Devolved "Network" Organisations

Devolved Networks in Action

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Alex Osterwalder & Business Models

Long Tail Business Models

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1. Strategic Constituencies

?

2. Systems approaches

Among system thinking are these ideas;

1. Rythm of change (Mintzberg and Huy 2003)
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2003/summer/13/

From the extract:
"Although a lot of attention is focused on the type of change that is imposed dramatically from the top, Huy and Mintzberg believe that this view should be tempered by the realization that effective organizational change often emerges inadvertently (organic change) or develops in a more orderly fashion (systematic change). Because dramatic change alone can be just drama, systematic change by itself can be deadening, and organic change without the other two can be chaotic, the authors argue that they must be combined or, more often, sequenced and paced over time, creating a rhythm of change. When functioning in a kind of dynamic symbiosis, dramatic change can instead provide impetus, systematic change can instill order, and organic change can generate enthusiasm.

"The authors illustrate their framework with older and newer examples, saying that this highlights another crucial point: The problem with change is the present. Today's obsession with change tends to blind managers to the fact that the basic processes of change and continuity do not change."

2. Businesses as chains, hubs and webs.

Ivy Business Journal September/October 2000
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK: REVIEWING THE ORGANIZATIONby H Mintzberg and L Van Der Heyden
The organization chart can no longer help us understand what an organization does. What's needed in these dynamic times is a much richer diagram that gives us a more revealing picture of a more dynamic organization. That organization can be a hub, a web or a chain. It is critical that we understand each of these forms and how they work in a particular organization. Then, and only then, will we be able to understand how an organization really works.
http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/article.asp?intArticle_ID=254

3. Goal Attainment

?

4. The political nature of organisations

March and Simon's cognitive limts to rationality
Pfeffer's organisations as political arenas

5. Contingeny Theorists

Herbert Simon and the principles backlash
Kat and Kahn's environemental perspective
Woodward, Perrow and Thompson's view on technology as a key component of organisational structure, analysis and design
And - The Aston Group's view on how size affects and organisation.

6. Management as a human relations paradigm

Elton Mayo and the Hawthorn experiements
Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y
Warren Bennis and the Death of Bureaucracy

7. Scientific management

Max Weber and bureacracy
Frederick Taylor and scientific management
Henri Fayol and his 14 organising principles
Ralph Davis and rational planning

Source: Robbins and Barnwell, Organisation Theory in Suatralia (2nd edition)

(and aren't they still influential with the influence of TQM, BPR and other modern acronyms.)

8. Mintzberg's structures in 5 (plus2)

According to Henry Mintberg there are 7 basic organisational structures and all organsiations are configured from the same basic parts. This is an extension of the ideas in his book Structures in Five (1983).

Mintberg and Quinn (2006) categorised organisations according to 6 attributes:

1. Direct Supervision
2. Standardisation of Work
3. Standardisation of Skill
4. Standardisation of Output
5. Mutual Adjustment
6. Standardisation of Norms

Additionally they have 5 components they are built from;

1. Strategic apex - people that control the organisation and are accountable for its performance
2. Operating core - those who deliver the basic mission or task of the organisation
3. Middle line - managers and supervisors in direct line authority from the strategic apex to the Operating Core
4. Technostructure - staff analysts that assist co-ordination through standardising processes etc.
5. Support Staff - activities supporting the main work of the organisation
6. The Ideology - the culture that distinguishes it from other organisations

These attributes & components determine which structure an organisation is (or is most suited to). The models they offer are;

1. The Entreprenuerial organisation
2. The Machine Structure organisation
3. The Professional organisation
4. The Diversified organisation
5. The Innovative organisation
6. The Missionary organisation
7. The Political organisation

There is a lot to this concept and I need to come back to it.

9: Organisational lifecycles

Just like products, organsiations have lifecycles. At different stages of the lifecycle organsiations will face different challenges. For example the challenges a brand new organisation faces are different from those of a large corporattion. One is facing the challenge of growing awareness of its existance and finding good staff. The other is wrestling with issues of internal complexity, communication, control and flexibility.

Eventually, an organisation will decline and die unless it is re-invigorated.

Greiner (1972) came up with a model which highlights the different challenges an organsiation faces at different times in it's lifecycle. The Griener model is presented here:

Apparently these crisis events are common to most organsiations as they pass from one phase of growth to the next. If you know about these challenges awareness of having just passed through a certain phase of growth will be a trigger to focus on the next growth challenge. That way you are focusing your attention on the right issues to overcome the natural barriers and can reduce the risk of being blindsided.

ref: http://epress.anu.edu.au/info_systems/mobile_devices/ch11s04.html

10 Cameron and Quinn; Competing Values Framework

By assessing organisations on a two imensional matrix Cameron and Quinn (1998) proposed organisational culture can be effectively assessed for the purpose of assessing it's suitability to its environment and the transformation it need to go through to be properly aligned.

The axes of the matrix are the internal versus external focus and the degree of control or flexibility an organisation allowed it's members. Essentialy these are the competing values. By understanding the organisation's values and culture and the vlaues of it's employess you can also identify misalignment that causes inneficiency and poor execution of strategy.

Cameron Kim S and Quinn Robert E, "Diagnosing and changing organisational culture; based on the Competing Values Framework" Addison Welsey Publishing Company Inc, 1998.