dr. johan du toit decipher
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Re-Inventing Organizational Development 2010
24 June 2010 Dr Johan du Toit
OD’s Role in Shaping Tomorrow’s Leaders …or, OD in the Anomic Age
Overview of this presentation
• Impact of generational differences in the workplace When things pull apart…
The era of ‘weak social ties’
Major difficulties with Authority
• Creating a work environment that stimulates leadership development What ‘best-practice’ outlines say…and…
A thought: Give ‘weak links’ a lot more support!
• Encouraging a talent management mind-set at the senior leadership level Don’t get mindlessly co-opted…
...but keep it leader-led & OD supported…
…using a clear “stages of development” focus
• Q & A
15 min
10 min
25 min
10 min
The consequence of our Social Capital steadily depreciating is marked by a wide-spread sense of alienation…
Source: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50564; http://www.suicide.org/suicide-on-the-rise-in-south-africa.html http://www.mydigitallife.co.za/index.php?option=com_myblog&show=the-south-african-divorce-rate.html&Itemid=29 http://www.capetownlawyer.co.za/divorce/news/2008/divorce-economy.php5; http://www.cronborgart.com/anomie.jpg
Divorce rate declines in face of economic slowdownThe poor state of the South African economy affects all aspects of life, including divorces.…the divorce rate figures released recently have shown a steep decline. Couples can no longer afford to get divorced from a financial viewpoint.
…”weak social ties” now seem to predominant in our social settings, and are seen as valuable in their own right
Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Tie-network.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Granovetter http://www.stanford.edu/dept/soc/people/mgranovetter/documents/granstrengthweakties.pdf
Granovetter's paper "The Strength of Weak Ties" is a highly influential sociology paper, with around 12,000 citations
Authority is one of the most troublesome issues of our time – many kick vigorously against it!
There pervades today, a disturbing zealotry with which the sociopolitical culture has imagined for itself a prerogative to divest the individual of his rightful sovereignty and discretion, and to foist
upon him an often-arbitrary excess of compulsions and impositions. (Trevor Fervor,
2007)
• Impact of generational differences in the workplace When things pull apart…
The era of ‘weak social ties’
Major difficulties with Authority
• Creating a work environment that stimulates leadership development What ‘best-practice’ outlines say…and…
A thought: Give ‘weak links’ a lot more support!
• Encouraging a talent management mind-set at the senior leadership level Don’t get mindlessly co-opted…
...but keep it leader-led & OD supported…
…using a clear “stages of development” focus
• Q & A
15 min
10 min
25 min
10 min
Agenda
HR PROFESSIONALISM
CREDIBLE ACTIVIST
BUSINESS ALLY
OPERATIONAL EXECUTOR
STRATEGY ARCHITECT
CULTURE & CHANGE
STEWARD
TALENT MGR/ORG
DESIGNERPEOPLE
BUSI
NES
S
ORGANISATION CAPABILITIES
SYSTEMS & PROCESSES
RELATIONSHIPS
Ulrich et al’s compelling work on HR Competencies is practically an “Industry Benchmark”…
Source: HR Competencies. Ulrich et al, 2008
...and the People Capability Maturity Model (PCMM 2.0) has for years prescribed how to achieve much of it
Level 2Managed
Level 3Defined
Level 4Predictabl
e
Level 5Optimisin
g
Maturity Levels
Training andDevelopment
CompetencyDevelopment
CompetencyAnalysis
CompetencyBased Assets
Mentoring
ContinuousCapability
Improvement
Developingindividualcapability
Communication& Coordination
WorkgroupDevelopment
ParticipatoryCulture
CompetencyIntegration
EmpoweredWorkgroups
Buildingworkgroups
& culture
Compensation
Performance Mngt
Work Environment
CompetencyBased Practices
CareerDevelopment
QuantitativePerformanceManagement
OrganizationalPerformanceAlignment
Motivating& managingperformance
Staffing
WorkforcePlanning
OrganizationalCapability
Management
ContinuousWorkforceInnovation
Shapingthe
workforce
Process Area Threads
Source: http://www.sei.cmu.edu/library/abstracts/reports/01mm001.cfm
These two models are closely correlated, even though they were developed from different approaches
Level 2Managed
Level 3Defined
Level 4Predictab
le
Level 5Optimisin
g
