that have consistently outperformed their peers. Of the 234 large companies across 18 industries that were studied, there were few companies that delivered sustained performance across the board. The authors found that across industries, the most successful companies were not the "usual suspects" found in the media, but companies who possessed a quiet agility that allowed them to quickly perceive and respond to changes so that they could continue to grow. Agility gives organizations the ability to adapt to fluctuations in the environment, test possible responses, and implement changes quickly. This book offers specific, research-based case studies to help organizational leaders use agility to achieve sustained profitability and performance while also becoming more adaptable to a changing marketplace.
For executives, leaders, consultants, board members and all those responsible for the long-term health of organizations, this insightful guide outlines:
- The components of agility for business organizations
- How to successfully build agility within an organization
- How agility has its foundation in good management practices
- How to use agility to gain a competitive advantage in the marketplace
Christopher Worley
Christopher G. Worley is Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the NEOMA Business School. He is also the founding strategy director for the school's Center for Leadership and Effective Organizations. Chris serves as a senior research scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations (USC's Marshall School of Business) and teaches in Pepperdine's Master of Science in Organization Development (MSOD) program. He received his B.S. from Westminster College, master's degrees from Colorado State University and Pepperdine University, and his doctorate from the University of Southern California. He served as Chair of the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management, received the Luckman Teaching Fellowship at Pepperdine University, and the Douglas McGregor Award for best paper in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. His most recent books are The Agility Factor, Becoming Agile, Management Reset and Built to Change. His articles on agility and strategic organization design have appeared in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, Journal of Organization Behavior, Sloan Management Review, Strategy+Business, and Organizational Dynamics.
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Thomas D Williams
A 2018 visiting research fellow for the Center for Ethics and Culture at Notre Dame University, Thomas D. Williams has written widely on theology, philosophy, ethics, and spirituality, and his 15 books include Who Is My Neighbor? Personalism and the Foundations of Human Rights and The World As It Could Be: Catholic Social Thought for a New GenerationWilliams teaches theology at St. John's University Rome campus and has also done extensive media work, serving as consultant and commentator on faith, ethics, and religion for NBC, CBS, and Sky News in the UK. He was appointed by the Holy See as spokesman for the Synod of Bishops in 1997 and again in 2001.
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