LKCE16 - Fast Forward New Organising Models in a complex world by Professor Julian Birkinshaw

Copyright Julian Birkinshaw 2016

Fast/Forward New Organising Models in a

Complex World

Lean Kanban Conference

Hamburg, November 2016

Professor Julian Birkinshaw

London Business School


A personal anecdote


Who is accountable?


A deficit of accountability

A failure of leadership


Types of innovation

Product innovation

Technology innovation

Process innovation

Business model innovation

Management innovation

Service innovation


Changes in how we work are vital to

productivity improvement

0

2

4

6

8

High

investment in

Information

Technology

Low

investment in

Information

Technology

Traditional workplace

practices

Innovative workplace

practices

Annual productivity

growth in 1990s for

US manufacturers

Source: Arnal, Ok, Torres 2001


A Changing World

New Ways of Working

Implications for Leadership

and Management


Credit Default Swaps

Processor speed (MIPS)

Processing power/$

Number of internet hosts

Data transmission speeds

Cost of bandwidth (bits/second/$)

Number of genes sequenced

Astronomical data collected

How economic progress happens:

The “accelerating change” hypothesis?


The creative destruction hypothesis:

Shifting basis of competitive advantage

INDUSTRIAL AGE: 1860s-1960s

INFORMATION AGE: 1970s–2020s

?


The dark side of “big data”

Analysis Paralysis

Blind Faith in Data

Answers in search of

Questions

Loss of Contextual

Understanding

Loss of Differentiation


Transitioning beyond the information age

Too much

information

creates deficit

of attention

Overemphasis

on logic leads

to sterile

decision making

INFORMATION

KNOWLEDGE

DECISIVE ACTION

EMOTIONAL CONVICTION


INFORMATION

+

KNOWLEDGE

ACTION

+

CONVICTION

Towards an “agile age”?


A Changing World

New Ways of Working


and Management


How should you be organised in a

complex operating environment?

• Fight complexity with complexity


The downsides of complexity

Turf wars

Unclear roles

Steering committees

Layers of rules & procedures

Alienation and disengagement

Risk aversion and lack of creativity


How should you be organised in a

complex operating environment?

• Fight complexity with complexity

• Fight complexity with simplicity


Alternatives to bureaucracy Under what conditions does this work?


The Shared Space model

Hans Monderman – the Drachten experiment


So, what do you do for a living?


Three ways of describing yourself in the

workplace

Your position on the org chart

Your knowledge and experience

What you do on a day to day basis


Three distinct models of organising

Your position on the org chart

Your knowledge and experience

What you do on a day to day basis

Bureaucracy

Meritocracy

Adhocracy


Adhocracy – a classic example


Adhocracy – a current example


Zappos – the holacracy experiment


Three distinct models

People motivated by…

Decisions made through…

By Rules

Hierarchy

Extrinsic Rewards

Coordination achieved…



Around Opportunity

Experimentation

Achievement


Bureaucracy Position is privileged

Adhocracy Action is privileged



Mutual Adjustment

Logical Argument

Personal Mastery


Meritocracy Knowledge is privileged

Which models does your organisation use? And

which ones should you be using?


INDUSTRIAL AGE

Emphasis on

productivity and efficiency

BUREAUCRACY

INFORMATION AGE

Emphasis on

rational analysis and expertise

MERITOCRACY

‘AGILE’ AGE

Emphasis on

agility, intuition, and decisiveness

ADHOCRACY

Shifting emphasis over time


A Changing World

New Ways of Working


and Management


Adhocracy at a personal level


Men’s world high-jump record

2.55m

2.45m

2.35m

2.25m

2.15m

2.05m

1.95m 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000


John Thomas vs. Valeriy Brumel

2.55m

2.45m

2.35m

2.25m

2.15m

2.05m

1.95m 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000


Dick Fosbury: Mexico Olympics Gold

2.55m

2.45m

2.35m

2.25m

2.15m

2.05m

1.95m 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

Olympics


Three waves of innovation in the high

jumping industry

2.55m

2.45m

2.35m

2.25m

2.15m

2.05m

1.95m 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000

The Fosbury Flop

The Straddle Jump

The Western Roll


in praise of “unreasonable” people


So how do you get the

most out of these

people?


A big part of the leader’s job is

enabling initiative and experimentation


There is also a tricky linking role when

you are encouraging experimentation


And occasionally you need to step in

decisively, to make things happen


BUREAUCRACY

Emphasis on productivity

and efficiency

Leadership is about

monitoring and controlling

MERITOCRACY

Emphasis on data and analysis

Leadership is about

expertise and information

flow

ADHOCRACY

Emphasis on flexibility and decisiveness

Leadership is setting a direction,

enabling others, experimentation


Book to be

published

March 2017

Stanford

University Press

Leadership & Management

LKCE16 - Fast Forward New Organising Models in a complex world by Professor Julian Birkinshaw