THE DYNAMICS OF ORGANIZATIONAL ALIGNMENT A Dissertation

186 Pages·2007·0.68 MB·English

THE DYNAMICS OF ORGANIZATIONAL ALIGNMENT
A Dissertation Presented
by
BRENT DEMOVILLE
to
THE FIELDING INSTITUTE
in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the
degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
in
HUMAN AND ORGANIZATION SYSTEMS
COMMITTEE: Barbara Mink, ED.D., Chair
Sara Cobb, Ph.D., Associate Dean
Don Bushnell, Ph.D., Second Faculty Member
Diane Bandow, Student Member
Charles E. Grantham, Ph.D., External Examiner
Greg Daneke, Ph.D., Consulting Faculty Member
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ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................VIII
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION...................................................................................1
STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH QUESTION.....................................................................1
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROBLEM.....................................................................................2
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE......................................................5
DEFINITIONS...................................................................................................................5
Alignment as Commitment........................................................................................5
Alignment as Cultural Alignment..............................................................................5
Alignment as Shared Understanding........................................................................6
Alignment as Organizational Linkage......................................................................6
Alignment as Congruence.........................................................................................7
Alignment as Attunement..........................................................................................7
Alignment as Shared Understanding Expressed Congruently..................................8
MODELING......................................................................................................................8
Types of Systems Models...........................................................................................9
Causal Loop Models........................................................................................................12
Stock and Flow Models...................................................................................................13
The Generic Model of Alignment............................................................................14
Basic Systems Models.............................................................................................19
McKinsey’s 7-S Framework............................................................................................20
Leavitt’s Diamond...........................................................................................................21
The Business Diamond....................................................................................................22
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OP Model.........................................................................................................................24
Organizational Congruence Model..................................................................................26
CHAOS AND STABILITY: A CONFOUNDING VARIABLE..................................................29
SYSTEM DYNAMICS......................................................................................................30
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY.............................................................................34
DESCRIPTION OF THE SYSTEM AND ITS COMPONENTS...................................................35
Inputs......................................................................................................................35
Environment....................................................................................................................35
Resources.........................................................................................................................36
History.............................................................................................................................36
Strategy...................................................................................................................36
Transformation Process..........................................................................................38
Informal Organization......................................................................................................38
Formal Organization........................................................................................................39
People..............................................................................................................................40
Work................................................................................................................................42
Critical Features...............................................................................................................43
Outputs....................................................................................................................44
Variable Value Ranges...........................................................................................45
MODEL VALIDATION....................................................................................................47
Structure Tests........................................................................................................48
Behavior Tests.........................................................................................................49
PROCEDURES................................................................................................................51
CHAPTER IV: THE MODEL......................................................................................53
INPUTS..........................................................................................................................54
iv
Turbulence..............................................................................................................54
Resources................................................................................................................55
STRATEGY....................................................................................................................56
Realization of Emergent Strategy...........................................................................58
Planned Objectives.................................................................................................59
Clear Communications...........................................................................................59
Work........................................................................................................................60
WORK SUB-SYSTEMS...................................................................................................62
Work Factor............................................................................................................62
Performance Factor................................................................................................63
Skill Gap.................................................................................................................64
Skill Change............................................................................................................64
Skill Development...................................................................................................66
Accomplishment......................................................................................................67
Intrinsic Reward.....................................................................................................68
Routineness.............................................................................................................69
PEOPLE.........................................................................................................................70
Personal Needs.......................................................................................................71
Role Clarity.............................................................................................................71
Role Clarity.............................................................................................................72
Intra-group Relations.............................................................................................72
Inter-group Relations..............................................................................................73
Group Impact..........................................................................................................73
Activity grouping.....................................................................................................74
