Transcript Knowledge Management: Organizational and Systems perspectives

Please make sure to bring
all the lecture notes
(up to week 10) – as I
will be summarizing all
the notes today
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Decision Support &
Executive Information
Systems:
LECTURE 10
Amare Michael Desta
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Organizational Leadership, Cultures and Process
Maturity Closed System View of Org.:
Many different perspectives
- Closed system perspective
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Organization as instrument to achieve defined goals
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Efficiency
Effectiveness
Flexibility / adaptability
Job satisfaction
- Four activities follow from the above
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Complexity and specialization of tasks
Centralization of authority
Formalization of jobs
Stratification of employment levels
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Closed System View - Criticism
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View sees humans as machines
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Resources are optimised
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Not true in all cases
Responses fit into the defined plan
Environmental influence seen as only noise
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Open System View of
Organizations
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Interested in both the objectives and
responses to internal and external influences
Organizational activities (Weick)
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Enactment, selection and retention
Results of these are
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Understanding of the environment
Recognizing problems
Diagnosing causes for problems
Identifying policies to solve problems
Evaluating the efficiency of the policies
Selecting priorities for problem solving
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Organizational Learning Model
(Daft & Weick)
Three major components
- Scanning
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Monitoring the environment
- Interpretation
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Translating observations
- Learning
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Knowledge about relations between
organization’s state and environment
Actions
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Generic Roles for Executives
To achieve the defined goals FOUR different
Roles are needed by executives
- Administration
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Management
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Concerned with efficiency
Leadership
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Caretaking role
Setting of a vision and seeing it through
Governance
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Stakeholder management
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Organizational Topographies
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Inactive organization
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Tries to avoid problems
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Reactive organization
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Problem solving organization
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Internal environment
Interactive organization
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Tries to adapt to external environment
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Waits them to go away
Development of responses to external environment
Proactive organization
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Learning to learn better
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Adaptive behaviour
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Organizational Learning
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Organizational learning is needed to
anticipate changes and improve behaviour
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Situation assessment
Problem detection
Solution
Evaluation of outcome
Resulting discovery
The learning is not always beneficial in
practice
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E.g. improperly simplified causal models
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Theory of Reasoning, Learning
and Action
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Two major inhibitions to learning
1) Distortion of information
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Quality of decisions affected
2) Lack of receptivity to feedback
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Types of organizational learning
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Single-loop
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Present policies to achieve present goals
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Double-loop
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New understanding developed
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No questioning of goals
Goals are put under scrutiny
Poor performance organizations usually use singleloop learning
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Theory of Reasoning, Learning
and Action (2)
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There are other inhibitions to learning
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Distancing
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Disconnectedness
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Not accepting responsibility
Limited information about theories in use and the associated
actions
Five dilemmas
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Incongruity
Inconsistency
Ineffectiveness
Disusability
Unobservability
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Learning Organization
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“Organization where people continually expand their capacity to
create results they truly desire, where new and expansive
patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is
set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn
together” (Peter Senge)
Five disciplines enable this learning
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Systems thinking
Personal mastery through lifelong learning
Shared mental models of markets and competitors
Shared vision
Team learning
Lack of capability in one of the five disciplines is called a
learning disability
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11 Laws of Systems Thinking
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Future problems come about because of what were presumed
past solutions
Every action has a reaction
Short-term improvements lead to long-term difficulties
Easy solution is no solution at all
Solution may be worse than the problem
Quick solutions lead to more problems
Cause and effect not necessarily closely linked
Best actions not obvious at first
Low cost and high effectiveness need not to be trade-offs
The entirety is more than the sum of its parts
Entire system must be considered together
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How to Build a Learning
Organization?
