Installing Structuralist Values

Touchstone: Work to be Done

In pragmatic cultures, necessary work does not get done efficiently or (often) at all. As a response to this degeneration, structuralist values are best introduced around the core notion of the «work to be done».

Clarifying the kind and level of work expected in any role is easier said than done, and gaining support on the need for clear structures is socially problematic.

Q: Is this Stage about redesigning the organization's structure?

A: Not necessarily. Re-structuring is not equivalent to embedding structuralist values. Restructuring is often performed pragmatically (i.e. as a task) or as part of a dissatisfaction with performance. Nevertheless, structuralist values often do point to the need for significant organizational re-design.

Enduring improvement in both structures-plus-procedures and the management culture requires a determined effort. It must be led by the chief executive and supported by the personnel/training department. Dedicated OD staff &/or specialist external consultants are often required.

The Process is Challenging

The limit to fully cooperative participation may be quickly reached because the process calls into question:

● existing posts
● job titles
● personal capabilities
● personal suitability
● managerial salaries
● procedures
● meetings
● the rationale for whole departments or business units.

As a result, re-structuring must be driven from the top, especially when major changes are evidently necessary. Hard choices must not be avoided.

Note: If hard choices are persistently fudged, structural arrangements become monolithic obstacles whose improvement evokes fear rather than relief.

Difficulties during this stage include:

● managing the high level of anxiety
● keeping the hierarchy to the minimum number of levels
● appreciating what the «work to be done» entails in practice
● appreciating what level of responsibility is carried in any post
● integrating the contributions of professionals
● resisting temptations of self-defeating pragmatic solutions
● handling marginally sub-standard performers

Over time, the work to be done changes, social values alter, and people develop or leave. So structures and procedures need to be opportunistically and regularly reviewed. An annual review, much as for plans and budgets, makes sense.

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Nothing endures forever and the dramatic gains when proper structures and new values are first installed eventually fall off.

• Read about this degeneration—which is the prelude to (and justification for)
• Moving to the Dialectic Mode and Stage-3.

Originally posted: 17-Jun-2011