Training andDevelopmen
t
CompetencyDevelopmen
t
CompetencyAnalysis
CompetencyBased Assets
Mentoring
ContinuousCapability
Improvement
Communication&
Coordination
WorkgroupDevelopmen
t
ParticipatoryCulture
CompetencyIntegration
EmpoweredWorkgroups
Compensation
Performance Mngt
Work Environment
CompetencyBased
Practices
CareerDevelopmen
t
QuantitativePerformanceManagemen
t
Organizational
PerformanceAlignment
Staffing
WorkforcePlanning
Organizational
CapabilityManagemen
t
ContinuousWorkforceInnovation
HR PROFESSIONALIS
M
CREDIBLE ACTIVIST
BUSINESS ALLY
OPERATIONAL EXECUTOR
STRATEGY ARCHITEC
T
CULTURE & CHANGE
STEWARD
TALENT MGR/ORG
DESIGNERPEOPLE
BU
SIN
ESS
Social Networking approaches show the way to better link modern high-flyers who already ‘get’ online collaboration
Source: Aaron Fulkerson (MindTouch)
• Impact of generational differences in the workplace When things pull apart…
The era of ‘weak social ties’
Major difficulties with Authority
• Creating a work environment that stimulates leadership development What ‘best-practice’ outlines say…and…
A thought: Give ‘weak links’ a lot more support!
• Encouraging a talent management mind-set at the senior leadership level Don’t get mindlessly co-opted…
...but keep it leader-led & OD supported…
…using a clear “stages of development” focus
• Q & A
15 min
15 min
25 min
10 min
Agenda
It has been suggested that HRM is a legitimatory device to increase managerial control through a rhetoric of individualism, reciprocity and shared commitment, thus gaining control through employee co-operation and exercising control over employee discretion. This soft HRM rhetoric disguises an unpleasant hard HRM reality.
Source: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/zni7u9gvftyl.pdf
Is modern “HRM” a wolf in sheep's clothing?
Critical observers of HR-related efforts point to a distinct internal rift between soft and hard HRM …
Soft HRM(Developmental Humanism)
Focus on treating employees as valued assets and a source of competitive advantage through their commitment, adaptability and high quality skill and performance. Employees are proactive rather than passive inputs into productive processes, capable of development, worthy of trust and collaboration.
Hard HRM(Utilitarian Instrumentalism)
Imperative for close integration of people policies, systems & activities with overall business strategy. Human resources are largely a factor of production, an expense of doing business. Human Resources are viewed as passive, to be provided and deployed as numbers and skills at the right price.
“Human” in HR “Resource” in HR
OD has traditionally not focussed on all the issues of power - it is an area which practitioners should be more mindful
The Planner’s Dilemma“It must be remembered that
there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success,
nor more dangerous to manage, than the creation of a new
system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by
the preservation of the old institutions and merely lukewarm
defenders in those who gain by the new ones.”
Machiavelli, The Prince
Source: personal.ashland.edu/csavage/Power%20and%20Politics.ppt
Now, let us examine the most high-profile “leadership development” initiative in recent business history…
Source: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_43/b3905032_mz072.htm
Jack Welch: Management Evangelist
John F. Welch Jr. did not invent Six Sigma or many of the processes that made him famous in the 20 years that he led GE . But the relentlessly curious and blunt guy imbued his corporation with an energy and culture that made it - and him - an icon of American business.
Welch, who joined GE in 1960 with a PhD in chemical engineering and became CEO in 1981, held few things sacred. He…was famous for annually lopping off the bottom 10% of his managers. But Welch made it his mission to manage and foster top talent with hawk-like
attention. "Jack put his time and energy into developing people," says Noel M. Tichy,the management professor who helped Welch revitalize his Crotonville training center. Welch transformed routine meetings into rousingdebate sessions and launched initiatives such as the Six Sigma quality process and the Workout approach to team problem-solving that touched practically every employee around the planet.
