The Watershed: Logical Opportunism
Establishing the is a watershed in the .
Once the Mode has become embedded in the culture, the drive can be accelerated much more safely. Opportunism suddenly loses its tendency to be mindless, because it can be geared to generating desired outcomes. So any organization is now solid, self-confident and potentially highly effective. The pressure for organizational achievement can at last be positively addressed by everyone.
● Staff realize that values really do mean something if crises are used as an opportunity to advance them. (Previously, crises were an excuse for ditching values.)
● People are still driven to act—but as much internally as by their boss.
● Political realities must still be heeded, but they can be dealt with in a less fearful and more cooperative way.
● There is a modus vivendi between tribal factions and a degree of alignment between their values and organizational objectives.
remains and, if not wholly transformed, its degeneration is definitely inhibited by the widespread recognition of the importance of shared values and organizational objectives. This becomes for further cultural development.
The New Foundation
The includes continuing appropriate use of , and lets capable people achieve for themselves while they are achieving for the organization.
Earlier Stages Inhibited People
■ The inhibited people because decisions were so inconsistent, the work environment so incoherent, and the boss or higher authorities so dominating and interfering.
■ Adding gave autonomy but still left people feeling constrained because of the emphasis on role boundaries and procedural control.
■ The also inhibited people because of the need for each to be loyal to their department &/or tribe.
■ The ameliorates all these difficulties and enables values in each of the earlier stages to be used more sensibly in the service of the organization as a whole.
The Meaning of Rationalism
«Rationalist» (in THEE) does not have quite the same meaning as «rational».
is used to refer to inquiry: i.e. being logical, reasonable or analytical.
here refers to a way of deciding i.e. based on selecting purposes (values or objectives) that are viewed as human reasons for acting. These reasons of yours may be viewed as more or less rational or reasonable by others.
Culture in Start-Ups
An entrepreneurial start-up firm commonly commences in a . Without that, nobody would know what they were joining or what they should be doing. The small group then operates highly opportunistically in the light of the agreed values and goals.
As the start-up grows in size, it commonly degenerates into early because of a lack of attention to needed accountability and formal structures.
The Organization is Now a Quasi-Community
Any organization permeated by a sees itself more and more as a community. Not a natural community to be sure, but still a community of sorts. Like a community, the organization is people-centred, has distinct values, depends on voluntary participation, promotes cooperation, and thrives on discussions, consultations, mutual support and fairness.
Such communal qualities might be found in earlier stages, but they were not intrinsic: e.g. before this point essential multi-functional or cross-departmental working is usually minimal, grudging and difficult. Now it is natural, expected and desired.
Getting Control of Control
In a , control has not gone away. It is just that control, even accountability-based control, does not feel such a burden or problem any more. We all find it perfectly natural and acceptable to let our values control our activities. So control gets internalised to the degree that a value is genuinely held.
We can say that: the organization has now achieved mature self-control, and so have the members. Staff at all levels act decisively, doing what is expected and more, while manifesting responsibility, adaptation to others, loyalty, involvement, cooperation, and self-discipline. But is this enough? or too much?
Achievement is now evident, but personal and organizational effectiveness is still limited. Not only that, degeneration may occur.
While Cycle-1 was about getting control over activities: the challenge of Cycle-2 is to increase effectiveness.
- So before moving to , be sure you understand the limitations and potentials of a .
Originally posted: 17-Jun-2011