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Ways of looking at organisations
The author Gareth Morgan identifies eight ways of looking at
organisations, he describes these as metaphors, and they are;
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Machines
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Organisms
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Brains
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Cultures
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Political systems
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Psychic prisons
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Flux and transformation
Of these the four most commonly in use are;
machines, political systems, organisms and flux and transformation.
The important thing about these different ways of looking at
organisation is that they give way to different models which have
been developed to manage change. Take for example Michael Hammer’s
Business Process Re-engineering (which looks at the organisation as
a machine), in a survey of 99 completed initiatives two thirds were
judged to have failed. Even more concerning is that those who
undertook these change programmes often failed to keep up with their
competitors who had not been through these changes. It is not that
BPR is wrong; it is simply that it is one of a set of tools to be
used carefully, when appropriate, and with full cognisance of all of
the other aspects of organisational change.
Different Models
At the end of this paper there is reference to some books
outlining different models to effect change in organisations, change
in teams, mergers and acquisitions, etc.
As an example of what we at Integral
transformation institute see as the kind of failing which exists in
all of these models we shall take Kotter’s ‘eight step model’ from
the Harvard Business School. The eight steps are;
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Establish a sense of urgency
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Form a powerful guiding coalition
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Create a vision
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Communicate the vision
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Empower others to act on the vision
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Plan for and create short-term wins
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Consolidate improvements and produce still more
change
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Institutionalise new approaches
In, and of themselves, these steps seem very well
constructed and eminently pragmatic and sensible. For example we all
know that ‘quick wins’ help keep momentum going and give positive
feedback to the organisation. But consider this, the ‘culture; of
the organisation is ‘changed’ in step eight. Nothing wrong with
this, it is after all a difficult task; why not leave until the end.
Here is the problem, in order to ‘change culture’ you need to know
what it is currently, and where you want it to be in the future. It
is not some ‘optional extra’ to be picked at the end, it is
fundamental as pointed out in the runaway bestseller ‘Built to
Last’. It is for this reason that we are keen proponents of Richard
Barrett’s ideas and tools about cultural transformation set out in
his book (see further reading). This where the culture is measured
now and a future state decided upon, and part of the work of the
Change Programme would be to bring about this new culture in
parallel with any other changes taking place.
Why Beyond?
If ‘change’ is a different way of doing what we
do now, then at best it can be incremental, but consider the changes
taking place today, they are fundamental. Organisations who wish to
survive and prosper must not just ‘change’, they must ‘transform’,
to make fundamental changes and to make them continuously on onto
the future. In the words of Richard Barrett you must aim for a state
of ‘evolution’, a continual state of change and transformation.
When looking at the models available we do not see a single
solution, there is not ‘one size fits all’, there is no ‘silver
bullet’. You have to take the best from each of the models and
tailor them to fit your needs, and most importantly, your culture. |
