Dr Uri Merry wrote about organizational lifespan and sustainability in
LO17775, reflecting on how organizations tend to die earlier than how they
used to.
This issue is an interesting one- if you look at studies like those of At
de Gries on the secrets of longevity, you see companies that have survived
for hundreds of years, but radically and fundamentally changed the nature
of their organization's business in that time- for example, didn't Nokia
the mobile telecomms company once be big in the timber industry?
Unfortunately, whilst the nature of the business has changed, we persist
with static organizational structures which protect the longevity of the
company by making the person holding a particular job largely irrelevant
in the overall scheme of things. Unfortunately, too many managers put the
value of the company ahead of the value of the people in the company. The
question arises as to how important it is for a company name to survive
when the company has changed so much anyway, especially when the people
are of secondary importance in this organized model.
I see organizations as a means to an end and not an end in themselves-
they should be a vehicle for people to earn a living and realize their
potential and learn and all those other positive attributes. I foresee
organizations becoming more like "collapsible corporations" which are
impermanent, temporary alliances between like-minded people- when the
customer requirement has been met, the people disband and reconfigure
themselves in a slightly different combination for the next opportunity.
There are all these artificial collective constructs in the world like
nations and organizations whose survival and importance is deemed to be
greater and more important than the people who populate those constructs.
The people are expected to put those constructs first. But it is
unnecessary to leave something physical behind like comnpany offices or
factories as a permanent reminder of a person's achievement- because "the
person who leaves the world a better place never leaves it".
Lets focus on the outcomes and not the processes, lets elivate the people
about the organizations.
regards sincerely simon buckingham, unorganization,
http://www.unorg.com/indiv.htm
--Simon Buckingham <go57@dial.pipex.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>