Structured for Success : What Leaders Need to Know to Build and Sustain Effective Organizations

211 Pages·2017·21.401 MB·English

by  White, J. Chris

3
Structured for Success
What Leaders Need to Know to Build
and Sustain Effective Organizations

Structured for Success
What Leaders Need to Know to Build
and Sustain Effective Organizations
By
J. Chris White
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Names: White, J. Chris, author.
Title: Structured for success: what leaders need to know to build and sustain
effective organizations / J. Chris White.
Description: Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2018. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017048519 | ISBN 9781498764407 (hardback: alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Leadership. | Organizational effectiveness.
Classification: LCC HD57.7 .W4584 2018 | DDC 658.4/092–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017048519
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Contents
Overview Summary: The Entire Book in a Few Pages ...................................ix
Book Sections Descriptions.........................................................................xiii
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................xvii
About the Author .........................................................................................xix
SECTION 1 SYSTEMS AND STRUCTURE
1 Leaders as Masters of Structure ..............................................................3
A Silly Example............................................................................................4
The Goal of This Book .................................................................................5
Moving from SNAPSHOTS to PATTERNS ..............................................8
Moving from LINES to LOOPS ...............................................................10
Moving from ONE to MANY ...................................................................11
Why Does This Matter? .............................................................................12
Bibliography ..............................................................................................13
2 Feedback Loops as System Structure ....................................................15
Positive (Reinforcing) Feedback Loop ........................................................16
Negative (Balancing) Feedback Loop ........................................................20
Combinations of Feedback Loops and the Common S-Curve ...................23
Combinations of Multiple Feedback Loops and Resulting Behaviors .........28
The Kaibab Plateau ....................................................................................35
So Why Does This Matter? ........................................................................37
Bibliography ..............................................................................................39
SECTION 2 CONSEQUENCE MAPS
3 Creating Consequence Maps ................................................................43
Team-Based Development .........................................................................43
Nouns and Relationships ..........................................................................44
Laundry Lists and Circles .........................................................................46
Cause-and-Effect Connections...................................................................47
Identify Feedback Loops ............................................................................48
v
Contents
vi ◾ Contents
What Happens Next? ................................................................................50
Close the Loops .........................................................................................50
Use Lots of Space .......................................................................................51
Real-World Example: Asset Management for a City
Water Delivery System ...............................................................................51
A Final Comment ......................................................................................59
Bibliography ..............................................................................................59
4 Example Consequence Map for a City for a Major Change Initiative .....61
The Feedback Loops ..................................................................................61
The Full Consequence Map .......................................................................72
What Does the Consequence Map Show Us? ............................................75
Final Remarks ...........................................................................................77
5 Example Consequence Map for a Non-Profit Organization for
Grant Proposals ....................................................................................79
The Full Consequence Map .......................................................................80
The Feedback Loops ..................................................................................82
What Does the Consequence Map Show Us? ............................................86
Final Remarks ............................................................................................88
6 Example Consequence Map for a Management Culture within a
Defense Contractor Program ...............................................................91
The Full Consequence Map .......................................................................92
The Feedback Loops ..................................................................................98
What Does the Consequence Map Show Us? ..........................................102
Final Remarks ..........................................................................................106
SECTION 3 SYSTEM DYNAMICS SIMULATION
7 Simulation Using System Dynamics ..................................................111
Statistical Modeling and Structure Modeling ..........................................112
Overview of System Dynamics Modeling and Simulation Methodology .......119
Some Final Comments on System Dynamics Modeling ..........................124
Bibliography ............................................................................................125
8 Example Simulation for Reduction in Force (RIF) ............................127
The Full Consequence Map .....................................................................127
The Feedback Loops ................................................................................131
The Simulation Model .............................................................................134
Simulation Scenarios and Results ............................................................141
Final Remarks ..........................................................................................149
Contents
Contents ◾ vii
9 Example Simulation for Project Management ....................................151
The Full Consequence Map .....................................................................151
The Feedback Loops ................................................................................154
The Simulation Model .............................................................................158
Simulation Scenarios and Results ............................................................164
Final Remarks ..........................................................................................171
Bibliography ............................................................................................172
SECTION 4 STRUCTURED FOR SUCCESS
10 Structured for Success ........................................................................175
Individual Control and System Control ...................................................175
Structure Follows Strategy .......................................................................178
Integrated Model of Change ....................................................................179
Effective Leaders Are Masters of Structure ...............................................184
Bibliography ............................................................................................185
Index ...............................................................................................................187

Overview Summary: The Entire Book in a Few Pages
Overview Summary:
The Entire Book in a
Few Pages
To me, leadership implies change. Management is about maintaining the current
course of action and taking corrective measures when necessary to get back on
track. Leadership, on the other hand, is all about changing from the current course
of action and heading in a new direction. Consequently, leadership is fundamen-
tally about changing the behaviors of the people in the organization. With leader-
ship, the current set of behaviors has been deemed insufficient or undesirable (by
whatever means), and a new set of behaviors is needed to achieve a new set of results.
From the field of system dynamics, we know that the structure of an organiza-
tional system gives rise to the behavior of this system over time and, ultimately, to
its performance results. Structure guides behavior, and behavior generates results.
Structure includes any and all interconnections among different entities and ele-
ments of the organizational system, such as policies, procedures, budget controls,
financial incentives, hierarchies of authority, employee training, inventory man-
agement processes, hiring/firing processes, and so on. Leverage for changing the
performance of a system is not found in knee-jerk reactions to recent performance
results or data points (e.g., layoff, excess inventory). Instead, leverage for changing
the system comes from changing the underlying structures that create the behaviors
that generate the current level of performance. If this maxim is applied to leader-
ship, then effective leaders are the ones that can create the proper structures within
an organization that more easily generate the desired behaviors and results. The
term structured for success comes from this idea. Does the organization have a clear
definition of what success is for the organization, and are the right structures in place
to drive the actions/activities needed to create that success?
If anyone has to “fight the system” or “go around the system” to get something
accomplished in an organization, this is a big red flag that the structure of the system
does not naturally generate the proper behavior or course of action. The effective
leader is a master of structure and has several advantages over traditional leadership
ix