Michael McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk> in reponse to my
characterization of behaviours rather than org charts as indicating LO
qualities asks:
>What is the organisation of action, communication, whatever you would
>say is being organised that has it work "in spite of its organisation
>chart."
I would restate that the observable items are as I originally posted:
>...I would prefer to summarize attributes and behaviours because that is a better
>way to characterize them. So openness and willingness to change and measurements
>that show they are progressing towards their goals, and goals that support a
>vision and the vision is widely-held and not just printed on a card, placard or
>poster. The executives walk their talk and are constantly looking for input.
>their actions reflect the collective intelligence of their company. Most associates
>within the company feel good about themselves, their peers and subordinates and
>their executives. They like the company direction and would make the same
>decisions if they had the chance.
So rather than pursue the organization route, I would suggest that what is
needed is a set of acceptable measurements that would indicate the degree
of "health" indicated by by the above actions. For example:
Published Milestones toward multi-year Goals would be one measure.
ReAssessment of the Vision in light of realities would be another Opinion
surveys of Associates, Clients and Suppliers would be another
All would be more important in terms of trends than absolutes.
Growth in Intellectual, Structural, and Customer Capital would replace or
augment the traditional financial measurements. These three measurements
also apply to public sector organizations. How does your government or
alma mater fare on these as a trend??
Anyone else have other measures for a healthy LO? As one of my TQM
associates once quipped: "What gets measured, gets done!"
--Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>