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Atricle Dump - The Role of the Machine Metaphor in Mixed-initiative Organizational Leadership
You've decided to go into business for yourself. You've done your research into your industry, overhead, equipment, advertising, etc. You're all set to go, right? Wrong!If you have NOT had comprehensive research conducted on your business name, then you do not know if it's truly available.A common mistake many new business owners make is assuming that their business name is available simply because:the domain name was available the fictitious name was available the corporate name was available internet research showed the name was a
The Flawed “People Management” Mindset
In some instances, this metaphor is incorrectly applied to people management. In her advice column for the Twentysomethings in the July 17, 2005 issue of the Washington Post, Career Track section, Mary Ellen Slayter wrote about why young professionals resist the offer to move to management. “I am not good at managing people” is the reason provided by a 49-year old lady for resisting the offer. In defending the new Department of Homeland Security’s merit pay system, Clay Johnson III, the Deputy Dir
Managing a new and growing business requires a vision far beyond what the average manager can even begin to comprehend or understand. This vision may be the ingredient which separates a leader from a manager.As the business grows, the top manager or the founder/owners turn control freaks as they believe they need to nurture the business at each step of its infantile existence step lest it falls and fails. They turn perfectionists and involve in every aspect of business believing that they are the best and most capable to run the business. This effectively kills emergence of new leadership, throttling the busine
1. Improving product quality and worker morale.
2. Securing union support to gain flexible labor agreements.
3. Impressing on company executives to promote flexible and productive operations in North America.
4. Developing and executing a more coherent partnership strategy in Asia.
5. Addressing investor pressure to break up the merger.
The five challenges listed above clearly show that more people related problems (i.e., social issues) will need to be addressed than technology issues. The new chairman must embrace a mixed-initiative leadership style with a proportionate focus on both the technical and social aspects of the organization for the company to survive. This leadership style demands some proficiency in the science of complexity (i.e., the principles of managing the organization as a complex adaptive system) and the machine metaphor (i.e., the routine aspects of modern organizational life—job descriptions, corporate policies, strategic and operational plans, etc.)*. Organizational leaders cannot afford to place disproportionate focus on the machine metaphor in a complex organization.
The Machine Metaphor
The machine metaphor takes an objective view of an organization in which the interactions among the elements are predictable and controllable. Given that premise, organizational leaders take a mechanistic view of organizational management. The mechanistic view considers the organization as a combination of manageable components with organizational charts, job descriptions, policies, operational plans, people, etc. The machine metaphor is based on an organizational management belief that effective management can be realized by managing all organizational components.
The Flawed “People Management” Mindset
In some instances, this metaphor is incorrectly applied to people management. In her advice column for the Twentysomethings in the July 17, 2005 issue of the Washington Post, Career Track section, Mary Ellen Slayter wrote about why young professionals resist the offer to move to management. “I am not good at managing people” is the reason provided by a 49-year old lady for resisting the offer. In defending the new Department of Homeland Security’s merit pay system, Clay Johnson III, the Deputy Dir
Looking for some cool new ways to motivate your drive-thru staff? These ideas can be adopted for dine-in as well, but since the mystery shops for the annual g3/QSR Drive-Thru Time Study are fast approaching, it’s time to gear up to challenge the leaders—the bar is already set quite high. Though incentives are a great add-on system to improve your employee’s performance, ultimately the culture you create—one that demands excellence—truly raises the bar.Since incentives can never get the wrong employee to do the right thing, make sure “The STARS Work The Cars!” In other words, put your best people in these
1. Improving product quality and worker morale.
2. Securing union support to gain flexible labor agreements.
3. Impressing on company executives to promote flexible and productive operations in North America.
4. Developing and executing a more coherent partnership strategy in Asia.
5. Addressing investor pressure to break up the merger.
The five challenges listed above clearly show that more people related problems (i.e., social issues) will need to be addressed than technology issues. The new chairman must embrace a mixed-initiative leadership style with a proportionate focus on both the technical and social aspects of the organization for the company to survive. This leadership style demands some proficiency in the science of complexity (i.e., the principles of managing the organization as a complex adaptive system) and the machine metaphor (i.e., the routine aspects of modern organizational life—job descriptions, corporate policies, strategic and operational plans, etc.)*. Organizational leaders cannot afford to place disproportionate focus on the machine metaphor in a complex organization.
The Machine Metaphor
The machine metaphor takes an objective view of an organization in which the interactions among the elements are predictable and controllable. Given that premise, organizational leaders take a mechanistic view of organizational management. The mechanistic view considers the organization as a combination of manageable components with organizational charts, job descriptions, policies, operational plans, people, etc. The machine metaphor is based on an organizational management belief that effective management can be realized by managing all organizational components.
