As many of you are aware, a significant proportion of our work is devoted to Organizational Development. Our mission is to provide managers with a clear understanding of the nature of organizations and how this understanding can provide a management model and ‘roadmap’, which will enable them to manage their own organizations more effectively.
The principal feature, of every organization, is the essential and consistent presence of four main components. They are Aims, People, Technologies and Structure. The incidence of these four components defines any group of people as an organization, irrespective of size and the nature of the endevour. Once defined, in this way, an organization is subject to a predictable series of principles, protocols and conventions. With this knowledge, any manager is better able to understand and manage the organization, for which he is responsible.
What is, perhaps, less acknowledged, is the universality of the model. Because, for practical purposes, we tend to focus on the application of the model in our day-to-day work environments, we overlook the fact that it applies to any group of people, which meets the qualifying organizational criteria. Here are some examples.
Your family is an organization. Its Aims are to maintain the safety and well-being of its members. The People involved are, usually, father, mother and the children, but can often include members of the extended family, like grandma. Its Technologies include all those activities concerned with the efficient running of the household, like cooking, cleaning, gardening and so on. A family, usually, observes a Structure, which acknowledges the father as the head of the household. However, he might be the boss at work but has to survive, simply, as a member of a matriarchal society, at home!
Another organization, familiar to most people, is the Salvation Army. Its Aims are based on spreading ‘The Word’; to convert people to Christianity. Its People are characterized by their strong faith and commitment to helping others. They employ a range of Technologies, which include providing food and shelter for the homeless, finding long lost relatives and meeting many other social needs. Let us, also, not forget their ability as public speakers and their prowess as musicians. Christmas would not be the same without the ‘Sally’ Army band playing Christmas Carols in the high street. Finally, we are all familiar with the military Structure that operates within the Salvation Army.
A training program, typically, exhibits all the signature components of an organization. Very early on in proceedings, the Senior Tutor will inform the delegates of the Aims of the program, probably even displaying them, visually. The ‘People’ component includes the Senior Tutor, the tutorial team members, delegates, guest speakers and anyone else contributing to the program. There is a range of Technologies employed on a training program – lecturing, individual and team tasks, tutorials, management practical exercises etc. There is also the use of ‘technical’ technologies such as a computer and large screen TV for Powerpoint presentations, overhead projectors and other equipment. The Structure is, normally, informal but it is obvious that tutors play a leading role, whilst delegates participate as general members of the organization. Structure can be more evident in team tasks, when leaders are appointed, or emerge, and team members assume, or are designated, specific roles, in the team.
However, we are more familiar with Industrial and Commercial enterprises and Government Departments as organizations. I remind you that the model not only applies to the more recognizable corporate entities but, equally, to their infrastructural sub-organizations – divisions, departments, sections etc. The same organizational rules apply, in whatever function and at whatever level you are managing.
In closing…..
May I wish all readers of my monthly ‘ramblings’,
A Very Happy Christmas and a Prosperous and Peaceful New Year
The ‘One Truth’ Organizational Model is the central DNA strand of the following Training Package: