Brock, you wrote in learning-org LO7543...
> BTW, I recall reading some research from the 1960's on informal leaders in
> organizations. In many cases, no one was consciously aware of who were
> those informal leaders (not even the leaders themselves) until researchers
> investigated and discovered who was performing what leadership function.
> One quiet, unassuming individual who wasn't even near the top of the org
> chart, they discovered to be the person whose opinions most strongly
> influenced the corporation's priorities.
We made the exact same discoveries in some of our client firms. TRW and
IBM had these exact situations, except that in the TRW situation the
emergent expert was 'suspected' by management of being an informal leader.
Both IBM and TRW (licensees of our network mapping/modeling/measuring
software, InFlow) wanted to see the emergent dynamics/structures in some
of their key processes. At IBM, the emergent expert was a suprise to
everyone, including the expert himself. Neither he, nor his manager,
realized how 'central' he was in disseminating and compiling information
on a new strategic technology. Tom Peters wrote about our methodolgoy
using the above IBM example. If you would like a fax of it please send me
you fax number.
In both of the above cases, management did NOT formalize the informal.
They made an informal intervention in both cases. The informal
interventions revolved around including the 'hidden resource' into new
networks/teams (some 'formal/authorized' task forces) to give others
'access' to their expertise. IMHO, this informal 'social engineering' is
more effective than reengineering in knowledge based organizations.
What is interesting here is that by being well connected, they gained even
more connections! The concept of 'increasing returns' (them that has
gets) in action!
Valdis Krebs
Krebs & Associates
Los Angeles (805) 582-9498
Cleveland (216) 331-1222
inflow@concentric.net
--"Valdis E. Krebs" <InFlow@cris.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>