>It seems to me that this is an open question. I've heard Senge make the
>comment that commitment by upper management hasn't made the difference in
>his studies (e.g., the AutoCo learning history). I've also heard the
>quote attributed to Margaret Mead that all great things in the world
>_were_ created by a small group of dedicated people. The examples have
>always been people like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others who
>were (at the outset) relatively powerless.
There are many examples of organizations that have made change stating at
the top.
Harley Davidson, Milwaukee Electric Tool, Oregon Chain Saw, West bend
Appliance, Ford, Motorola, Toyota, W.H. Brady and the list goes on & on.
This list of those that say they want change and do not change is also
long. In these cases I have seen top management not actually knowing what
they wanted and there fore sending mixed signal to the troops. Also often
the top want change now and they do not allow enough time for it to root.
I do not know of any that have changed starting at the bottom or middle.
the reason is simply time and energy. If a middle manager has a new way to
manage he/she must comply boss's needs in the present style and pursue
change at the same time. That tires most out very quickly. It can be done
but only at great cost to the change leader. Most are not willing to take
the risk. It cost Gandhi everything he had and he did not have to comply
to current management.
One can change ones self in an organization, and set a good example and
maybe make a change int he whole. Being a martyr worked for Gandhi but few
in business have his courage so most simply leave if they feel strongly
about the management priorities.
et
At 08:57 AM 4/5/99 -0800, you wrote:
>Eugene wrote:
>
>> It is near impossible to change an organization from the bottom. That is
>> why Deming the precursor to all these other partial philosophies, would
>> not deal with a company unless the man in charge agreed to be the driver.
>
>It seems to me that this is an open question. I've heard Senge make the
>comment that commitment by upper management hasn't made the difference in
>his studies (e.g., the AutoCo learning history). I've also heard the
>quote attributed to Margaret Mead that all great things in the world
>_were_ created by a small group of dedicated people. The examples have
>always been people like Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others who
>were (at the outset) relatively powerless.
>
>OTOH, I do buy into the change management notion that you need sponsorship
>at high levels and a cascading chain of reinforcing sponsorship throughout
>the organization to be successful.
Eugene Taurman
interLinx Consulting
414-242-3345
http://www/execpc.com/~ilx
If a company values anything more than its' customer, it will lose the
customer.
The irony of that, if it is profitability, market share, security, teams,
learning or philanthropy that it values more it will lose the opportunity
for these too.
--Eugene Taurman <ilx@execpc.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>