informal coalitions

Enabling people to excel - remembering Sid's Heroes

In the mid-1990s, the BBC broadcast a series of six half-hour programmes entitled Sid’s Heroes.  This featured workers from a range of organizations (the “heroes”) who had been challenged to improve the effectiveness of a central aspect of their work, using techniques introduced in two-day workshops by management consultant Sid Joynson.  Sid suggested that a 30% increase in productivity was readily achievable in the chosen processes. And, based on the evidence of the shows, his confidence was well-founded. 

Sadly, on a couple of occasions, crass comments by managers in response to the workers’ findings undermined the work that had been done.  But Sid’s insistence that “the experts” in relation to the work processes were in the room with him, not in the management offices, was well demonstrated.  I recall trying to buy a copy of the series from the BBC – on VHS(!) – but it was never made available for purchase.

Managing to lead

I've just bought a copy of Henry Mintzberg's latest book, Managing. 

In the intro, he argues the case for management to be reinstated as an equal partner with what he sees as the over-hyped notion of leadership in organizations. Amen to that. 

This is a refreshing change from those who, like Warren Bennis, see leading and managing as separate and distinct roles - with the former seemingly inhabiting a somewhat higher and more praiseworthy plane than the latter:

"I tend to think of the differences between leaders and managers as the differences between those who master the context and those who surrender to it."

Book review: Identity - Sociological perspectives

I’ve just finished reading a really engaging book on identity by Sociology lecturer, Steph Lawler. In it, she challenges the widely held view that a person’s ‘true identity’ is ‘inside’ them and fundamentally separated from the social world. Instead, she advances a radically social perspective of identity, arguing that it is produced and negotiated between people in relationship.

In an accessible style, Lawler maintains that identities are

"… forged, not within the individual, but in networks of relations with others, some of whom we shall encounter and some of whom we shall not. In this, we are both made and unmade by each other."

This means that identity is not a ‘given’, but something produced through the narratives people use to explain and understand their lives. Her focus on narrative challenges the notion of the atomized individual and replaces it with a concept of a person enmeshed in – and produced within – webs of social relations.

Lawler’s perspective on the nature and dynamics of identity meshes with that which is embodied in the informal coalitions view of organizational dynamics and other ‘relational’ perspectives.  As such, although its focus is on broad social and political issues, it necessarily places a number of question marks against important elements of mainstream thinking on the leadership, performance and development of organizations.

Is Kotter on song with his latest offering on organizational change: A Sense of Urgency?

John Kotter has just released what you might say is the first 'single' from his highly successful eight-track 'album', Leading Change and its 'unplugged' version, The Heart of Change.

In a previous post, I have challenged what I see as the mismatch between the complex social realities of everyday organizational life and the theme that runs through these two 'concept' albums. That is, Kotter's claim that successful organizational change can be brought about in a neatly-packaged, one-step-at-a-time, predictable way.

So how does this extended rendition of Track 1 from the album, A Sense of Urgency, stack up?

Stacey on Strategic Management and Organizational Dynamics

I have been a fan of Ralph Stacey’s work since I first purchased one of his early books (Dynamic Strategic Management for the 1990s) almost 20 years ago. In particular, I have been attracted by his willingness – eagerness even – to challenge conventional thinking and practice in relation to the leadership and dynamics of organizations. The latest edition of his textbook on the subject, Strategic Management and Organisational Dynamics, continues this tradition.