Marion Brady comments on A. W. Smith's comment:
>His phrase "from top to bottom" makes me wonder if enough was made of Chet
>(Chester) Jackson's suggestion a couple of weeks ago that it might be a
>useful exercise--given the direction in which industry is evolving--to lay
>the traditional organization chart on its side. I find that a really
>intriguing notion.
I believe the better shape is indeed wheel-like. This is consistent with
the thread on where change takes place, in the not-quite-homogeneous,
semi-equilibrious center removed from the fringe, or at the edge where the
organism, oops, organization comes in contact with energy that spawns
growth defined as change. Removing tongue from cheek, I have had a vision
of the future organizational structure as a wheel for several years. The
common or shared functions reside on the "hub" and each "spoke" is a
product line or customer group served. The "wheel," or outer rim
represents the identity or culture that ties them all together.
Gee, in the old days at the bar on a Friday night, this concept took hours
to get across. And here you bright people have it in one go! Unless the
wheel is seen as rolling down a road, then I'd have to continue the
metaphor to explain the road and the tread and...
Cheers,
Ginger Shafer
The Leadership Dimension
"Bringing Leadership to Life"
vshafer@azstarnet.com
-- vshafer@AZStarNet.com (Virginia I. Shafer)Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>