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FORMAL ORGANIZATION..............................................................................................75
Centralized Control................................................................................................77
Reward Congruence...............................................................................................77
INFORMAL ORGANIZATION...........................................................................................78
Organizational Climate..........................................................................................78
BEHAVIOR OF THE MODEL............................................................................................79
The Perfect Organization........................................................................................79
The Leadership Challenged Organization..............................................................81
Communication as a Challenge..............................................................................83
Low Trust Organization..........................................................................................85
Change, Turbulence, and Chaos.............................................................................87
FEEDBACK FROM EXTERNAL REVIEW...........................................................................90
Match to Experience...............................................................................................91
General Comments..................................................................................................92
Thoughts Regarding the Interaction of Model Elements........................................94
MODEL VALIDATION..................................................................................................101
Model Structure....................................................................................................101
Model Behavior.....................................................................................................102
Summary of Model Validity..................................................................................103
CHAPTER V: DISCUSSION.....................................................................................105
NADLER AND TUSHMAN’S MODEL.............................................................................106
Inputs....................................................................................................................106
Work......................................................................................................................110
People...................................................................................................................111
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Personal Needs..............................................................................................................111
Role Clarity....................................................................................................................112
Intra-group Relationships..............................................................................................112
Inter-group Relationships..............................................................................................113
Impact of Leadership.....................................................................................................114
Formal Organization............................................................................................115
Structure........................................................................................................................115
Reward Systems.............................................................................................................116
Informal Organization..........................................................................................117
Politics and Trust...........................................................................................................117
Communications...................................................................................................118
Output...................................................................................................................119
APPLICATION OF THE MODEL......................................................................................120
SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH.......................................................................124
CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................125
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................128
APPENDIX A...............................................................................................................134
EVALUATION SHEETS.................................................................................................134
APPENDIX B................................................................................................................138
INTRODUCTION TO THE MODEL’S FLIGHT SIMULATOR...............................................138
APPENDIX C...............................................................................................................154
EXPERT REVIEWERS AND QUALIFICATIONS................................................................154
APPENDIX D...............................................................................................................155
vii
EVALUATOR REVIEW FORMS......................................................................................155
APPENDIX E................................................................................................................170
THE MODEL................................................................................................................170
APPENDIX F................................................................................................................171
THE EQUATIONS.........................................................................................................171
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ABSTRACT
Organizations are challenged to meet their mission and the failure to
achieve this objective is a source of concern for organizations. Models exist that
explore the components that contribute to organizational success, but these
models are conceptual and do not attempt to operationally define the relationships
depicted in the models. Nadler and Tushman (1992) created a model of
Organizational Congruence that serves as the foundation for this dissertation. The
author translated that model into a systems dynamic model that mathematically
defines the potential relationships of the components in Nadler and Tushman’s
model. The system dynamics model is an “Executive Flight Simulator” with the
capability of running simulations to see the impact of changing the values of the
different components. A panel of experts, representing industry and
organizational consultants, validated the model against their experience in the
world and confirmed that the model matched their experience. The model
provides a strong start toward understanding the physics of alignment in
organizations. It explores the impact of key variables such as Communication,
Leadership, and Turbulence on the realization of planned and emergent strategies
within an organization. The model suggests that in highly turbulent
environments, organizations need to be able to adapt and shift their focus from
ix
planned objectives to the newly emergent objectives that result from the
dynamically changing environment.
1
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
Statement of the Research Question
Each year organizations devote their energies toward fulfilling the mission
and vision of the organization, yet their results do not always meet their
expectations. These less than satisfactory results are achieved in spite of the best
efforts of the people combined with the significant application of material and
financial resources. Burton and Moran (1995) suggest that the problem may be
related to organizational alignment.
To be profitable to both [customer and organization] requires the
providing organization to focus its resources in the most productive
manner possible. This focusing process requires an alignment of the
business plan, quality plan, strategic plan, research and development plan,
and so on. Alignment requires that a leading purpose be established to
which all the work of an organization is aligned and designed to achieve.
The problem today is that every organization has so many plans that they
compete with one another for the limited resources available. (p. 15)
Each part of the organization is working to achieve its individual mission, but due
to the lack of clear alignment the total result is sub-optimized. The immediate
solution might appear to be a better planning process that aligned all of the sub-
plans, but as Mintzberg (1994) observed, the planning process has a number of
pitfalls. Alignment must be viewed as part of the larger organizational system.
That system has its own structure, logic, and dynamic. That is, it has its own
physics. In order to better organize and align an organization, it will be necessary
to understand its underlying physics.