Academy of management - August 15, 2011Symposium: Learning to Coordinate: The Dynamic Interplay between Relationships and Structures

Who’s actually relating? Bringing the worker into theories of relational coordinationMelissa Mazmanian, Informatics, UC California, IrvineLeslie Perlow, Harvard Business School

Purpose today

I am going to tell you about a research project that we conducted to help people get more predictable time off and what we discovered inadvertently was a way to create relational coordination.

Relational coordination theory Relational coordination theory - Shared Goals, Shared

Knowledge, Mutual Respect

A rich stream of research on the various process and outcome benefits for teams that exhibit the characteristics of relational coordination (Gittell, 2000, 2001, 2002, Gittell et. al. 2008, Carmeli & Gittell, 2009, Gittell et. al. 2010).

How might an organization create relational coordination? Suggestions in current work for fostering relational

coordination practices are structural - change in organization design or HR practices.

What is the relationship between organizational structure and enacted practice in fostering relational coordination?

Overview of project Part of a 6 year study - study of organizational change.

Elite consulting firm - too many ‘regrettable losses.’

Developed official change effort in order to enable “predictable time off.”

Project team environment. Strict hierarchy. Up or out. Wheel and spoke model of coordination. Value in 24/7 availability and individual heroics.

Ethnographic phase, experimental phase, roll-out phase, organizational diffusion phase.

Predictable time off What is PTO?

PTO is NOT

Initially not a macro shift in organizational policies (HR, selection, evaluation, etc.)

Not a macro shift in organizational process (design of role, design of tasks, introduction of new positions)

PTO IS a collective orientation around collective, personal, concrete, small and achievable goal.

One predictable night “off” a week for each team member.

Leave by 6pm (Mon - Thurs) No work related emails, phone calls, etc.

Initial outcomes PTO “worked”

All initial teams took nights off (12 teams). 60% of teams took nights off over 75% of the time. Rest of teams took nights approximately 50% of the time.

In addition to predictable time off, people oriented to the work, to each other, and to themselves differently.

We saw a dramatic increase in: Individual motivation. Quality of group dialogue. Experimentation with new ways of working. Collective ownership of work. Individual satisfaction in blending work and personal

lives.

What happened? Rules of engagement

Collective goal of personal interest. Suggested practices in service of the goal (coverage assignments, calendar

exercise). Concrete exercises to enable structured dialogue in service of the goal (pulse

check, tummy rumbles, balance sheet). Commitment to attend regular team meetings and engage in structured dialogue.

PLUS Enabling conditions

Leadership support. Facilitation (external to the team).

ENGENDERED Generative outcomes

Open dialogue characterized by psychological safety. Willingness to experiment with new ways of working and communicating. Systems thinking about work product as a whole. Expanded sense of colleagues as whole people with full lives.

Core Outcomes Shared Goal

In my opinion the open communication aspect of PTO is most important. It felt good to be checking in every week and continuously asking, ‘is this the best way.’ At our client site they have a motto: “right work, work right.” I think this is a fitting tagline for our PTO experience. It enabled us to get better at doing the work right, become more reflective on the goals of the project, and begin to see each other as humans. – Lila, Consultant

Shared Knowledge I do see a big plus that comes form sharing our work more. In general, it is good for

people to get to know what each other are doing because you get a better perspective on how your piece fits in. And once you know what everyone is up to, the team meetings become much more engaging, you can help each other out and contribute ideas on the whole project. This was not something we ever really did before PTO. I see that level of engagement as adding value to each person and to the team as a whole. You don’t need to know every single detail to have that, but a general sense goes a long way.” – Rene, Consultant

Mutual respect Once people have information about each other’s personal life they will act on this

information. Prior to PTO we just didn’t ask about personal lives. We stayed professional and just asked about work. No one dared to ask personal questions. It’s just a cultural thing. In the hierarchy, you would rarely hear a P or PL proactively ask an A or C what they do in their free time, what do they like or don’t like and so forth. So people didn’t speak up about those things. But with PTO you begin to get a sense of each other as people and that goes a long way.” – Vic, Consultant

Discovering relational coordination Shared Goal

In my opinion the open communication aspect of PTO is most important. It felt good to be checking in every week and continuously asking, ‘is this the best way.’ At our client site they have a motto: “right work, work right.” I think this is a fitting tagline for our PTO experience. It enabled us to get better at doing the work right, become more reflective on the goals of the project, and begin to see each other as humans. – Lila, Consultant

Shared Knowledge I do see a big plus that comes form sharing our work more. In general, it is good for

people to get to know what each other are doing because you get a better perspective on how your piece fits in. And once you know what everyone is up to, the team meetings become much more engaging, you can help each other out and contribute ideas on the whole project. This was not something we ever really did before PTO. I see that level of engagement as adding value to each person and to the team as a whole. You don’t need to know every single detail to have that, but a general sense goes a long way.” – Rene, Consultant

Mutual respect Once people have information about each other’s personal life they will act on this

information. Prior to PTO we just didn’t ask about personal lives. We stayed professional and just asked about work. No one dared to ask personal questions. It’s just a cultural thing. In the hierarchy, you would rarely hear a P or PL proactively ask an A or C what they do in their free time, what do they like or don’t like and so forth. So people didn’t speak up about those things. But with PTO you begin to get a sense of each other as people and that goes a long way.” – Vic, Consultant

Conclusions

How might an organization create relational coordination? Small changes that engage people in a collective goal

oriented around personal gain can bring about substantive changes in action and interaction in a team environment.

Create a win/win virtuous cycle that benefits the organization, the team, and the individual.

Conclusions

What is the relationship between organizational structure and enacted practice in fostering relational coordination?

Rules of engagement plus enabling conditions provided a map for new ways of working and the context that enabled non-normative behavior, trust, and experimentation.

Large structural changes as suggested by prior work not necessarily required to foster relational coordination.

Methods and Data Retrospective interviews (52)

Observations:

Team meetings (approximately 20)

Firm meetings (6)

PTO team meetings (approximately 25)

Around the office (multiple days)

Documents (emails, power point slides, facilitator materials, etc.)

Analyzed data through inductive theory building techniques