Margaret J. Wheatley Organization Quotations

Organizations are now confronted with two sources of change: the traditional type that is initiated and managed; and external changes over which no one has control.

Even though worker capacity and motivation are destroyed when leaders choose power over productivity, it appears that bosses would rather be in control than have the organization work well.

For me, this is a familiar image - people in the organization ready and willing to do good work, wanting to contribute their ideas, ready to take responsibility, and leaders holding them back, insisting that they wait for decisions or instructions

Aggression is the most common behavior used by many organizations, a nearly invisible medium that influences all decisions and actions.

As we let go of the machine model of work, we begin to step back and see ourselves in new ways, to appreciate wholeness, and to design organizations that honor and make use of the totality of who we are.

Power in organizations is the capacity generated by relationships. It is an energy that comes into existence through relationships.

I believe that the capacity that any organization needs is for leadership to appear anywhere it is needed, when it is needed.

In virtually every organization, regardless of mission and function, people are frustrated by problems that seem unsolvable.

We have created trouble for ourselves in organizations by confusing control with order.