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- \title{Notes on Organizational Change}
- \author{Bil Kleb and Bill Wood}
- \date{3 February 2004}
-
- \documentclass{tufte-handout}
-
- \usepackage{amsmath}
- \usepackage{graphicx}
- \graphicspath{{graphics/}}
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- \pagestyle{empty}
-
- \begin{document}
-
- \maketitle
-
- \newthought{The} Beckhard-Harris-Gleicher model of change%
- \sidenote{R. Beckhard and R. Harris, {\it Organizational Transitions},
- Addison-Wesley, 1987.}
- states successful change will happen if and only if the product of the
- level of dissatisfaction with status quo, the appeal of the future
- vision, and the clarity of the steps necessary to achieve the vision is
- greater than the cost of change, measured in terms of emotion, direct
- expenses, and lost opportunity.
- \begin{displaymath}
- \text{change}
- \,\,\iff\,\,
- \text{dissatisfaction}\times\text{appeal}\times\text{plan}
- \,>\,
- \text{cost}
- \end{displaymath}
- If any factor is low, the chance for successful change is slim, no matter
- how compelling the other factors might appear.
- Similarly, if the cost is high, change is not worth pursuing.
-
- \newthought{Satir's} model of well managed change%
- \sidenote{Virginia M. Satir, John Banmen, Jane Gerber, and Maria Gomori
- {\it The Satir Model: Family Therapy and Beyond}, Science and Behavior
- Books, 1991.\\
- Gerald M. Weinberg, {\it Quality Software Management: Anticipating
- Change}, Volume 4, Dorset House, 1997.}
- emphasizes all change entails phases of loss and chaos that, if
- unanticipated, will cause a retreat to the original status quo.
- A change agent initiates the descent into chaos and then a transforming
- idea marks the beginning of the ascent to the new status quo.\\[5pt]
- \marginnote{Five stage Satir change model diagram \textcopyright\
- stevenmsmith.com.}
- \includegraphics[scale=0.5]{satir_graph}
-
- \newthought{The} Bateson Double Bind%
- \sidenote{Gregory Bateson, D. D. Jackson, J. Haley, and J. H. Weakland,
- ``Toward a Theory of Schizophrenia'', {\it Behavioral Science},
- Volume 1, pages~251--264, 1956.\\
- Gregory Bateson, D. D. Jackson, J. Haley, and J. H. Weakland, ``A Note on
- the Double Bind'', {\it Family Process}, volume 2, 1962, pages~154--161.}
- is a recipe for schizophrenia that should be avoided in organizational
- structures:
- \begin{compactenum}
- \item Locate a victim who is somehow dependent on you.
- \item Issue a primary injunction with a threat of punishment for
- non-compliance.
- \item Issue a secondary injunction that contradicts the first, again
- coupled with the threat of punishment for non-compliance.
- \item Make the contradiction undiscussible and provide a threat of
- punishment if it is discussed.
- \item Make%
- \marginnote{Example: a researcher is dependent upon a mandated support
- service and the support staff imposes a level of service that is
- insufficient.}
- the undiscussibility undiscussible, but make appearances
- that everything is discussible.
- \item Make the victim believe they cannot exit the situation.
- \end{compactenum}
-
- \newthought{Block} observes that vision statements are worth something
- only to those who make them.%
- \sidenote{Peter Block, {\it Stewardship: Choosing Service Over
- Self-Interest}, Berrett-Koehler, 1993.}
- A vision cannot be handed down from upon high.
- Instead, each person or team needs to craft their own vision statement
- to have vested ownership and accountability.
- One clear requirement, however, is that at each level the vision must be
- tied to the one above.
-
- What%
- \marginnote{``Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex,
- intelligent behavior,'' says Dee Hock, former CEO of Visa
- International.
- ``Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple, stupid behavior.''}
- the core workers do need from those above is a clearly defined,
- tangible mission statement that can be used by those at the lowest levels
- to make everyday decisions.
- NASA's current vision, mission, and goals slides have recently been
- cited%
- \sidenote{Edward R. Tufte, {\it The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint}, 2nd
- ed., Graphics Press, 2003, page~4.}
- as embarrassing examples of what not to do:\\[5pt]
- \begin{center}
- \includegraphics{nasa_vision_sm}
- \end{center}
-
- \newthought{Stop} using PowerPoint bullet list slides for strategic
- planning, technical communication, or anything but a marketing pitch.
- Lou Gerstner simply shut off the overhead projector when he
- began to bring IBM back from the brink of bankruptcy in 1992.
- He introduced the novel idea of using complete sentences to describe
- how goals would be met.%
- \sidenote{Louis V. Gerstner, Jr., {\it Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?
- Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround}, 2002, page~43.}
- Furthermore, 3M has documented%
- \sidenote{Gordon Shaw, Robert Brown, and Philip Bromiley, ``Strategic
- Stories: How 3M is Rewriting Business Planning,'' {\it Harvard
- Business Review}, vol.~76, May-June, 1998, pages~42--44.}
- that bullet lists make us intellectually
- lazy in three specific ways: (1)~they are too generic---they offer a
- series of things to do that could apply to any business, (2)~they leave
- critical relationships unspecified, and (3)~they leave critical
- assumptions about how the business works unstated.
- Our project planning needs to (a)~embrace change, not try
- to suppress it and (b)~use PERT charts with uncertainties
- instead of CPM diagrams.%
- \sidenote{Robert Martin, ``PERT: Precursor to Agility'' in {\it Software
- Development}, February 2003.}
- Budgets are forecast tools, not specifications.
- Costs should only be tracked to the same level of precision as benefits
- are tracked, because the cost-to-benefit ratio has an approximate
- uncertainty equal to the maximum of the cost and benefit uncertainties.%
- \sidenote{Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister, {\it Waltzing with Bears},
- Dorset House, 2003, page~147.}
-
- \end{document}
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