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So over the years it’s become increasingly clear to me that organizations do not have innovation DNA. They don’t have adaptability DNA. This realization inevitably led me back to a fundamental question: what problem was management invented to solve, anyway ?
When you read the history of management and of early pioneers like Frederick taylor, you realize that management was designed to solve a very specific problem - how to do things with perfect replicability, at ever-increasing scale and steadily increasing efficiency.
Now there’s a new set of challenges on the horizon.
- Gary Hamel, the Future of Management
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April 25, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Anonymous
Gary’s DNA comment intrigued me. One part of me wants to agree wholeheartedly. But I think it’s more fundamental than that and it’s the wrong analogy. It’s bio-chemistry and not bio-genetics. The ‘normal’ behaviors of the cells have been switched off because they’re all operating in ‘alert’ mode (e.g. rampant white-blood-cell counts). The chemistry is out of whack and is attacking the host and everything associated with it (the culture, the people, etc.).
Just this week, across multiple conversations with middle managers I got the ‘not within our control’ and ‘keep my job’ sorts of answers in BASIC problem conversations. They thought me a heritic to suggest that they should be less concerned about losing their jobs than not having a company to work for…which is more the reality right now than in the past.
I’m looking forward to a few tsunami’s for people to be jolted out of their stupors. We need some big-time puss-letting.
April 27, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Anonymous
Paula, you are deeply frustrated!
I should be feeling like you too (and have done in the past). I spent the last year on a sabbatical reading up Hamel, poet David Whyte, MIT mavens, Senge, etc. and net working with livelier pockets of UK. I feel refreshed and reinvigorated and willing to share. All these sources deal with the exact problem you describe - how to get people away from the a point which verges on the pathological. We need to take the next step which is revising all our management in a positive way. This is not just some touchy-feely meandering - it is a whole new business model and it might take people stepping out to start their own ventures. It will certainly take ‘recrafting’ - taking some initial small steps.
I have also been ‘practicing’ in an environment a lot tougher than the average British corporate - Zimbabwe post-election - 15000%+ inflation, violence etc. The opposition is totally committed to non-violence and democracy - and this is the ultimate test - going up against an incumbent government who doesn’t play by any known rules. The game is getting people who are angry, terrified and frankly jibbering to take small steps, to collectively push over the establishment and to do it in a manner that there is something worth having afterwards. It does take commitment and organization and I have been learning the ropes and verifying basic principles of appreciative management.
It’s a bit of a game of snakes and ladders but progress has been made. It seems Angola held the line this weekend and did not allow weapons to be offloaded in Luanda. The election officials did not ‘recount’ the votes - or they did but didn’t fix it. These are massive wins.
To give you a taste of the poetic principle in action - imagine flyers going around the streets of Harare - saying Remember we have won. That is a presencing principle. We have an interplay of positive futures and positive presents which facilitate action (and well being which is just as cool).
Happy to discuss any time.
My site is http://flowingmotion.wordpress.com
If you want to send an email or two to help Zimbabwe, the coordinating site is http://www.sokwanele.com - just do it when you feel good. There are also gory pictures there.