The Flawed “People Management” Mindset
In some instances, this metaphor is incorrectly applied to people management. In her advice column for the Twentysomethings in the July 17, 2005 issue of the Washington Post, Career Track section, Mary Ellen Slayter wrote about why young professionals resist the offer to move to management. “I am not good at managing people” is the reason provided by a 49-year old lady for resisting the offer. In defending the new Department of Homeland Security’s merit pay system, Clay Johnson III, the Deputy Dir
Once you have decided to make the use of business cards to not only identify your self to strangers, but also to advertise your business you must always have them with you so that you can distribute them to passers by wherever you are.Your contact details can be printed on the one side with your advertisements on the other side. The space is minimal but you will still be able to mention a few special offers and discounts that you are promoting at the moment.There is a lot to be said about having your cards professionally printed. The end product is a cut above the home printed ones. If you are on a bu
The Machine Metaphor
The machine metaphor takes an objective view of an organization in which the interactions among the elements are predictable and controllable. Given that premise, organizational leaders take a mechanistic view of organizational management. The mechanistic view considers the organization as a combination of manageable components with organizational charts, job descriptions, policies, operational plans, people, etc. The machine metaphor is based on an organizational management belief that effective management can be realized by managing all organizational components.
The Flawed “People Management” Mindset
In some instances, this metaphor is incorrectly applied to people management. In her advice column for the Twentysomethings in the July 17, 2005 issue of the Washington Post, Career Track section, Mary Ellen Slayter wrote about why young professionals resist the offer to move to management. “I am not good at managing people” is the reason provided by a 49-year old lady for resisting the offer. In defending the new Department of Homeland Security’s merit pay system, Clay Johnson III, the Deputy Dir
Ok, Here's the question. Is being self-employed all that it's cracked up to be? Ask anyone what they think about people who are self employed and I will guarantee you that the first response will be that they are all "rich". Yup, it's true, every self employed person is rich or suppose to be, baloney! Now, ask that same question of a dozen self-employed entrepreneurs and I bet you that you will hear twelve different responses.Before working for the "man", I was self-employed on the East Coast having owned 4 small businesses; not all at the same time, thank the Lord. Being self-employed has it's pros and con
The Machine Metaphor
The machine metaphor takes an objective view of an organization in which the interactions among the elements are predictable and controllable. Given that premise, organizational leaders take a mechanistic view of organizational management. The mechanistic view considers the organization as a combination of manageable components with organizational charts, job descriptions, policies, operational plans, people, etc. The machine metaphor is based on an organizational management belief that effective management can be realized by managing all organizational components.
The Flawed “People Management” Mindset
In some instances, this metaphor is incorrectly applied to people management. In her advice column for the Twentysomethings in the July 17, 2005 issue of the Washington Post, Career Track section, Mary Ellen Slayter wrote about why young professionals resist the offer to move to management. “I am not good at managing people” is the reason provided by a 49-year old lady for resisting the offer. In defending the new Department of Homeland Security’s merit pay system, Clay Johnson III, the Deputy Dir
It doesn’t matter if you are starting a multi-million dollar corporation or a roadside lemonade stand, everyone can benefit from having a formal business plan. In fact, it should be the very first step in establishing any new business. Here are three reasons why –1) A Business Plan Contains Feasibility Research. The process of creating your business plan allows you to better understand the feasibility of your business idea. Unfortunately, not all new ventures are going to be successful because of outside factors, such as location, market trends, etc. By identifying this early on, you can save yourself a l
The Flawed “People Management” Mindset
In some instances, this metaphor is incorrectly applied to people management. In her advice column for the Twentysomethings in the July 17, 2005 issue of the Washington Post, Career Track section, Mary Ellen Slayter wrote about why young professionals resist the offer to move to management. “I am not good at managing people” is the reason provided by a 49-year old lady for resisting the offer. In defending the new Department of Homeland Security’s merit pay system, Clay Johnson III, the Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget asserts “The Federal government as a rule is pretty bad about managing people” (Washington Post, National News, July 19, 2005).
This mindset of people management is entrenched in our social and organizational systems. It is very important for organizational leaders to know that machine control techniques apply to things, not people. Except for the military, we manage things. We lead people. The role of a manager is to provide a rich and rewarding environment to enable workers to do their work. A human being is an agent in an organizational context. This agent’s behavior is unpredictable. The agent must interact with other human agents, within a team, whose behavior is also unpredictable. The team must interact with other teams in a department. Next, we have inter-departmental interactions, which can lead to inter-divisional interactions, and so on. The result of the interactions is a complex organization, which must adapt to its environment to survive, because the organization is a living system. As articulated by Richard T. Pascale, Mark Millemann, and Linda Gioja in their book: Surfing the Edge of Chaos, (Random House, 2000), as a living system, the organization must abide by “the laws of nature and the new laws of business”.
Whether managing a corner store or a global conglomerate, the manager/leader must always remember that an organization is a socio-technical system and the machine metaphor should be applied only to the technical or machinistic elements. To ensure the survival of the corporation, the leaders need to identify and understand those elements of the organizations that exhibit unpredictable behaviors, and those elements whose behaviors are predictable. They need to master and apply the management science of complex adaptive systems to the former and machine metaphor to the latter. These two approaches constitute the essence of a mixed-initiative perspective.
*(Plsek, PEP&A, Inc; Lindberg, VHA, Inc; Zimmerman, York University; 1997—Some emerging principles for managing in complex adaptive systems).
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