In message LO15137, Gordon Housworth writes:
>I'm presently advising the operating committee (minus the COO) of a
>US-based international firm that is reorganizing itself. The firm is
>extremely hierarchically-reflexive, command-driven by a powerful CEO and
>COO and this is the first opportunity (and perhaps last if they fail to
>seize the opportunity) for this operating committee composed of regional
>and business unit (functional) managers to define their preferred "org
>chart."
My experience has led me to believe that it won't matter which "org chart"
is selected. The effectiveness of the organization will be determined by
the quality of the interactions, or fit, within the organization as well
as between the organization and its customer/supplier community.
The quality of those interactions (including what information is shared
with whom, who makes decisions where, how feedback is obtained and used)
is determined in large part by the leadership group. It is their thought
processes--how they 'know' the world to work--that generate the quality of
the interactions that exist in the organization.
They can adopt a radically different "org chart" and they will continue to
act in such a manner as to produce the same results as before. Unless
their understanding of how the world works is altered, they will continue
to act in a manner that is consistent with their current
beliefs--generating essentially the same results. I have seen
organizations go from rigid, almost impermeable vertical silos, to rigid,
almost impermeable horizontal silos while thinking that all it took to
generate a different organizational result was a different "org chart."
What they neglected to consider was their own responsibility for the
results that were showing up in the world.
Eric Budd
Rochester, MI
(248) 656-8617
ebudd@aol.com
--Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>