Bus 452 - the Empathetic Organization

Matthew Johnson

Bus 452

9/30/2011

Article Critique: "The Empathetic Organization"

By David Lei and Charles Geer

1. Outline

I. Empathetic organizations are different than knowing organizations and learning organizations

A. Knowing orginzations place their fondation on rules, procedures and processes

B. Learning organizations places thier fondation on harnessing multiple perspectives and insights within the firm to develop and to improve upon ideas

C. Empathetic orginzations believe that they should learn from and grow with the customer.

II. The management practices of empathetic organizations are

A. Extensive training and development

B. Comparatively high compensation

C. Openness and empowerment

D. High selectivity in hiring

E. Trust

F. Egalitarianism

G. Caring

III. The competitive strategy of empathetic organizations focuses on

A. Service intimacy

B. Individualized service

C. Empowering the customer

D. Empathetic product or service design

E. Inclusion of customers in the social context

2. David Lei and Charles Geer are the authors of the article, "The Empathetic Organization." The three most important points the authors make in this article are that: 1) The empathetic organizations differ from knowing organizations and learning organizations by emphasizing their focus on learning and growing with the customer; 2) In an empathetic organization leadership has a clear direction, it is strongly influenced by the values of the founders, and it has a strong focus on personal development; 3) The management practices of empathetic organizations are: extensive training and development, comparatively high compensation, openness and empowerment, high selectivity in hiring, trust, egalitarianism, and caring.

3.While reading "The Empathetic Organization," I learned the competitive strategy of an empathetic organization focuses on service intimacy, individualized service, empowering the customer, empathetic product or service design, and inclusion of customers in the social context. Futhermore, empathetic organizations are likely to embrace practices