A Business Structure for Superior Performance
How Organization Structure and Policy can Create Success
Jun 3, 2009
It is not as risky as it first sounds looking at the new context of information access and knowledge. A task for management is to set forth what has to be done first in order to allow people to do what they want without creating total chaos. This is an empowerment that does not equal anarchy.
A networked company uses teams, and those on the teams are provided with knowledge of their process to include its design, documentation necessary, and any necessary training on it for those involved in its structure and conduct.
A Business Structure for Superior Performance
The people who do the work know what to do to satisfy customers and are set in a structure and environment that allows them to do it. For this to occur, the points of decision-making are set as far downstream in the organization as possible. A system of distributed empowerment is devised where temporary power in a work team goes to whoever can rectify the situation.
Individuals here progress through three stages in their development before they are ready to operate autonomously.
- First they are exposed to the process. Here they have some knowledge of what has to be done but they must still have continuous guidance.
- After this they reach the point where they can work alone but will still have some questions and will need someone nearby to answer them. They are getting close in their skill level but they are not ready to coach yet.
- Lastly, they reach the point where they are totally trained, can work completely alone, and can coach others. When a critical mass of people who have reached this point is achieved, the organization is ready to accept the risks of allowing everyone to do what they want.
What Counts Can’t be Counted
The following are examples of components that are critical but cannot as of yet be easily measured. They are, however, quite evident to those who through experience and time have learned how to recognize them. A clear implication with this observation is the larger role that the judgment of seasoned leaders will play over the traditional operating measurements. These are the important characteristics of the working environment just described that are proving so difficult to measure accurately:
- Learning
- Customer satisfaction
- Trust
- Group intelligence
- Openness
- Innovativeness
- Courage
- Confidence
- Genuine caring for customers and one another
- Vision
- Intrinsic motivation, cooperation, and other human attributes that bring results
- Fundamental capability of a company to shape its future
- Systems thinking in the workplace
- Empowerment
- The quality with which a company implements quality
- Inspiration
- Expectations
- Passion
- Flexibility
- Collaboration
- Commitment
- Consensus
How Organization Structure and Policy can Create Success
The challenge facing those in management and leadership capacities is in getting a firm grasp on the status of those matters that really have weight in describing the true strengths of the company. These qualities defy the measurements of traditional financial reporting systems yet can be more critical to success than those traits that can be more easily quantified.
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