The magnitude and pace of change are increasing at a dramatic pace throughout the world. Many leaders are suffering from those changes and they are shaken, full of doubt and wondering what to do.
Many organizations are been beaten and their executives try to react, many in traditional manner by doing what they have always done faster or by simply downsizing, but “when we do what have always done, we will get what we always gotten”. This is hardly an adequate method for copying with the magnitude of change facing us today and tomorrow.
Doing the same things faster only achieve the same results faster. When a large organization downsizes due to some failure, but does not make other fundamental changes, it just became smaller, but still done the same mistakes.
Leaders of many organizations who failed to respond adequately have retired or been replaced. New and different solutions are required and the first step to succeeds is to develop a better understand of the rapidly changing environment in which they must struggle.
Coping with change must now be the top priority of leaders. A new dimension of change will affect all types of organizations. The problem is that neither leaders nor advisors seem to know how to cope with the reality of these continuous changes.
The world is becoming less predictable, the future of organization in inherently non linear and cannot be explained with linear mathematical models. The future can be better explained with the “mathematics of chaos”.
“Chaos theory teaches that straight linearity simply does not exist. Life is actually a series of encounters in which one event may change those that follow in a wholly unpredictable, even devastating way”.
In our competitive world organizations are characterized by 4 concepts:
TECHNOLOGY
The practical application of science and knowledge is undergoing its own revolution. New ways are being created to do old things, meet old needs, do new things and meet new needs.
PACE OF CHANGE
The pace of change is related to the speed of technology. In the past organizations could plan product life cycles of years, now months or sometimes weeks. Plants and equipment become obsolete with astonishing speed; markets are gained and lost overnight.
GLOBALIZATION OF THE ECONOMY
The globalization of the economy is racing ahead with more impact than predicted by any forecast.
CUSTOMERS
Finally, customers are becoming increasingly sophisticated and aware of the opportunities presented by the new competitive world order.
To survive and prosper, an organization must steadily develop new high margin, value added products and services, while continuing to reduce cost and improve services. This simple concept is difficult to execute.
To successfully implement the strategies necessary to cope with the new dimension of change, organization must be structures so they are simultaneously fast, focused and flexible.
The structure of organization must follow its strategy. Too many management try to fit strategy with structure and cannot understand why performance is lacking, or, even worse, the organization is restructured without first establishing the correct strategy and designing a structure through which it can be effectively implemented.
Strategy must be FLEXIBLE to cope with changes organization must be able to respond FAST while remaining FOCUSED on both the customer and its own performance.
The traditional management paradigm’s inability to meet the needs of modern organizations is further illustrated by the man kind of management 5 tools that seem to be becoming and going at an ever increasing rate. The sincere and frantic quest for new tools and solutions for managing old problems is clear evidence that the old paradigm is flawed.
IMPLEMENTATION OF ORGANIZACIONAL CHANGE
In order to be competitive in a global environment, organizations need to change, not only the leaders and top managers, or downsizing the organization, they must to change organizational culture and its four components:
- Organizational Structure
- Shared belief, values, attitudes and traditions
- Technologies and their applications – Processes
- Patterns of Leaderships
Organizational culture is not simply the climate of feelings of the members of an organization; it is the behavior of the groups inside the organization and the behavior of the individual members. An organization culture is both a cause and a consequence of the way people behave.
In planning the organization’s future, leaders must first determine ( or examine) the vision, mission, and values, then they must decide how to achieve then. In theory, vision and mission dictates goals and objectives, which in turn, dictate strategies, which determine structure.
In practice we often find that the existing structure is resistant to change, so that rather than structure following strategy (the correct way), structure limits strategy and objectives. As a result, goal can become unobtainable.
An organization must be willing to make necessary changes in all four dimensions, specially structure if significant planned cultural change is to succeed.
Structure is the key stabilizing dimension of culture. It transforms abstract dimension such a belief and values, into concrete forms and patterns of behaviors.
ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE
Structure is not simply an organizational chart. It is the social system upon which the organization is based. Organizations have building block subgroups. The interrelationships of these groups influence, and are influenced by the other three cultural dimensions.
In this structure the groups need to be designed into teams that work together in horizontal supplier-customer relationships. In the new 7 management paradigm this teams are called and function as Natural Management Teams.
The teams’ new paradigm has been called from quality control circles, participative teams, people participations, autonomous teamwork, selfdirected teams and many others names.
Organizational structure is related closely with teamwork because regulate:
- Relationships, work and structure, among teams and among individuals and teams.
- Patterns of personal and organizational authority, influence, and power.
- Personnel selection, retention and development.
- The role of education and training.
- Processes, how the work is done.
The Natural Management Teams in the new management paradigm are the backbone of the organization structure. In the teams is it is developed the shared beliefs, values, attitudes, and traditions needed for the high performing organization.
A baseline of shared beliefs, values, attitudes, and traditions (not intended to be exhaustive) are:
- Sense of purpose
- Focus on customer
- Commitment to excellence
- Importance of the long term
- Participative decision making and risk taking
- Sense of personal accountability and responsibility
- Willingness of change
- Sense of urgency
- Others
TECHNOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATION
In the broad sense, technology is applying science and knowledge for practical purpose. The planned and formal application of any technology can be called a technological system.
The broad area of management, which should be based on science, knowledge, and experience, is a technology. Equipment and physical processes are thought of as traditional technology, but the way an organization is managed is also a reflection of technology.
In management a new paradigm has been implemented in many high performing organizations and is the process management paradigm or how the work is done. This is a new technology of how the work is done.
Process Management uses a methodology called SIPOC. A SIPOC is a diagram used by a team to identify all relevant elements of a process improvement project before work begins. It helps define a complex project that may not be well scoped, and is typically employed at the Measure phase of the Six Sigma DMAIC methodology. It is similar and related to Process Mapping, but provides additional detail.
The tool name prompts the team to consider the Suppliers (the ‘S’ in SIPOC) of your process, the Inputs (the ‘I’) to the process, the Process (the ‘P’) your team is improving, the Outputs (the ‘O’) of the process, and the Customers (the ‘C’) that receive the process outputs.
PATTERNS OF LEADERSHIP
Leadership is made up of four departmental patterns:
- Creation and articulation of a viable and compelling organizational vision.
- Willingness and ability to compel the organization and its associates to pursue that vision.
- Willingness an ability to act, quickly, decisive, and with force when required.
- Capability to effectively manifest practical leadership through a symphony of style, dramatics, folklore, symbolism and constancy of themes.
All four patterns of leadership are essential, and no single one is sufficient in its own rights. Only when all come together in an effective and consistent pattern can leadership be effective specially in a high performing organization, which must be prepared to change often and quickly.
CONCLUSION
Unless the structural dimensions of the organization’s culture are altered, it will be difficult to make successful changes in the other dimensions.
Management must plan the required changes if the organization is to successfully a new paradigm.
These changes will involve all four dimensions of organization. The plan must be carefully constructed and well thought out, with ample provision for coordination and mid-course corrections.
Once a leader has accepted the need to change the organization and to effect a paradigm shift, the next step is to fully understand the new paradigm and it’s implications.
Leadership must then wholeheartedly embrace the effort, develop a plan of action, provide the necessary resources, and lead the change.
Organizations that are in the forefront of embracing global competition and adopt the new paradigm of the fast, focused and flexible high performing organizations will be tomorrow’s leaders.
