informal coalitions

The informal organization and management control

In a recent post, I referred to an eye-catching report by Katzenbach Partners on the informal organization.  Although the report helpfully and creatively highlights the pervasiveness and power of the informal organization, I believe that many of the stories and commentaries continue to reflect conventional assumptions about how organizations work and outcomes are achieved. 

This follow-on post looks at the ability - or otherwise - of managers to choose whether the formal processes of the organization or its informal arrangements and practices should take precedence in particular circumstances.

Taking the informal organization seriously - superficial gloss or fundamental challenge?

A few weeks ago, I came across some work by US-based Katzenbach Partners on the working and value of the “informal organization”.

Founder and senior partner of the firm, Jon Katzenbach, is well known for his authorship of several popular books on teams, leadership and change in organizations (such as The Wisdom of Teams, Teams at the Top and Real Change Leaders).  To date, though, I have always seen these as being rooted in mainstream assumptions about how organizations work and how success is achieved. The company's enthusiastic endorsement of the power of the informal organization was therefore particularly welcome. It appeared to offer further evidence that the sands are beginning to shift away from an almost messianic belief in the power and efficacy of rational management principles and practices.

The important question is, though, whether this really does signal a fundamental shift in thinking about the dynamics of organizations and leadership practice, or is simply a superficial ‘gloss’ applied to conventional management thinking.