Organizational Changes: from Command for Control to Agile

Most organizations tend to adopt a standard hierarchical organization structure. This is one where there is a CEO who has an executive leadership team reporting to him, each individual on that team themselves have a duplicate of this structure for their teams and so on down to the bottom. In addition, there is typically another set of structures for project within programs within product lines, all recursively reflecting the structure. Regardless of the goals and the objectives of the organizations, or the products that they build, the goal of most individuals in these organizational pyramids is to rise to the top so that they can jump off into the next level. Imagine, if you will, any large organization being an inverse Mario Brothers dungeon – with perils increasing as you jump up, from level to level rather than the reverse (but the same theme music blaring in your ears as you run!).

People in the organization are subsumed by this goal – that of reaching the pinnacle, assuming that the princess is there somewhere – rather than achieving the goal of product or project release. Basically, their goals and the corporation’s goals are not aligned. Those that have wanted to innovate or create or even release have left to go other places where it is easier. Those who are interested in accession have remained. I find it mildly humorous the number of principals in the organization who will state that their desire is to become a manager, even though they dislike dealing with people and would prefer to contribute more “wholesomely”.

Clearly, an alternative is to eliminate the prize at the top of the pyramid. That is hard, because America and its capitalism is all about the rewards of the powerful. But, once we acknowledge that this is what we are all about, we can basically help people find power in niches in which they both excel and that align with the overt goals of the organization. Reward people for contributing rather than only managing. Create an organization where power is represented through disciplinary leaders rather than controlling directors.

OK, so let’s recognize the differences between organizational structure options and then define a hybrid that works here.