IIMB Management Review (2014) 26, 206e207

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BOOK REVIEW

Organizational Development and Alignment: TheTensegrity Mandala Framework, Gagandeep Singh,Raghu Ananthanarayanan, Sage, New Delhi, 2013, 268 pp.,Rs. 795.

OD can’t be defined, it has to be experienced!

- Anonymous

In line with the above quote, the authors have inte-grated their field experiences of organizational develop-ment (OD) with yoga, process work, vaastu and systemsthinking in writing this book. An organization has custom-arily been depicted in the shape of an “inverted pyramid”which subsumes the complexity of cultures, systems,structures, and processes with the organization’s limita-tions and advantages. However, the authors here haveproposed the Tensegrity Mandala framework to describe anorganization suitable for 21st century challenges. Tensegr-ity is a mix of “tension and integrity” while mandala refersto a pictorial or geometric design usually enclosed in acircle, representing the entire universe. The book is dividedinto two sections with a distinct focus for each section.Section A covers the conceptual underpinnings of the Ten-segrity Mandala framework while Section B deals with awide range of applications based on the consulting experi-ence of the authors in the OD field.

Chapter 1 explores a new language and a new paradigmof organization design. The authors argue that traditionalconcepts of organization design and language reinforce arigid, hierarchical, and simplistic image of the organiza-tion. Such representations have a limited impact in theIndian context where there are concerns around powerand class. The alternative, they suggest, is to deploylenses of tensegrity and mandala to understand organi-zation design.

Organizations are perceived as an interplay of four uni-verses which co-exist as well as compete for scarce orga-nizational resources. Chapter 2 focusses on the buildingblocks and key elements of the Tensegrity Mandala modelas an interplay of the four universes, viz., wealth, customerand markets, technology, and employee; and the resultinginteraction outcome being six tensions. These tensions arecritical to the model and are pervasive across organiza-tional processes. This chapter covers linkages betweenthese tensions and how these tensions, if not in equilib-rium, impact the health of an organization.

Keeping these six tensions in a state of equilibrium alongwith organization flexibility and responsiveness to the four

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iimb.2014.06.003

universes is the focus of Chapter 3. A set of 12 nodal rolesand leadership set roles is critical for holding the TensegrityMandala model in equilibrium. Two key questions answeredhere are: who/what determines the nature of tension(s)and how these tensions are changed. Answers come byunderstanding the concept of role, role interlinkages andbehaviour interplay of roles, both internally and externally,along with role effectiveness. For an organization to realizethe benefits of the Tensegrity Mandala framework, it isessential to work with role alignment on role sets.

Organizations are perceived as living systems with anidentity (or personality) of their own with specific traits andcharacteristics. The authors contend that as a naturalconsequence of having an identity, the existence of ashadow cannot be denied. Identity and shadow coexist butthe latter is often not discussed. Chapter 4 delves into the“shadow aspects” of an organization’s identity and em-phasizes that it is the role of the leadership to understandand manage the shadow part of the organization’s identity.Most often the leadership avoids acknowledging and dealingwith shadow manifestations or pathologies resulting inserious consequences for the organization, including itsdemise.

Chapter 5, Section B, takes the readers to the tools andtechniques for applying the Tensegrity Mandala framework.The focus in this chapter is on the process of mapping anddiagnosis of organizational health across organizationallevels. A step by step process to understand the dilemmasunderlying each tension and how these create stress in thesystem is illustrated here. A series of narratives based onthe authors’ experience is presented to explain the diag-nostic process.

An attempt has been made in Chapter 6 to link the sixtensions to key business processes that are embedded ineach tension. This enables the diagnosis to get linked to thedesign and deployment realities. This chapter examinesintervention designs that impact the organization as a sys-tem, with its key constituents e business processes,structures, and policies. Details of illustrative meta-processlinks from each tension, including the maturity levels foreach process are covered here. The diagnosis process pre-sented is intense, dialectical, and aligned to both the tacitand explicit processes.

Chapter 7 explores the domain of cultural trans-formation. A roadmap for mapping convergence and align-ment within members of an organization is provided byfocussing on links between key business processes and eachtension and enabling teams to integrate both the invisible

Book Review 207

culture and the visible business processes as a whole. Thechapter also takes a very hard look at the individual leader/manager and how the individual manager maps his/her roleeffectiveness within the organization. A very different takeon performance management is presented using the Ten-segrity framework with “role” as the key building block.

Chapter 8 looks at defining Organization Dharma as anadditional universe in addition to the four universesexplored in the book. The authors call it “universe or voiceof Gaia”, which if integrated within the Tensegrity Mandalamodel, would cause the underlying tensions of strategizingand investing to undergo a radical shift. This in turn willhelp organizations evolve and transform on journeys thatbenefit mankind as well as ecology.

In summary, the authors have provided a new model tolook at organization design based on their practical expe-rience. This would be a useful work book for practitionersand managers working in the OD field, rather than aresource for scholars and researchers. However, the uni-versality and usefulness of the model as a generalized toolremains to be tested.

Kuldeep Singh*US Technology International Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore, India

*Tel.: þ91 9845939785.E-mail address: drkuldeeps@gmail.com