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KEYZINE: An e-zine for LEADERS:
ABOUT THE PEOPLE PART OF BUSINESS
Volume 39, June 2004
Publisher: © Key Associates, 2004
ISSN # 1545-8873
http://www.mkkey.com
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This Issue: On "Bureaucracy"
Contents:
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WHAT'S HOT IN LEADERSHIP
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STREAMLINING. ( See earlier e-zine issue on
Lean Does Not Have to Be Mean , Volume 19,
October 2002.)
INVITING CRITIQUE OF ORGANIZATIONAL
POLICIES AND PRACTICES.
CLEANING HOUSE ON ADMINISTRIVIA.
DEVELOPING STRUCTURES THAT ARE FLUID
AND RESPONSIVE TO CHANGE.
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MAINTAINING YOURSELF AS A LEADER
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You probably feel constant pressure to organize.
Drawing the organizational chart and moving the
boxes around are often the first tasks of a new
leader. Be warned that this is the least effective
mode of change.
Bureaucracy is an attempt to put order into
chaos, but the order gets stuck in its own
self-importance. To mend its ineffectiveness,
leaders mistakenly add more steps and complexity.
Consider instead: clarifying the aim, the mission,
the end result, the principles, and allowing your
systems to self-organize. Group around a task
and disband when done.
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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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I am appalled at the size of our Policies and
Procedures manual. No one could read all of
this, much less understand it. Then we have
to police it. What to do?
One leader I know (and he's reading this with you)
publicly burned the monster, with a ceremony,
to symbolize the purge of bureaucracy. Then
he began anew, articulating a handful of principles
by which organizational members could guide their
behavior. He did this with them, not to them.
There is only one rule in Nordstrom's handbook,
reflecting three generations of trusting employees
to make good decisions. Quote:
Rule #1: Use your good judgment in all situations.
There will be no additional rules.
Please feel free to ask your department manager,
store manager, or division general manager any
questions at any time.
NORDSTROM
If I abandon rules, don't I lose control?
First of all, most rules are built for the exception.
There is an implicit message that without the rules,
most people would lie, cheat, and steal. In the words
of W. Edwards Deming, most policies are constructed
for the "special cause." What this does is insult the
larger mass of people who would willingly comply
with the spirit of the rule, if they understand its
purpose.
There is another peril. When you treat adults like
children, guess what...they ACT like children.
Incidentally, you never had control in the first place.
Organizations and people (what's the difference?)
run themselves, and at best, you can only hope to
influence them in a positive direction.
If not an org chart, then what?
Complex, adaptive systems cannot be described
in such a static fashion. Still there is no harm in
everyone knowing what their job is and how it
contributes to the whole. Some people have
flipped their org charts upside down to put the
customer on top, as the boss.
Some newer, more dynamic depictions I have
seen are molecular designs, constellations, a fern
leaf, pods attached to a hub, circles upon circles
upon circles, overlapping circles, a tree, clusters.
Notice the organic theme. Margaret Wheatley
( Leadership and the New Science, 1992)
described these as "process structures"--things
that maintain form over time yet have no rigidity
of structure.
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EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
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Key Associates can help you revision your
organization via Search Conference
http://www.mkkey.com/Services2/FutureSearch.htm
Business e-coach with 25 lessons form Jack Welch
http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/mgmt_new-model_25lessons-welch.html
Term papers and essays on bureaucracy
http://www.academon.com/lib/paper/45552.html
Max Weber's classic essay on bureaucracy:
http://www.temple.edu/tempress/chapters/324_ch1.pdf
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OTHER USEFUL WEBSITES
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The CEO Refresher. How to identify bureaucracy
and five methodologies to revision it:
http://www.refresher.com/!holder4.html
How people view and are viewed in a bureaucracy:
http://www.nmsu.edu/~iirm/articles/bureau.html
Reinventing Government with a DNA model:
http://www.nlma.org/banish.htm
Pitfalls, misconceptions, alternatives to bureaucracy:
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rxv/orgmgt/bureaucracy.htm
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ARTICLES/PUBLICATIONS
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Books on Bureaucracy
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/external-search/103-9347409-0978210?mode=books&keyword=Bureaucracy&tag=thelandofquote09
and
http://psychology.about.com/od/bureaucracy/