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Leaders must be
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Three pragmatic needs
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Designers
Stewards
Teachers
Meaning
Management
Measurement
Five building blocks
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Systematic problem solving process
Experimentation
Learning from past mistakes
Learning from others
Transferring the knowledge through organization
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Problem Solving Process
Assess situation and select
problem for resolution
Problem definition
Generate solution options
Evaluate options and select
preferred option
Implement solution
Evaluate solution
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Organizational Cultures
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Culture closely related to learning
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Critical success factors of organizational character
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Socially transmitted behaviour patterns
Shared vision
Motivational faith
Distinctive skills
Change in culture must be controlled
Reasons for failure
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No shared vision of impending crisis
No shared vision of a way out of crisis
Culture change produces wrong results
People learn in a wrong way
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Changing Culture
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Change is often resisted even though it is known to
be needed
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People do not know in which way or how to change
Poor abilities at double-loop learning
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Past competence a path to success
Stereotypical thinking
Fall into ideological routines
Multiphase approach to change
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Access corporate culture
Identify approaches to culture change
Negotiate a shared vision
Deploy the shared vision
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Culture Clash
Three different cultures
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Corporate culture stresses loyalty to organization
Professional culture emphasises given knowledge
- Loyalty to profession greater than loyalty to organization
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Social culture represents the values of individuals
Clash areas
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Specialization
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Overspecifying practice
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Managers <-> Employees
Underspecifying the end
Employees want autonomy
Tight supervision
Formalization of control
Principles more important than practice
Short-term profits vs. ethics
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Culture and leadership
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A number of studies discuss the interaction of
culture and leadership and the role of these
in creating excellence
E.g Hickman and Silva suggest strategy and
culture as foundations for excellence
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They further identify six “new age skills”
aggregated under three more generic (need)
categories
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Hickman and Silva
The need to forge a strong foundation for
excellence through:
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creative insight
sensitivity
The need to integrate organizational and individual
skills through:
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vision and
patience
The need for adaptation through:
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versatility and
Focus
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Kotter and Heskett
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Kotter and Heskett identified several important
cultural realities:
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Organizational culture has a significant impact on the long
term performance of an organization
The importance of culture will increase in the future
Organizational cultures that are debilitating to long term
performance are not uncommon
Organizational cultures can be changed to allow enhanced
performance
Effort is primarily concerned with identification of the
characteristics of cultures that will be most
supportive of excellence performance.
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Leadership and management: Studies
of individual and organizational leadership
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Covey’s SEVEN habits of effective people
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First three relate to individual concerns
Next three relate to group and organizational
issues
The last concerns learning and renewal
counterbalance independence and
dependence relations
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Covey
Covey also identifies THREE primary traits
of effective leaders (a) integrity (b) maturity
and (c) abundant mentality and THREE
types of power:
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Principle-centered power, based on honor
Utility power, based on fairness
Coercive power, based on fear
Related to various contexts for learning
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Covey
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FOUR paradigms that could be used
as a basis for leadership:
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The scientific management paradigm
The human relations paradigm
The human resources paradigm
The principle-centered leadership
paradigm
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Badaracco and Ellworth
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Badaracco and Ellworth’s identified THREE
leadership philosophies based on a set of
fundamental assumptions about human
nature and the resulting behavior patterns
of people in organizations
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Political leadership
Directive leadership
Value-driven leadership
Philosophies are also provided with
suggestions for operational management
and task control
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Rothschild - identified FOUR
major leadership roles
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Risk-takers, often creators of an organization who
have the dedication and talent to implement a
strategic vision
Care-takers, who nurture an organization beyond
its growth stage into a healthy maturity
Surgeons, who examine diseased portions of an
organization and correct or remove those portions
Undertakers, who harvest and/or merge the
organization in order to mercifully lay to rest an
unsalvageable organization & rescue those portions
that are capable & in need of rebirth in a new form
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Kotter
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Kotter has distinguished between leadership
and management
Kotter indicates that leadership involves
moving people from one state to a better
state without transgressing on the rights of
other
To do this, leadership involves three principal
activities that roughly correspond to the
definition, development, and deployment
effort in systems engineering :
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Kotter continues…
1. Agenda creation. Direction setting is needed to
establish a future vision and strategies for the
needed changes to enable realization of the vision.
2. Developing human networks. Communication of
the vision and developing a set of shared assumptions
and understanding the vision are needed to achieve
an alignment of people who are committed to
organizational progress.
3. Action implementation or execution. Motivating
and inspiring people to move in directions appropriate to
achieve the strategic vision despite the political
challenges and bureaucratic barriers.
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Cultural Framework Models
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Sage introduces two separate works on cultural
frameworks
 Bolman and Deal’s (1991), and
 Bergquist (1992).
They all are built for a university environment.
