Transcript How Managers Think How Leaders Might Think

Need a Good GoalPost Picture
Here!
Understanding
Organizations
Dr. Bob Barcelona
HEHD 803
October 25, 2011
Some things I Learned From You….
• Collin’s Athletic Director and Sandee’s ZestQuest programming
model both suffered from the curse of cluelessness
• Aimee wants all of the organizations in the NHBRCPYV to
understand one another and just get along (oh yeah – and
read B&D so they can get on board with reframing…)
• Ashley likes the “PRIDE” motto – personal responsibility in
delivering excellence – sounds like a good values statement to
me…
• Sheronda’s principal needs to read K&P – could be a good
Christmas present!
Why Organize?
Lets Talk Systems
• Organizations operate in a
continuous exchange
with their environment
• Environment and
organization are in a state
of interaction and
mutual dependence
• All of this contributes to
organizational complexity
• Degree of “openness”
varies by organization
Macrosystem
(Public Policies)
Exosystem
(Staffing, Leadership)
Mesosystem
(Programs, Schools,
Neighborhoods)
Microsystem
(Family)
Individual
(Youth)
Morgan (2003).
Open Systems Concepts
• Organizations seek homeostasis
• Organizations have entropic tendencies
• Closed systems atrophy, lose complexity, lose
uniqueness – eventually they die
• So – organizations are inherently paradoxical
• Open systems recognize equifinality
• Organizational structure, function, behavior, and other
aspects are closely interrelated (web of
interrelationships)
– Complex organizations (greater differentiation and
specialization) depend on more complex systems of
integration to maintain the whole system
Morgan (2003).
Morgan (2003)
Environmental
Suprasystem
Inputs which
energize the
organization
Human, financial,
informational, and
material resources
Strategic
Subsystem
Technological
Subsystem
Managerial
Subsystem
Human-Cultural
Subsystem
Structural
Subsystem
Organizational
Outputs
Production of goods &
services at a level of
efficiency and effectiveness
that will influence future
resource availability and
systems operation
Uncertainty!
• Not sure what the problem is
• Not sure what is really
happening
• Not sure what we want
• Don’t have needed resources
• Not sure who is supposed to
do what
• Not sure how to determine
success
Bolman & Deal (2008)
Given this view of the organization and its
environment…
And given the fact that this all of this makes
organizations complex, surprising, deceptive and
ambiguous (B&D, 2008)…
What qualities or skills are required of
management (or better yet, LEADERSHIP) to
effectively navigate this kind of an environment?
How Managers Think
How Leaders Might Think
Managers need to understand the whole picture in four key ways:
Bolman
& Deal
(2008).
Bolman
& Deal
(2008)
How Managers Think
How Leaders Might Think
Limited view of the organization
Thinking holistically
Managers need to understand the whole picture in four key ways:
Bolman
& Deal
(2008).
Bolman
& Deal
(2008)
How Managers Think
How Leaders Might Think
Limited view of the organization
Thinking holistically
Facts, logic, structure
Embrace an array of options
Managers need to understand the whole picture in four key ways:
Bolman
& Deal
(2008).
Bolman
& Deal
(2008)
How Managers Think
How Leaders Might Think
Limited view of the organization
Thinking holistically
Facts, logic, structure
Embrace an array of options
Certainty, rationality, control
Think creatively; accept ambiguity;
take risks
Managers need to understand the whole picture in four key ways:
Bolman
& Deal
(2008).
Bolman
& Deal
(2008)
How Managers Think
How Leaders Might Think
Limited view of the organization
Thinking holistically
Facts, logic, structure
Embrace an array of options
Certainty, rationality, control
Think creatively; accept ambiguity;
take risks
Focus on the “one best way”
Commit to principle, be flexible in
understanding and responding to
events
Managers need to understand the whole picture in four key ways:
Bolman
& Deal
(2008).
Bolman
& Deal
(2008)
How Managers Think
How Leaders Might Think
Limited view of the organization
Thinking holistically
Facts, logic, structure
Embrace an array of options
Certainty, rationality, control
Think creatively; accept ambiguity;
take risks
Focus on the “one best way”
Commit to principle, be flexible in
understanding and responding to
events
Managers need to understand the whole picture in four key ways:
-By the organization’s STRUCTURE
-By the organization’s HUMAN RESOURCES
-By the organization’s POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
-By the organization’s CULTURE
Bolman
& Deal
(2008).
Bolman
& Deal
(2008)
What About Ethics?
• Identifying right actions;
distinguishing right from
wrong
• Ethical dimensions = when
situations and actions have
significant impact on wellbeing of others!
• Focused on how things
should be – not as they are
What About Ethics?
• Reference points – moral absolutes and social or
community standards
• Standards of care; commitment to serve the greater
good – hallmark of professionalism!
• Judgments should be based on the moral traditions
of the NFP sphere (caritas)