... © iStockphoto/dt03mbb Is your organization's performance as good as it could be? What could be changed to improve things and why would this help? Does the key lie in the work itself? Or with the people doing it? Should you reorganize the corporate structure? Or try to change the prevailing culture? And why does one organization seem to thrive on a certain corporate structure or type of work, while another struggles to make a profit? The answer lies in understanding the key causes or drivers of performance and the relationship between them. The Congruence Model, first developed by David A Nadler and M L Tushman in the early 1980s, provides a way of doing just this. It's a powerful tool for finding out what's going wrong with a team or organization, and for thinking about how you can fix it. Understanding the Tool The Congruence Model is based on the principle that an organization's performance is derived from four elements: tasks, people, structure, and culture. The higher the congruence, or compatibility, amongst these elements, the greater the performance. For example, if you have brilliant people working for you, but your organization's culture is not a good fit for the way they work, their brilliance will not shine through. Likewise, you can have the latest technology and superbly streamlined processes to support decision making, but if the organizational culture is highly bureaucratic, decisions will undoubtedly still get caught in the quagmire. To avoid...
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...customers; and to engage and take action with individuals, businesses, organisations and industry associations. This guide demonstrates how teamwork can be an important tool in achieving Constructing Excellence objectives. Drawing from the management literature on teamwork, together with original research, the guide examines various aspects of setting up and managing teams, with practical examples from the construction industry and a useful team self-assessment tool. Effective Teamwork was prepared for Constructing Excellence by Eclipse Research Consultants. For details of how to contact the authors see the inside back cover of this guide. Illustrations were by Gerry Armstrong (gerry.armstrong@virgin.net). For more information about Constructing Excellence, please see: www.constructingexcellence.org.uk Or call our helpdesk on 0845 605 5556. 2 Effective Teamwork Contents Introduction 4 What is teamwork? 5 Selecting team members 6 Leadership 7 Team meetings 8 Chairing team meetings 9 The effective teamwork matrix 10 Team identity 12 Shared vision 13 Communication 14 Collaboration and participation 15 Issue negotiation and resolution 16 Reflection and self-assessment 17 Further reading 18...
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...customers; and to engage and take action with individuals, businesses, organisations and industry associations. This guide demonstrates how teamwork can be an important tool in achieving Constructing Excellence objectives. Drawing from the management literature on teamwork, together with original research, the guide examines various aspects of setting up and managing teams, with practical examples from the construction industry and a useful team self-assessment tool. Effective Teamwork was prepared for Constructing Excellence by Eclipse Research Consultants. For details of how to contact the authors see the inside back cover of this guide. Illustrations were by Gerry Armstrong (gerry.armstrong@virgin.net). For more information about Constructing Excellence, please see: www.constructingexcellence.org.uk Or call our helpdesk on 0845 605 5556. 2 Effective Teamwork Contents Introduction 4 What is teamwork? 5 Selecting team members 6 Leadership 7 Team meetings 8 Chairing team meetings 9 The effective teamwork matrix 10 Team identity 12 Shared vision 13 Communication 14 Collaboration and participation 15 Issue negotiation and resolution 16 Reflection and self-assessment 17 Further reading 18...
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...Gene One to develop from a $2 million dollar company to the current $400 million dollar company of today. Gene One is coming up on an opportunity for their organization with the transition to an initial public offering (IPO). A milestone for any company is the issuance of publicly traded stock. While the motivations for an initial public offering are clear-cut, the means for doing so is complex. The opportunity they have is to develop an effectively performing culture all working towards the same goal. The company is in a transition phase. I believe that Gene One needs transformational leadership to realize the vision of taking the company into the public sector. Transformational leadership requires charisma, motivation, selflessness, and intellectual stimulation. Research on charismatic and transformational leadership indicates that a clear and compelling vision is useful to guide change in an organization (Yukl, 2006). The key issue in this scenario is their organizational culture. The company consists of individuals who each have a passion in relation to working in the biotech industry. The Board of Directors for Gene One is accustomed to operating on a private level....
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...change and development through the establishment of a learning organization (Senge 1999). His book, The Fifth Discipline, outlines the five elements of learning that within an organization are all connected. It is a notably different approach to other change management theories as it focuses on the longer-term issues of sustaining and renewing organizational change Cameron and Green 2012. 1. Personal Mastery – Senge (2006 describes Personal Mastery as the undertaking by all within an organization to use all available resources to seek more of what truly matters to them. This requires an organisation to make it safe for people to create visions, where inquiry and commitment to the truth are the norm, and where challenging the status quo is expected Senge 2006. By continually growing an employee’s capacity to create their own future through Personal Mastery, an organisation’s learning will continue Flood 1998. 2. Mental Models – Our mental models are our internally held views on how the world operates based on key assumptions about the outcome Senge 1992. In seeking to establish a new organizational structure, if an organisation’s or individual’s mental model is at odds with what the new insights need to be, the new structure will often fail Senge 1992. The discipline of mental models encourages individuals to recognize the mental models they support and test their assumptions against the actual situation in order to learn new skills Flood 1998. 3. Shared Vision – Senge...
