The last post, 'how did The Path start' received mails with curiosity to know more about the book. The queries were:

What's positioing of The Path in management literature? How is it different? Which aspects of change management does it focus? What's the core problem it deals with? Is there really a gap it fills in? which genre the management book does it belongs to?

In fact, before the co-creation began at the Hub of Operational Excellence (http://www.time2change.co.in), these issues were presented and discussed. And there is a document that descibes these issues in details.

Here is how it starts:

The genre of the Book-'The Path' is Business Management and the sub-genre is Organizational Transformation.

Organizational Transformation is about bringing change by an order of magnitude in the way an organization works, which leads to substantial business benefits. The operational practice of significantly improving performance of an organization on an ongoing basis is called Operational Excellence. The focus of the Book is in bringing transformation through better Operations Management. And, it presents a saga of getting onto the journey of Operational Excellence.

If you have a look at case-studded management books on Organizational Transformation, you would perhaps, notice a repeated pattern in the flow of the content.

The books often start with a situation of an organization in dire straits (as if, almost about to collapse). And then, there are anecdotal events that lead to significant improvements in the performance of the organization. Subsequently, there is a theory that fits snugly into the sequence of events. And finally, there is a prescription of a new management theory to transform organizations.

Books after books follow the above flow. And, so you have hundreds of books and so many different approaches, each claiming its supremacy in dramatically improving organizational performance from the brink of oblivion.

Why do these books start with the narration of failures?

Because, Transformation involves significant Change, not only in the way things are done but also in the behavior and culture of the organization; it involves people. Thus, making Change happen and stick is not easy; and there is often a lot of resistance to change. A vast majority of the community engaged in Organizational Transformation, therefore, finds and believes that most of the Organizations embrace Change only when they are under Crisis.

to know more, please download the document from here What's Management Theme dealt in 'the Path' It is also available in slide share slideshare: The theme