Developing an Organization Capable of Implementing Strategy and Learning

Acting as consultants, the authors developed a process by which leadership teams in Alpha Technologies' many business units could develop an organization capable of implementing strategy and learning. Leadership teams of 20 units implemented the self-diagnosis and redesign process between 1988 and 1994. The process was designed to develop the ongoing capacity of the client organization to achieve systemic change, to surface undiscussible data about barriers, as well as to develop a partnership with employees. Research was conducted to determine whether the intervention achieved its intended objectives, as well as to understand the elements of the intervention design, and managerial and organizational context that lead to these results. The research, funded by the Harvard Business School, relied on the following methods: content analysis of task force reports, interviews, questionnaires, and participant observation. The process succeeded in the short term in all of its attended objectives. The process, however, does not appear to have increased the client's underlying capability for organizational learning. The implications of the findings for intervention theory and practice are discussed.

[1]  Warren G. Bennis,et al.  Planning for change , 2018, Healthcare Architecture as Infrastructure.

[2]  R. Kahn,et al.  The Social Psychology of Organizations , 1966 .

[3]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Organization and environment , 1967 .

[4]  W. Bennis.  Organization Development: Its Nature, Origins, and Prospects , 1969 .

[5]  Richard Beckhard,et al.  Organization Development: Strategies and Models , 1969 .

[6]  E. Schein.  Process Consultation : Its Role in Organization Development , 1969 .

[7]  P. Lawrence,et al.  Developing Organizations: Diagnosis and Action , 1969 .

[8]  Andrew Pettigrew,et al.  Towards a Political Theory of Organizational Intervention , 1975 .

[9]  A. Pettigrew.  Strategic Aspects of the Management of Specialist Activity , 1975 .

[10]  John N. Warfield,et al.  Usable Knowledge: Social Science and Social Problem Solving , 1979 .

[11]  R. Kilmann.  Organization Change and Development: A Systems View , 1980 .

[12]  Robert H. Waterman,et al.  Structure is not organization , 1980 .

[13]  R. H. Waterman,et al.  In Search of Excellence , 1983 .

[14]  Glenn M. McEvoy,et al.  Managing Human Assets , 1984 .

[15]  M. Beer,et al.  Organization Change and Development , 1987 .

[16]  K. Clark,et al.  Dynamic Manufacturing: Creating the Learning Organization , 1988 .

[17]  D. M. Georgoff,et al.  Harvard Business Review: David M. Georgoff and Robert G. Murdick, manager's guide to forecasting, 64 (Jan-Feb.) (1986) 110-120 , 1988 .

[18]  Robert H. Schaffer.  The breakthrough strategy : using short-term successes to build the high performance organization , 1988 .

[19]  Chris Argyris,et al.  Strategy implementation: An experience in learning , 1989 .

[20]  Thomas G. Cummings,et al.  Self-designing organizations : learning how to create high performance , 1989 .

[21]  P. Senge.  THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE , 1997 .

[22]  Russell A. Eisenstat,et al.  The Critical Path to Corporate Renewal , 1990 .

[23]  John P. Kotter,et al.  A Force for Change , 1990 .

[24]  C. Bartlett,et al.  Managing the Global Firm , 1990 .

[25]  M. Beer.  Strategic-Change Research , 1992 .

[26]  J. Kotter,et al.  Corporate Culture and Performance , 1992 .

[27]  Bert Spector,et al.  Beyond TQM Programmes , 1994 .