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...(Cooksey, 2003, p. 204). Learning to adapt to, and benefit from, changes and unpredictability in the environment is essential to an organisation’s success. However with this environment as the context for organisational learning, difficulties with traditional linear organisational learning becomes clear (Cooksey, 2003, p. 205). Systems thinking provides a way to understand the internal and external relationships within the organisation and the way that these can influence the organisation. In addition to building a more complete understanding of how organisation’s function, systems thinking brings together the elements that an organisation requires in order for it to be a learning organisation. These include personal mastery, team learning, building shared vision, effective leadership and learning processes and practices. In order to make sense of the complex tasks and problems that occur within organisational environments, we break them down into smaller tasks and problems which, although it makes them more manageable, leaves us with a disjointed view and we lose sight and our connection with the ‘whole’ (Senge, 2006, p. 3). Cooksey (2003, p. 206) notes that in the short term this search for simple, generalised solutions to problems within the business environment may provide favourable results, in the longer term it will often fail. The reason it fails is that the solution often does not take into account the sensitivities and complexities which influence the business as a whole...
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...Building Synergies Charles Woodall August 9, 2010 Across the United States, state legislatures are responding to rising expectations in the workplace and the demands of a global economy by setting higher standards for schools. To enforce these standards, legislatures are creating high-stakes assessment systems that hold schools accountable for student achievement. In response to this initiative the president of the United States, Barack Obama, has created an initiative called “Race to the top”. This program was developed to give school districts financial incentives to improve failing schools and motivate educators about attaining these expectations. In addition, this “race to the top” initiative will increase the emphasis of accountability on teachers and school leaders. More than ever, in today’s climate of heightened expectations, principals are in the hot seat. They are being scrutinized on their ability to improve teaching and learning. They need to be educational visionaries, instructional and curriculum leaders, assessment experts, disciplinarians, community builders, public relations experts, budget analysts, facility managers, special programs administrators, and expert overseers of legal, contractual, and policy mandates and initiatives. They are expected to broker the often-conflicting interests of parents, teachers, students, district office...
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...Conversation & Tacit Knowledge Communities of Practice Teams Is Your Team Really a Team? The Five Levels of Teamwork How Do You Build Team Performance? What Kind of Team Player Are You? The Four Stages of Team Development Turning People On To Teamwork Rethinking Teams Some Questions for Team Reflection Will that be Leadership or Management? Leadership & Learning Blogs-Websites Leadership & Management Books Videos: Leadership & Learning Social Media and Networking Books Social Media and Networking Blogs About the Author 1 2 3 11 15 17 17 19 22 24 27 28 30 34 35 41 42 44 45 47 48 Introduction The rapidity of change, stemming from technology, an ageing workforce and globalization, is growing, exerting pressure on organizations to adapt. Traditional workplace practices are being questioned by Generations X and Y. Issues such as employee engagement, leadership and management practices, virtual teams, distributed work and alliances with stakeholders are being viewed through a new lens. As an aid to help you in your work and learning journey, this resource guide contains a diverse selection of information sources on leadership, management, personal mastery, team learning and more. I’ve read most of the books that are mentioned and am familiar with the websiteblogs. The guide begins with a series of short articles I’ve written over the past few years. These are intended to assist you reflect on your personal learning and development, in addition to enhancing your understanding of important...
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...way organizations attain this level of excellence is by empowering their employees to be able to figure things out on their own and even make mistakes in the learning process. Becoming a learning organization and embracing the Five Disciplines methodology helps organizations create their “guiding ideas” as to how the company and employees can demonstrate their commitment to their clients, to each other and to their shareholders, always striving to be better. Many times corporation must change from their current state to where firm leaders see the firm in the future, from a culture, client loyalty, employee engagement and productivity perspective. When navigating change in the organization focusing on each employee’s personal vision and tying that vision to a combined purpose will provide firm leaders and employees with a ‘True North’, a guiding light that helps each employee as they make decisions as day to day pressures ensue. Firms must assess the skills and capabilities of each employee within the firm and determine whether its infrastructure is appropriately designed to encourage innovation and empowerment among the workforce. Simply investing money in the systems will not ensure a firm can meet its goals. The people in the firm drive the success of the organization long-term. People + process + purpose equates to break through performance. The benefit of engaging the workforce with more profundity ensures loyalty drives productivity and reduces liability. Theory of...
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...According to Megginson et al (2003) human resource development is the study and practice of increasing the learning capacity of individuals, groups and organizations through the development and application of learning interventions for the purpose of optimizing human and organizational growth effectiveness. Employee resourcing is concerned with the range of methods and approaches used by employers in resourcing their organizations in such a way as to enable them to meet their key goals. It therefore involves staffing that is recruitment, selection, retension and dismissal, performance that is appraisal and management of performance administration that is policy development, procedural development, documentation and change management. Effective individual learning as critical if employees are to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to support the organization’s business objectives and delivery targets through employee resourcing. Human resource development contributes significantly in retaining and motivation employees such that they meet organizational goals. According to Armstrong (2002) recruitment flexibility can provide a significant competitive advantage for organizations. Recruiting flexible employee prepared for the future change and able to contribute rather than conform. Rather than aiming for rigid skills and ability profile, and gullible personalities, recruit people who are versatile and adoptable. This reflect a long term strategy, geared towards realizing talent...
