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Conflict and Creativity at Work: Human Roots of Corporate Life is the 2008 non-fiction book by Dr. Albert Low, Zen Master and Director of the Montreal Zen Center.

Background
In Conflict and Creativity at Work the author exposes the myth endorsed by Nobel prizewinner Milton Friedman, who says that the only social responsibility a company has is to make a profit. This view is widely accepted in our society, but it has brought us to the brink of disaster.

The book offers another view of a company: it is a complex field of interacting and conflicting forces out of which a product emerges. The interests of the stockholder make up just one set of these forces. By offering and justifying a radically new way to look at a company, work, a product, and company organization the book makes a contribution to the burgeoning tide of activism that is calling for higher ethical standards and corporate social responsibility within the corporate world.

The corporate system arises out of the natural creativity of human beings. This creativity, in the main, is expressed in the work that we do. Therefore to understand a company, its organization and its reason for being, we must understand, creativity and work, what they involve, and their importance to our mental health.

Although pressure is mounting for corporate social responsibility, we do not have an adequate understanding in which to root new standards of ethics and ethical behavior. In this book the author is offering a new way to look at the corporate system that will provide that understanding. The present financial meltdown must tell us that a new understanding is of vital importance for the very survival of our way of life. As far back as the Winter 2005 edition of the magazine, Business Ethics quoted Thomas Donahue, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President, as saying, “There is something fundamentally out of balance when short term considerations become so dominant …that the long term view is lost.” “Short-termism has driven us to dangerous new heights,” he added, “when we focus on a company’s numbers and ignore its business.”

In 1976 Anchor Books published Zen and Creative Management, a book that Low wrote while he was a practicing manager. It went through a number of editions and printings and sold 75,000 copies. He was urged over the past several years to bring this book up to date. He was at the same time wanting to write a book about creativity and work. Although Conflict and Creativity at Work: Human roots of Corporate Life is a completely new book, it nevertheless manages to merge both of these wishes.

Synopsis
Conflict and Creativity at Work consists of an introduction and five parts.

Conflict and Creativity at Work Introduction responds to the question: Why do we need another theory of management?

Conflict and Creativity at Work Part One responds to the first question: Why are human beings naturally creative and what connection does creativity have with conflict?

Human creativity is the most important aspect that we must bear in mind if we want to realistically understand a company and its organization Creativity, work and the company that grows out of them share a common structure and all are dynamic.: they are something that is happening. Every situation is different and so a company does not change; a company is change. An entity called a company that is subject to inner and outer influences just does not exist.

Conflict and Creativity at Work Part Two responds to the question: How is human creativity expressed in work, and why is work necessary for our mental health?

In part two the author defines the word work and shows the importance that work has in the ecology of a human being. Using the job of filing assistant as the simplest example of work, he shows that work must have limits, and that these limits become more complex as one ascends the management hiearchy. He then shows that the limits are the result of dilemmas such as Centralisation/decentralisation, organization by function/organization by product, System/Individual, Urgent/Important among others, all of which dilemmas are familiar to practicing managers.

In the place of ‘management by objectives’ Low suggests an alternative: ‘management by product.’ He defines a product as an idea in a form with a demand. He shows what he means by ‘idea’ and then goes on to demonstrate the great power that an idea has. He explains that the form of a product is not always material and elaborates on the menaing of ‘demand.’ He ends this section by examining the importance of an idea within the context of creativity.

Conflict and Creativity at Work Part Three responds to the question: How has the corporate system emerged out of human creativity?

In this section Low defines a company as a multidimensional field of commitment, capable of growth, expansion, and self-regulation, having the contradictory drives to survive and to fulfill its mission, with a product as its dynamic center. Part three begins with an amplification of this definition. He then shows that the field is under tension and why this creative tension and conflict is necessary.

Conflict and Creativity at Work Part Four responds to the questions:

1.How can the company organization promote creativity through the judicious use of conflict?

2. What qualities or abilities does an employee need in order to be able to do his or her work?

Three kinds of conflict arise in a company: two are non-productive; the third is productive and arises out of the creative tension of the field. Territoriality frequently causes non-productive conflict and the author discusses territoriality at length.

Higher levels of work emerge as a company grows, and these levels require correspondingly higher levels of capacity and ability. Low examines the meaning of ‘commitment’ and its accompanying needs, and then show the nature of ‘capacity’ and ‘ability.’

Conflict and Creativity at Work Part Five brings together some of the main themes of the book to show the way that genuine spirituality and reliable ethical standards can be introduced into a company.

Low raises the important question, “Who owns the company?” and shows the ramifications of this question in the light of all that has been said in the book. Finally he demonstrartes how legitimate ethical standards and authentic spirituality can become natural attributes of a well-organized company.