ORGANIZATIONS!
“THE WHOLE AND THE
PARTS INSIDE AND OUT”
Everything you wanted to know
about YOUR Organization
and how you can come to
yours
Can you
find
yourself?
Basic Structure of Organizations
Is charged with ensuring
the organization
serves the mission in an effective way.
Is the connections between
the Apex and the operating core and
has authority
Controls
the data
Tech
Strategic
Apex
Middle
Line staff
Operating core
Support
staff
Provides
support
Performs the basic function of the organization
Performs the basic function of the organization
Types of Organizations
 Simple Structure ( mom and pop)
< Direct supervision and the Strategic Apex plays a key role.
 Machine Bureaucracy (factories)
< The standardization of work is key and the technostucture
plays the key role.
 Professional Bureaucracy (professional organizations)
< The standardization of skills and the operating core play
the key role.
 Divisional Forms (auto manufactures)
< The standardization of outputs and middle management is
the key.
Educational Organization
 Professional Bureaucracy*
< The standardization of skills and the operating core play the
key role,
< The professional operates in a sense of isolation from their
colleagues,
< There is power in the professional expertise,
< Can be highly decentralized,
< Because the power is in the expertise of the professional
there is extensive autonomy,
< Change comes in slow by those who enter into the
profession.
*Mintzberg (1979) The structure of Organizations
THE “INSIDE” VIEW OF THE
“PARTS” OF A
DISFUNCTIONAL/UNALIGNED
ORGANIZATION
Do any of you recognize this
organization???
The “Inside”
Parts that make the whole
Functional parts of a school District
The way they seem to function: unconnected
Enrollment
Personnel
Facilities
Finance
Curriculum
Instruction
An organization in chaos
An Unaligned Organization*
Strategy
Structure
If missing
If missing
Confusion
Friction
Process
Reward
If missing
If missing
Gridlock
Internal
People
practice
If missing
low Performance
Competition
* Galbraith (2002). Designing Dynamic Organizations
An Organization in TROUBLE!!!*
When things go wrong in organizations we become
clueless of what to do!!
 It becomes someone else's fault!
 Of course the culprit is not US!!
 Cause and effect are near Neighbors!
 Causality is a one way street!
 When things go wrong we blame the BOSS
* Bolman and Deal. (2000) Escape for Cluelessness
Factors leading to an organization that
has a Learning Disability*
 I am my position: They do their job!
 The enemy is out there: Can’t be us!
 The illusion of taking charge: Is it really being proactive?
 The fixation on events: This is a gradual process.
 The parable of the boiled frog: We are too late!
 The delusion of learning from experience: We really never
know about the consequences.
 The myth of the management team: Is these skilled
incompetence?
* Senge. (1990) The Fifth Discipline
THE “INSIDE” VIEW OF “PARTS”
OF AN ALIGNED ORGANIZATION
The way organizations should function to
create a Learning Organization
INTERCONNECTED
Enrollment
Finance
Personnel
Facilities
Curriculum
A Learning Organization

Three building block needed for learning to occur in your organization*
< Supportive Learning Environment
 Can express opposing views
 Take risks and explore the unknown
< Concrete Learning Process
 Identify and explore problem solving skills
 Develop employees’ skills
< Leadership that reinforces Learning
 Engaged in active listening
 Willingness to entertain opposing views
•
•
Garvin, D. A., Edmondson, Amy, & Gino F. (2008) “Is Yours a Learning Organization?”
(YouTube)
Leadership in A Learning
Organization*
Supervisor
Leadership
Team Leadership
Facilitative
Leadership
Direct people
Coach People
Builds trust and team
work
Explains decisions
Uses team for input
Facilitate and supports
team decisions
Train people
Develops people
Expands team capacity
Manage 1:1
Coordinates efforts
Create team identity
Contain conflict
Resolve conflict
Encourage and utilize
team differences
React to change
Implement change
Foresee and influence
change
* Galbraith (2002) Designing
Dynamic Organizations
Your Organization looking from
the inside!

My organization has clear goals.
Yes No

My Organization engages in collective decision making.
Yes No

My organizations uses shared decision making.
Yes No

All members are encourage to participate in advancing the mission of the
organization.
Yes No

My organization has open and clear lines of communication
Yes No

My organization has a high level of trust.
Yes No

My organization engages in frequent self assessment
Yes No
“Into My Own”
by Robert Frost
One of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm the scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.
I should not be withheld but that some day
Into the vastness I should steal away.
Fearless of every finding open land,
Or highways where the slow wheel pours the sand.
I do not see why I should e’er turn back,
Or these would not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear
They would not find me changed from him they knew
ONLY MORE SURE OF ALL I THOUGHT WAS TRUE.