The Rainmaker Effect – A Book Review (by Jose Maria Delos Santos)

The Rainmaker Effect: Contradictions of the Learning Organization is a book that describes a discrepancy observed by the author during the management and implementation of several projects in both developing countries and industrialized countries. It was observed that, on the one hand, project proposals, plans, and descriptions were focused on positive principles such as self-organization, participation, ongoing communication, and continuous learning, among others. On the other hand, the everyday reality that the project participants experienced were mostly negative, usually based on contradictory and contested rules.

Book Details

The e-book is about 5.4MB in file size, with an equivalent of 190 pages divided in 6 chapters. It is available in Kindle and paperback formats. This first edition was published in April 2019. It is the second book on the series of Challenges of New Organizational Forms. It was published by Organizational Dialogue Press in English. Text-to-speech, Wordwise, and enhanced typesetting features are enabled. ASIN: B07PTCRCVW

Price

$8.99 for the Kindle version and $14.99 for the paperback version

Target Audience

The Rainmaker Effect is for organizational leaders, business and HR managers, change management leaders, and project managers. Higher level students of sociology, organizational sociology, business administration and management may benefit from reading the book.

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Content, Approach, Style

ContentThe Rainmaker Effect is divided into 6 chapters. The preface introduces the discrepancies observed by the author. Chapter 1 describes the limits of the Learning Organization, and Chapter 2 discusses in detail the Optimal Organizational Structure. Chapter 3 is about the relationship of the Learning Organization and the principles of rational change, while Chapter 4 discusses the blindspots of the Learning Organization. Chapter 5 describes the benefits and dangers of irrationality, ignorance and forgetfullness of the Learning Organization, and the sixth and last chapter is about managing the dilemma of organizational change.

Approach/Tone: The author presents his observations and analysis primarily as a researcher. He investigates the various sides, the pros and cons of the topics, and describes in detail his theories in essay form.

Style: The book uses many specific terms related to organizational structure, business, change management, and project management. It will be appreciated by professionals interested in these subjects, but may be challenging for anybody else, especially those new in their profession or coming from other disciplines.

Why Buy the Book

The Rainmaker Effect provides interesting and detailed views and analysis on the shortcomings and inherent benefits of the learning organization, the knowledge-based company, and the agile system. It presents many practical ideas, but practitioners cannot apply them directly to action. There are no checklists and no promised sure routes to greater organizational success, financial wealth, or optimal change management.

Author

Stefan Kühl is a professor of sociology at the University of Bielefeld in Germany. He works as a senior consultant for Metaplan, a consulting firm with offices in Princeton, Hamburg, Shanghai, Singapore, Versailles, and Zurich. Dr. Kühl studied sociology and history at the University of Bielefeld in Germany; John Hopkins University in the US; Université Paris-X-Nanterre in France; and the University of Oxford in the UK. His focus of research is in societal theory, work, industrial and organizational sociology, as well as interaction sociology.

See the original review under:

The Rainmaker Effect – A Book Review

Jose Maria Delos Santos

Jose is a subject matter expert and member of the writing team for Project-Management.com and Bridge24. He has written hundreds of articles including project management software reviews, books reviews, training site reviews, and general articles related to the project management industry.

 

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