If organizational
development is an active ambition of management, then it is important to have a
concrete idea of the organization that one wishes to develop. The thinking exercise that is required for this is often referred to as
the "mission - vision" exercise. The fact that mission is
the all- determining approach is beyond doubt. The social mission
of the organization must determine what characteristics the organization must
have to fulfill this mission. The word "vision" is used a little unfortunately in
this case, but the essence is that we need an answer to the question "what should be the
characteristics of the organization we need?" Here we describe the basic characteristics of a learning organization (1), one that is able to focus on the mission and is able to improve itself
continuously. It fits in with the idea of Artificial Intelligence, a built-in
intelligence that constantly improves the system.
The functioning of a
learning organization can be summarized in seven important characteristics:
1.
A
collective learning attitude
People learn something when
they have a learning attitude. This has been described in detail elsewhere (2). It is clearly insufficient
for an organization if only the management has a learning attitude. The entire organization should be in a learning mode. This means that the three phases in a learning attitude work on a
collective level: wanting, trying, evaluating.
Specifically, "wanting
together" is a matter of agreeing on the mission (a firm and explicit
mental contract of all employees), but also on the strategic plan based on it. In phase 2, "trying together" becomes a matter of participation in decision-making, sound internal communication and
calculated autonomy of functions and teams. In phase 3, it is evaluated
whether the results achieved meet the objectives and what can be learned from
the attempts that were made. Adjustment closes the circle. It is important for the proper
functioning of the circle, that the evaluation is primarily done by those who
have tried something. The management monitors the quality of the evaluation and gives
appropriate feedback.
2.
Constructive
relationships
In human cooperation, the
relationship always comes first, then the content. With a bad relationship,
cooperation cannot be made productive. In concrete terms, this
means that the conclusions of the Transactional Analysis (3) are realized
in practice. This means that everyone enters the 'adult' mode, and that 'parenting'
and ' childing ' are virtually non-existent. If they do occur, they will
be taken care of by a strong culture and sound leadership (see below).
3.
A
"liberating" structure
Structure determines how
areas of responsibility and authority are defined. The narrower these are, and
the less 'room to maneuver' there is available for employees and teams, the
more sub-optimization occurs, and the harder it is to motivate people. Processes are too often parceled out over many different people and
teams, and few or no people have an overview of the entire process, let alone
the ability to optimize it. Autonomous teams that not only manage their own operational functioning, but also monitor the quality of teamwork, fit into this
vision. Designing a structure in this sense means that employees are 'liberated',
that they are given the space to develop constructive behavior. But creating space is not enough, as many failures in the introduction
of self-managing teams demonstrated.
4.
A strong
and supportive culture
The culture in an
organization is the whole of unwritten rules that determine what behavior can
be expected in practice, or is tolerated. This culture can be weak,
and then a lot is possible and there is a weak sense for norms. This makes individual performance very difficult to synchronize into
clear results. This creates a kind of "chaos-feel", which is very demoralizing. The culture must therefore be strong, but it must also
support the mission. The values that are necessary for the fulfillment of the mission must
be well-chosen and explicitly present . This is only possible if they have been translated into concrete principles. These allow behavior to be adjusted and provide a sense of norm that
results in spontaneous discipline, not enforced, but supported.
5.
Participation
in decision making
When making decisions,
making all the choices that are important for the functioning of the
organization, a adult - adult relationship must be realized. This is about both business decisions and about determining principles
for the desired culture. A careful method of decision-making must therefore explicitly be part of
the culture (translated into principles) and used as a kind of guarantee for
cooperation. They are tangible alternatives for 'top-down', unilateral decisions and
other traditional styles. What needs to be developed is, among other things, funnel techniques, ‘sociocratic’
decision-making, transparent communication,
etc. A lot of additions to Kotter's well-known methodology for managing changes
will be needed. Reverse decision making (pure bottom up) is no longer a danger,
because "public participation without insight leads to judgments without perspective"!
6.
Strong
leadership
A strong leadership is not
the same as a dominant leadership. It is one that is present
to 'keep the entire organization up to date'. Elsewhere the
characteristics of professional and contemporary leadership are described. It must fit into an ‘adult – adult’ relationship, where agreements
replace obedience, where vision is present, and where all elements of this 'learning organization' are realized in a
transparent manner.(5) To develop a learning organization, management vision (as a whole) will
be essential, but also an active (uniform) role of 'culture creator. The practical 'business' side may then mainly be developed by employees.
7.
Mature people
Without mature people (6) a mature organization is not possible. If the employees, the
management in particular, demonstrate a lot of self-centered behavior and
short-term focus, then a focus on the mission, focus on long term and on agreements will become difficult. But it needs to be said:
working with mature people is easy. In that case, self-management becomes natural and productive. In practice, there will always be a mix of maturity levels. But a certain predominance of quite high maturity is necessary in this
context. The leadership and the culture will ensure that the less mature people do feel good, constructive contributions and even grow in
maturity. What certainly should not happen is that the low- mature people start to set the pace! This is a risk that is
highly present in highly polarized organizations due to a leadership that is
strongly 'parenting' (authoritarian) and a negative but strong union effect
that results from this. That is the opposite of the learning organization.
The fish
"The fish starts rotting
at the head" is a saying in several cultures around the world. It means that an organization's performance is strongly determined by
the quality of leadership. Fortunately, it also means that with good management, organizations
become strong, without compromising the well-being of employees, clearly the
opposite. In a learning organization, the development of people and the
development of the organization synergistically reinforce each other.
The management must ensure
that all the features described here develop in the practice of the
organization, in collaboration.
Hugo Der Kinderen
January 2019
(1) The term " learning." organization 'was launched by Peter Senge (The fifth discipline; the art and practice of the learning organization, Double Currency Day, New York, 1990). The characteristics described here are my own interpretation, which can be seen as an alternative and more practical approach.
(2) A detailed description of
the learning process with adult people can be found at
“hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”.
(3) A short description of the
dynamics of Transactional Analysis can be found at “hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”. This vision is quite different from many common approaches in the sense
that more attention is given to the effects that behavior has on
behavior.
(4) Some fundamental additions
to Kotter's methodology (Leading change, Harvard
Business Review Press, 2012) can be found at “hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”.
(5) Multiple approaches to
leadership can be found at “hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”
(6) A brief description of the
maturity development of people can be found on “hugoderkinderen.blogspot.be”.
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