These are suggested to be applicable in a more
general organizational setting.
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Bolman and Deal’s Cultural
Framework Model
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Bolman and Deal (1994) identify FOUR frameworks
for modeling organizational culture:
1) structural framework; formal rationality and
analytical methodologic approaches are preffered
for organizing
2) human relations framework; purpose of
organization is support for the people in the
organization
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Dolman and Deal (cont.)
3) political framework; organization viewed as a
coalition of diverse interests - most of which based
on differing values and perceptions of reality
4) symbolic framework; sees that meaning, or
interpretation, of the same event across
subcultures will generally be very different
 ambiguity in organization
-> formal rational analysis becomes difficult
-> humans create symbols that become
surrogates for more fundamental and
meaningful events.
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Bergquist’s Cultural Framework
Berguist (1992) divides organizational cultures into FOUR:
1) collegial culture; sees diversity of perspective and
autonomy of effort -> supports academic governance
-> supports disciplinary scholarship and
research
2) managerial culture; closely associated with juniorcollege culture and any very strongly top-down
leadership
-> acceptance of detailed plans expected
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Bergquist (cont.)
3) developmental culture; orgzns and their
processes designed to effectively accommodate
needs of university (organization)
-> supports fulfillment of university
(organization) mission
4) negotiating culture; very concerned with personal
and financial needs of faculty and staff
-> change takes place through confrontational
efforts and effective use of scarce resources often includes bargaining efforts
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Cultural Dynamics Model of
Oraganizational Forms
This model is developed by Henry Minzberg and
aims to describe organizational forms, to help
design effective organizations.
FIVE mechanisms describe work coordination
approaches in industrial organizations:
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Mutual adjustment
Direct supervision
Standardization of work processes
Standardization of skills and knowledge
Standardization of norms.
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Process maturity Process
models
1) organizational lifecycle process maturity
represents the extent to which specific processes are
explicitly defined, managed, measured, controlled
and effective in achieving their intended purpose
2) disciplined process, teams with common values,
systems management infrastructure, strong
Leadership  process mature organization
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Crosby
five stages of development of quality
maturity
inspiration for the other maturity models
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Uncertainty
Awakening
Enlightment
Wisdom
Certainty
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Capability Maturity Model
(CMM)
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originally developed by the Software
Engineering Institute (SEI) at CarnegieMellon University
it provides software organizations with
guidance on processes for developing
and maintaining software
five levels with key process areas
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1. Initial level
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the process is not under statistical
measurement control at even the
operational level, and no systematic
process is possible
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no key processes
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2. Repeatable level
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a measure of thorough operational level
product control is achieved through metrics
associated with cost, schedule, and product
configuration changes
basic program management processes are
established
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2. Repeatable level (cont.)
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Requirements Management
SW Project Planning
SW Project Tracking and Oversight
SW Subcontract Management
SW Quality Assurance
SW Configuration Management
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3. Defined level
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the process has been understood and
specified so that operational quality control is
able to yield products with predictable costs
and performance schedules
the organization has a set of standardized,
consistent, and repeatable processes
process management is interactive and
processes are well integrated five levels with
key process areas
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3. Defined level (cont.)
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Organizational Process Focus
Organization Process Definition
Training Programs
Integrated Software Management
Software Product Engineering
Intergroup Coordination
Peer Reviews
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4. Managed maturity level
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comprehensive process-related
measurements are possible and
improvements in product quality are possible
through the understanding and control
interactive process management processes
are well in place
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Quantitative Process Management
Software Quality Management
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5. Optimizing level
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the highest possible level of maturity is
reached
the organization is able to make
continuous improvements in products,
services and processes
process management is highly proactive
there are also interactive and reactive
controls and measurements
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5. Optimizing level (cont.)
Defect Prevention
 Technology Change Management
 Process Change Management
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Key process areas
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Each of the key process areas have a set of
SIX common features associated with them.
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Goals
Commitment to perform
Ability to perform
Activities performed
Systematic measurement and analysis efforts
Implementation verification
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Process Maturity: Conclusion
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The majority of organizations in practice
today are at levels 1 and 2, with very
few at levels 3, 4, and 5
There are only few programs which are
at levels 4 and 5; the further research
will focus on them and the evolution of
the CMM at these higher maturity levels
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