The difference engine : achieving powerful and sustainable partnering / Anne Deering and Anne Murphy.

Deering, Anne, 1959-

Bibliographic record and links to related information available from the Library of Congress catalog
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List of figures	xi

Acknowledgements	xiii

Introduction	xv
	Participative research	xvii
	The journey ahead	xix

Part I: Understanding partners

1    	A new kind of enterprise	3
	The flight from control	5
	Partnering purposes	8
	Conventional prescriptions	11
	Partnership enterprise	13
	Enterprise architecture on the American railroads	15
	Stories from the front	17
	Summary	20
	References	20

2    	A new language for partnering	23
	The Partnering Grid	26
	Anatomy of the Partnering Grid	28
	Story from the front: a tale of two partnerships	45
	Summary	49
	References	50

3	The origins of the grid	51
	Organizational learning	53
	Organizational activity	57
	Learning and acting on the grid	61
	Ways of seeing and knowing: interdisciplinary
	adventures	63
	Summary	68
	References	68

4	Searching for 'fit'	69
	Improving'fit'	70
	Navigating the grid	74
	Shifting patterns of power	81
	Understanding each other	88
	The language of the grid	94
	Story from the front: use of symbols	94
	Summary	96
	References	96

Part	II: Acting on common ground

5	Living with difference	99
	Multiple visions	101
	Acting without conviction	103
	Discovering the common ground	104
	Summary	105

6	Exploring common ground	107
	The poverty of conventional strategy	108
	Strategy and the grid	109
	Emergent strategy	116
	Structure as strategy	117
	The next step	120
	ARM's way	121
	A new enterprise model	125
	Story from the front: SEEBOARD	126
	Summary	130
	References	131

7	Trading in 'common' sense	133
	The importance of dialogue	137
	From monologue to dialogue	139
	Five principles of dialogue	140
	Electronic dialogue	141
	Getting there	145
	ARM's partnering style	147
	Stories from the front	151
	Summary	157
	References	157

8	Somebody at the helm	159
	Leadership and the Partnering Grid	162
	The case of the scientific research team	164
	The new leadership	168
	Leading by containing	169
	From leaders to leadership systems	178
	Story from the front: HHCL	180
	Summary	182
	References	183

9	On trust and conflict
	Dimensions of trust	186
	The case against partnering	188
	Aspects of conflict	190
	The Difference Engine	191
	Partnering'lore'	193
	Epilogue	194
	Summary	195
	References	195

Appendix A: Partnering Grid self-test	197

Appendix B: Ways of knowing	201

Appendix C: Tools for dialogue	207

Index	219