to transform diverse individuals into a cohesive team with purpose, spirit, and soul. Chapter 14, “Organization as Theater,” draws on dramaturgical and institutional theory to reveal how organizational structures, activities, and events serve as secular dramas, expressing our fears and joys, arousing our emotions, and kindling our spirit. It also shows how organizational structures and processes—such as planning, evaluation, and decision making—are often more important for what they express than for what they accomplish.
Part Six, “Improving Leadership Practice,” focuses on the implications of the frames for central issues in managerial practice, including leadership, change, and ethics. Chapter 15, “Integrating Frames for Effective Practice,” shows how managers can blend the frames to improve their effectiveness. It looks at organizations as multiple realities and gives guidelines for aligning frames with situations. Chapter 16, “Reframing in Action,” presents four scenarios, or scripts, derived from the frames. It applies the scenarios to the harrowing experience of a young manager whose first day in a new job turns out to be far more challenging than she expected. The discussion illustrates how leaders can expand their options and enhance their effectiveness by considering alternative approaches. Chapter 17, “Leadership in Theory and Practice,” discusses limitations in traditional views of leadership and proposes a more comprehensive view of how leadership works in organizations. It summarizes and critiques current knowledge on the characteristics of leaders, including the relationship of leadership to culture and gender. Chapter 18, “Reframing Leadership”, shows how frames generate distinctive images of effective leaders as architects, servants, advocates, and prophets.
Chapter 19, “Reframing Change in Organizations,” describes four fundamental issues that arise in any change effort: individual needs, structural alignment, political conflict, and existential loss. It uses cases of successful and unsuccessful change to document key strategies, such as training, realigning, creating arenas, and using symbol and ceremony. Chapter 20, “Reframing Ethics and Spirit,” discusses four ethical mandates that emerge from the frames: excellence, caring, justice, and faith. It argues that leaders can build more ethical organizations through gifts of authorship, love, power, and significance. Chapter 21, “Bringing It All Together,” is an integrative treatment of the reframing process. It takes a troubled school administrator through a weekend of reflection on critical difficulties he faces. The chapter shows how reframing can help managers move from feeling confused and stuck to discovering a renewed sense of clarity and confidence. The Epilogue (Chapter 22) describes strategies and characteristics needed in future leaders. It explains why they will need an artistic combination of conceptual flexibility and commitment to core values. Efforts to prepare future leaders have to focus as much on spiritual as on intellectual development.
Lee G. Bolman
Brookline, Massachusetts
Terrence E. Deal
San Luis Obispo, California
February 2021
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We noted in our first edition, “Book writing often feels like a lonely process, even when an odd couple is doing the writing.” This odd couple keeps getting older (ancient, to be more precise) and, some would say, even grumpier. It seems like only yesterday that we were young, aspiring new authors full of vim and vigor. But that was 40 years ago. To our amazement, we're still at it, and, even more remarkable, have remained close friends.
The best thing about teaching and book‐writing is that you learn so much from your readers and students, and we have been blessed to have so many of both. They have come from a number of institutions: Stanford, Harvard, Vanderbilt, the University of Missouri–Kansas City, the University of La Verne, and the University of Southern California, and have given us invaluable criticism, challenge, and support over the years. (Lee gives a special shout‐out to everyone in his Fall, 2020, course at Harvard Extension, who kept generating ideas and finding great stuff to read. Particular thanks to Lisa Chisholm, Monica Eaton, Thomas Gibson, Kyle Kenney, Sharon Loh, Marissa Mann, Kafi Rouse, Jay Sivasailam, Deise Uema, Jared Weikum, and Vincent Zhou.)
We're also grateful to the many readers who have responded to our open invitation to write and ask questions or share comments, including readers from many other countries, including Brazil, Canada, China, Finland, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and Venezuela. They have helped us write a better book. (The invitation is still open—our contact information is in “The Authors.”) We wish we could personally thank all of the leaders and managers who helped us learn in seminars, workshops, and consultations. Their knowledge and wisdom are the foundation and touchstone for our work. The list is long and varied.
We wish we could thank all the colleagues and readers who have offered valuable comments and suggestions, but the list is expanding while our memories are shrinking. Bob Marx, of the University of Massachusetts, deserves special mention as a charter member of the frames family. Bob's interest in the frames, creativity in developing teaching designs, and eye for video material have aided our thinking and teaching immensely. Sharon Conley, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, is always a source of extremely insightful feedback. Her interest in leadership among principals and teachers keeps us grounded in the world of schools. Conversations with Dick Scott and John Meyer of Stanford University have helped us explore the nuances of institutional theory. Susan Griggs, of the University of Denver, and Renee Powell offered provocative critiques of our handling of issues related to gender and leadership. Elena Granell de Aldaz, of the Institute for Advanced Study of Management in Caracas, collaborated with us on developing a Spanish‐language adaptation of Reframing Organizations as well as on a more recent project that studied frame orientations among managers in Venezuela. We are proud to consider her a valued colleague and wonderful friend. Azarm Ghareman, a clinical psychologist, deepened our understanding of Carl Jung's view of the important role symbols play in human experience. Captain Gary Deal, USN, at the Eisenhower School, National Defense Institute, taught leadership and the frames to senior naval officers. He and wife Leslie are now working at Trader Joe’s. Dr. Peter Minich, a transplant surgeon, now brings the world of leadership to physicians. Major Kevin Reed, of the United States Air Force, and Jan and Ron Haynes, of FzioMed, all provided valuable case material. Angela Schmiede of Menlo College broadened our views of ways the frames can contribute to undergraduate education. Colette Joyce helped with page proofs.
A number of friends and colleagues at the Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference have given us many helpful ideas and suggestions. We apologize for any omissions, but we want to thank Anke Arnaud, Carole K. Barnett, Max Elden, Kent Fairfield, Cindi Fukami, Olivier Hermanus, Jim Hodge, Earlene Holland, Scott Johnson, Mark Kriger, Hyoungbae Lee, Larry Levine, Mark Maier, Magid Mazen, Thomas P. Nydegger, Dave O'Connell, Lynda St. Clair, Mabel Tinjacá, Susan Twombly, and Pat Villeneuve. We can only wish we had succeeded in implementing all the wonderful ideas we received from these and other colleagues.
Lee is grateful to all his Bloch School colleagues, and particularly to Nancy Day, Pam Dobies, Dave Donnelly, Doranne Hudson, Jae Jung, Tusha Kimber, Sandra Kruse‐Smith, Rong Ma, Brent Never, Roger Pick, Stephen Pruitt, Laura Rees, David Renz, Marilyn Taylor, and Bob Waris. Terry's colleagues, Carl Cohn, Stu Gothold, and Gib Hentschke, of the University
