No longer just cogs
A just published book that delves into the human aspects of business
The change from cog to human being. Following the evolution of business management approaches and summarising events, this change is perhaps the parable of the role of work and workers. It is a complex journey, and one that is not yet complete. A journey that needs to be encouraged and so well understood. Some key factors to help with this can be found in “Il lato umano dell’impresa. Vivere la comunità dentro le organizzazioni” (The human side of enterprise. The living community within organisations), a recently published book by Francesco Limone. The title says it all: looking at production organisations also as communities and not only as mechanisms.
The starting point is scientific management, born during the second industrial revolution, which saw workers as cogs in a machine and work as something separate from life. At that time, companies dealt technical problems that could be solved by experts and specific skills. Today everything is different, starting from the context in which companies operate. It is a social system represented by the acronym B.A.N.I.: Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear and Incomprehensible. Uncertainty and complexity call for a different approach in which everyone counts and contributes, and in which corporate goals are reconciled with an anthropological, i.e. human, vision of the company.
It is on these findings that Francesco Limone bases his reasoning. The current challenges, he explains, are mainly adaptive: this is new for everyone, with answers that come from dialogue and quality conversations within a community. The driving force behind the company is not just individual talent, but the entire community that lives and works within it. Leadership becomes diffused, combining challenge and care, building on a sense of belonging and community.
This is a sense of community, which is a complex and difficult condition to build, but it is fundamental, also for companies. Not just to respond to the challenges of the day, but to reinforce weaving together of interdependent lives.
Limone’s book should be read attentively, with a preface by Stefano Zamagni that places the text in a humanistic and historical perspective that helps to understand it better.
Il lato umano dell’impresa. Vivere la comunità dentro le organizzazioni
Francesco Limone
Egea, 2025
A just published book that delves into the human aspects of business
The change from cog to human being. Following the evolution of business management approaches and summarising events, this change is perhaps the parable of the role of work and workers. It is a complex journey, and one that is not yet complete. A journey that needs to be encouraged and so well understood. Some key factors to help with this can be found in “Il lato umano dell’impresa. Vivere la comunità dentro le organizzazioni” (The human side of enterprise. The living community within organisations), a recently published book by Francesco Limone. The title says it all: looking at production organisations also as communities and not only as mechanisms.
The starting point is scientific management, born during the second industrial revolution, which saw workers as cogs in a machine and work as something separate from life. At that time, companies dealt technical problems that could be solved by experts and specific skills. Today everything is different, starting from the context in which companies operate. It is a social system represented by the acronym B.A.N.I.: Brittle, Anxious, Nonlinear and Incomprehensible. Uncertainty and complexity call for a different approach in which everyone counts and contributes, and in which corporate goals are reconciled with an anthropological, i.e. human, vision of the company.
It is on these findings that Francesco Limone bases his reasoning. The current challenges, he explains, are mainly adaptive: this is new for everyone, with answers that come from dialogue and quality conversations within a community. The driving force behind the company is not just individual talent, but the entire community that lives and works within it. Leadership becomes diffused, combining challenge and care, building on a sense of belonging and community.
This is a sense of community, which is a complex and difficult condition to build, but it is fundamental, also for companies. Not just to respond to the challenges of the day, but to reinforce weaving together of interdependent lives.
Limone’s book should be read attentively, with a preface by Stefano Zamagni that places the text in a humanistic and historical perspective that helps to understand it better.
Il lato umano dell’impresa. Vivere la comunità dentro le organizzazioni
Francesco Limone
Egea, 2025