As a result, GE developed what many consider the deepest bench of executive talent in American business. In the years leading up to Welch's retirement in 2001, he helped to develop severalcontenders for his job. When Jeffrey R. Immelt was chosen, the losers immediately became chief executives at 3M and Home Depot Inc.
But Welch-style training programs are as popular as ever. Shanghai now boasts its own Crotonville-style facility and GE's management prowess still inspires envy. Cultivating top talent is part of the GE brand, with competitors worldwide striving to mimic the systems that Jack built.
For Crotonville-like success it is clear that...
…the CEO must visibly lead the development process by participating in the overall design and architecture, delivery, and integration of the development process as it gets tied to succession planning and rewards. This is not a voluntary, open university-type approach to development. It is a very personal tool of the top leadership of the organization as well as a vey central part of the organization effectiveness.
- Noel Tichy, Crotonville head (‘85-’87)
Source: “Crotonville: A Staging Ground for Corporate Revolution” (1989), page 105
Tichy provides a fuller set of “Lessons for CEOs” from his time at Crotonville
Source: “Crotonville: A Staging Ground for Corporate Revolution” (1989), page 105-106
Vision
Leadership characteristics
Career transition
points
CEO involvement
CEO role model
Organisational resistance
• Leadership should choose the characteristics that will fit (or deliberately change) the culture
• Powerful links here to values management
• Timing is critical• Development takes time• Blended learning: 80% =
real-life experiences + 20% = formal development programmes + coaching
1960 Wilfred Brown’s Exploration in Management book published in UK and US
Early 1970s Walter Mahler read Brown’s 1960 book and adopted the concepts into his consulting framework. Developed Career Crossroads to identify when managers matured into the next stratum and would benefit from additional education in leadership at that level
Crotonville also had a powerful guiding framework used for leadership development with a long history
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Mid-1970s Walter Mahler installed the Career Crossroads concepts at General Electric.
1978-1981 Jack Welch selected as Chairman and CEO of General Electric using Mahler’s version of Brown’s strata capability
1984 Welch reconceptualized Crotonville to infuse Mahler’s career bands and crossroads model of leadership development
Source: http://globalro.org/en/go-library/ro-history/ro-in-united-states.html
The Crotonville story provides three key take-aways for this presentation
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Leadership development should not be abdicated and “outsourced” wholesale to OD » it should be authentically leader-led and HRD-supportedLeadership development models must be clearly linked to developmental stages » Jaques’ SST (stratified-systems theory) sits behind most models
3Leadership development models must be deliberately tied to culture & values » Barrett’s work with Culture Transformation Tools is useful to illuminate this area
FOCUS OF THISPRESENTATION
There are several Elliott Jaques-inspired models that are much more familiar to business people so take your pick!
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Drotter’s “Leadership Pipeline”
BIOSS + Hoebeke levels-of-work
Quality [I]
Service [II]
Practice [III]
Strategic development [IV]
Strategic intent [V]
Corporate citizenship [VI]
Corporate prescience [VII]
Adding value for the future
Creating value for the present
Value systems
However, using “Talent Grid” type approaches is actually quite straightforward from a technical perspective…
Source: One Page Talent Management: Eliminating Complexity, Adding Value. Effron & Ort (2010 )
…but it is a big challenge from the perspectives of justice:
- Distributive (least)- Procedural (more)- Interactional (most)
• Impact of generational differences in the workplace When things pull apart…
The era of ‘weak social ties’
Major difficulties with Authority
• Creating a work environment that stimulates leadership development What ‘best-practice’ outlines say…and…
A thought: Give ‘weak links’ a lot more support!
• Encouraging a talent management mind-set at the senior leadership level Don’t get mindlessly co-opted…
...but keep it leader-led & OD supported…
…using a clear “stages of development” focus
• Q & A
15 min
10 min
25 min
10 min
Agenda