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...actions because I know and understand who I am better on an ongoing basis, live life more consciously and deliberately, and continuing to attain personal satisfaction and fulfillment. So I am very capable in document use, numeracy, writing, oral communication, working with others, oral communication, continual learning and working with others, and thinking skills. I believe that my weaknesses are a snowball effect that I have experienced over the last several years. I have allowed myself to begin to feel not good about what I am doing and not wanting to continue. I did not want to keep improving myself and did not want to continue to become the best that I can be. I believe that I have continued on the journey of my personal development. It will allow to me to become more aware that there is so much more knowledge and information to discover and uncovered than I...
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...PROJECT- TEAM DEVELOPMENT A Team is a group of people who work together and are collectively responsible and accountable for a defined task/s. Teams normally have members with complementary skills which, when appropriately harnessed, allow each team member to maximise their strengths and minimise their weaknesses, thus generating synergy through a co ordinate effort. As the new team member and leader at the jewellers firm my first task would be discovering the already established team roles an dynamics and determining where I can fit into it all as well as what and whose roles may need to be altered. For teams to work well together they need to have; high levels of trust between members, they need to work together to achieve greater results than any individual, have string shared leadership within the group, demonstrate support for other team members and individuals within the organisation, and regularly monitor, evaluate and review performance as an aid to improvement. These skills will need to be introduced to the team at an early stage so team dynamics can be established. It is clear that the senior management has noticed the team struggling with their day to day tasks and communication is strained. In order for the team to move forward and progress team development will need to occur. In this stage the team will go through 4 development stages; Forming- Teams are undeveloped and need to create an identity. Storming- As members come to know each other they question and...
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...Change and Culture Case Study II Phyllis Parker University of Phoenix Change and Culture Case Study II The new merger between Park Care Hospital and Central Hospital now known as Park Central Hospital has provided quality care for the community since its beginning six months ago. However, since there has been a significant reduction in the workforce a new design for patient care delivery is needed. A redesign of the universal worker may be an option for Park Central. Other options need to be examined in hopes that a new delivery system of health care can be provided for the growing community. Quality care and team-work will be the cornerstone of Park Central. The universal worker is a person who is cross trained in many job departments and can provide coverage to another area in the hospital to alleviate staffing shortages. Universal workers in an assisted care facility are certified nursing assistants who provide personal care and services, and also facilitate other needs of the client (Jenkins, 2008, p. 4). Beginning The Process of Job Redesign As the nation’s largest group of health professionals, nurse’s roles are constantly evolving. They play an important role in the delivery of quality and cost effective health care. Since we have nursing shortages, traditional systems of health care delivery cannot be sustained. Reports have highlighted the underutilization of health care professionals (Fyke,2001;Mazankowski,2001; Gieni; ACHHR,2002). As a result of focusing...
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...1. How effective was Ko in defining and framing a vision for Motorola Penang? In what ways were her efforts similar to and different from the example of Charles Schwab citied earlier? * How did Ko resolve the dilemma of where visions come from? Where did she find her vision? S. K. Ko struggled with the most effective way of making her vision a reality. She engaged many of her top team in discussions about the challenges of the future of the facility. She had many specific and concrete ideas but didn’t want to seem to be imposing them on the group. She wanted to get most involvement possible to ensure all relevant information was considered that would be tasked with making the vision a reality. Ko’s philosophy reflects a positive, familial, celebrate every accomplishment kind of work environment. Ko treated her people with respect. No yelling, no shouting, no finger pointing. Always gave visible rewards for achievers. She shared every success story. She preached the importance of the knowledge, and advances in technology. Charles Schawb anticipated a need in the middle class. His vision led him the unique path. It took his organization to places other organizations could not go. When market conditions change, he adjusts its business model and tactics. His original vision was to build a company driven by the best interests of its clients and their long term financial security. He took the rains and made his vision a reality. * We cited doorman and jigsaw...
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...for its members (Garcarz, Chambers & Ellis 2003, pg.1). It develops, adapts and transforms itself in response to the needs and aspirations of people (Garcarz, Chambers & Ellis 2003, pg.3). And finally a learning organisation, allows people at all levels, individually and collectively, to continually increase their capacity to produce results they really care about (Garcarz, Chambers & Ellis 2003, pg.3). 5 People Behaviours: BP is a learning organisation, because they know that using knowledge better than their competitors is what can and will allow them to continue to lead the global market. The five disciplines that Peter Senge identified in innovative learning organisations are system thinking, personal mastery, mental models, a shared vision and team learning. Each discipline...
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