Designed organisations
… and informal networks
What we can agree …
• If we do not innovate and challenge our traditional methods ourselves, someone else will re-invent our business - and even take our market share
• The environment is very volatile - and that means we have to keep changing - constantly
• Running an organisation today is very hard!
Key concerns …
• The critical need:
To have an effective strategy
To develop an organisation that is capable of delivering that strategy
To capitalise on our key asset – our people, their know-how and motivation
For control
How we often respond …
• We DESIGN our organisation and its key structures and processes
• We recruit talented people, monitor their performance and then invest in developing their skills further
• We research the market and develop our strategy
What this actually means …
• DESIGN is about providing stability, repeatability and predictability
• Designed organisational structures distribute power – to make decisions about resources
• Designed organisational processes distribute tasks – to create coherence
• We tell talented people to deliver the strategy that WE have created
What comes next …
• When we realise the world is unstable and unpredictable, we tell talented people they must innovate. In other words …
• … we tell them to create instability, unrepeatability and unpredictability …
• … within a system designed to produce the exact reverse …
• … and then complain when they don’t deliver!
What then develops …
• Talented people care about customers, quality, and the long-term success of the organisation
• Talented people want to innovate – it is a satisfying expression of their talent
• Self-organising informal networks innovate ways around designed-in constraints …
• … and distribute influence to get their added-value decisions made and implemented
How we then respond …
• We conclude that the design of our structures and processes must be at fault
• We invest physical, intellectual and emotional energy in re-designing structures and processes that do not exist in reality
• We run change programmes that rely on exhortation to try to change behaviour
• We decide the values people need – and communicate them – more exhortation!
There is another way …
• Recognise that self-organising groups are a reality – informal networks exist – they are how the work actually gets done
• Create the conditions for change – it cannot be commanded, but it can be enabled
• Replace detailed prescriptive rules by simple guidelines – complex adaptive strategies beat malicious obedience every time!
• Emergence is not disorder or scary – it’s fun, and just a different type of order!
Thank you
For more information, please contact Informal Networks at:
http://www.informalnetworks.co.uk/html/contact_us.html
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