Brief Review of OD Techniques

Reflective Learning Cycle

FishbowlThe Fishbowl Technique What to observe:

• communication• power & influence• roles• conflict• norms• decision making• problem solving• leadership• goal clarity• task/maintenance

Debriefing• share observations• explore interpretations• consider application

Organizational LifeLine

1982 1992 2002----?

Women OfficersUniform, promotion

Militich Admin

LyonsAdmin

WallerAdmin

Wilson Death

FTO Program

EquipmentVestsAutomaticsTrainingSpouse support

CLEFSGrant

Early OD efforts

New hopesBalanceSupport

CommunityPolicing

Sokolov field training model

MandatoryDomestic

arrest

12-hourshifts

Value Chain Analysis

Referral intake

Pre-placement

AssessmentWeek 1

AssessmentWeek 2

AssessmentWeek 3

AssessmentWeek 4

Discharge

Outcome Criteria:

• timeliness

• accuracy

• thoroughness

• integrated

• consistency

• relevant to purpose

• staff support

• pride in product & process

Process

• backward reconstruction: what must precede this?

• what is done at each stage?

• what is the value of that task (criteria)?

• where are the bottlenecks?

• what can be streamlined without decreasing value?

• what’s wrong?• how did it happen?• how can we fix it?• fix it!• did we fix it?

Traditional problem solving:

The problem with a problem-centered

approach

• problems statements are not necessarily related to the solution

• focusing on the problem can reinforce it

• complex problems require a shift in frame

• trying to remove problem elements may elicit resistance

• absence of a problem does not mean high level functioning

• many solved problems simply maintain the status quo

Solution focused change

• emphasizes second-order change

• utilizes ongoing change

• makes distinctions that make a difference

• provides goal well-formedness (clear favorable outcome)

Solution Focused ChangeException Question Sequence:• 1. When don't you have that problem? • 2. What's different about those times? What occurs instead? • 3. How can that be made to occur more often? Who needs to do what? • 4. How will you begin to notice that the problem is being solved? What will be different?

Miracle Question Sequence: • 1. If a miracle occurred tonight, and when you woke up tomorrow the problem was solved, what would be the first just noticeable indication that things were different? • 2. What will have to be different for that to begin happening? • 3. When does that already happen, even if only a little? Who will have to do what to make that happen more? • 4. What will be an indication to you and others that the problem is really solved?Coping Question Sequence: • 1. Why aren't things worse than they are? • 2. What are people doing to prevent things from getting worse? • 3. How are those things helpful? What else would be helpful? • 4. What needs to happen for those things to continue?

Pessimistic Question Sequence: • 1. What do you think will happen if things don't get better? • 2. What will happen after that? What next? Then what? • 3. If the problem solvers start to become more optimistic (or at least dissatisfied with their negative premonitions), shift to the constructive question sequences above.

Flawed Leadership– What were they thinking?

• How is it that leaders who are initially selected for a position based on their competencies, may eventually fail dramatically? What are the causes of this downfall?

• How could "at risk" leaders be identified earlier? What mechanism would enable this? What kinds of interventions might be useful?

• What are the effects of a flawed leader on an organization (consider organizational culture as well as impact on performance)? Think of some examples of such events.

There is a proliferation of new books on dealing with difficult bosses

• Crazy bosses

• I hate my boss

• Dinosaur brains

• Surviving your boss

• Working for a loser

• Neanderthals at work

• Coping with difficult bosses

• Dealing with people you can’t stand

• When smart people work for dumb bosses

Ok, so he’s not a boss, but would you want to work for him???

So, what stories do you have about incompetent or dysfunctional bosses?

• From 1995 to 2006 CEO turnover has increased by 59%

• During that same period performance related turnover increased by 318%!

• In 1995 1 in 8 were forced out; in 2006 1 in 3 left involuntarily

• Conflicts between CEOs and Boards increased from 2%-11% from 1995-2006

http://www.boozallen.com/publications/article/36608085?lpid=66005 /

http://www.strategy-business.com/press/freearticle/08208?tid=230&pg=all

http://www.iim-edu.org/dysfunctionalleadershipdysfunctionalorganizations/index.htm

What are some organizational indications that leadership is failing?

• In the past five years nearly 2/3 of all major companies worldwide replaced their CEOs

• 35% of all new executives entering a new position will fail (Center for Creative Leadership)

• 40 percent of all executives entering into new positions will either leave voluntarily, be terminated or receive an unsatisfactory review within 18 months (Manchester Partners International)

• 70% of CEO have considered quitting, and 35% of top executives would say no to CEO position (Burson-Marsteller CEO reputation study)

• The typical Fortune 500 company has had 2.3 CEOs in the last decade (Center for Executive Options)

• 15% of the problems a consultant was hired to solve were related to narcissistic managers.

• Hertzberg (1968), and more recently Hogan, Raskin, and Fazzini (1990) report that the base rate for flawed leadership is between 60-75% in organizations

• the failure rate of corporate executives in the US  from the 1980's-90's was about 50% (DeVries, 1992).

Trends

• Incompetent management has been estimated at 60% in one large hospital and 50% in a large aerospace organization

• It was found that 25% of managers abuse employees enough that workers call in sick, slow down productivity, or change jobs.

• This costs industry and the economy up to $5 billion annually

• Liability tends to follow such problems and 29 states have upheld personal injury claims related to abuse of power.

• volatility increases following a CEO turnover, even for the most frequent type, when a CEO leaves voluntarily and is replaced by someone inside the firm

• Out of 253 chief executive departures, those that were involuntary were up by 70% compared to 2001.

Trends cont’d

• See CEO Turnover: http://www.ceogo.com

Vision is nice, but doers and team players are

more successful

The Cost of Failure

Backlash to CEO Pay

• During 2003 CEO compensation rose 9.1%.

• Topping the list of the top paid CEOs is Reuben Mark, from Colgate-Palmolive, who earned a salary and bonus of $5.1 Million and long-term compensation of $136 Million, bringing his total pay to $141.1 Million.

• Rounding out the top five are

• Steven Jobs of Apple Computer (Total pay: $74.8 Million);

• George David of United Technologies (Total pay: $70.5 Million);

• Henry Silverman of Cendant (Total pay: $54.4 Million);

• Sanford Weill of Citigroup (Total pay: $54.1 Million).

What motivates Fortune 1000 CEOs? According to a study of 208 Fortune 1000 CEOs:

Fear - 43%Power - 22%Money - 7%(St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 03/26/2004)

• When Michael Ovitz left his post as president of Walt Disney Co. after 14 months, his severance package totaled an estimated $90 million in cash and stock options.

• John R. Walter, AT&T president and chief operating officer, left after nine months with an estimated severance package of $26 million,

• Top executive Gilbert F. Amelio exited Apple after 18 months with an estimated $7 million severance package

• Replacement costs can be as much as 150 percent of the departing person’s salary

• Turnover of a senior executive within four years typically costs $1 to $10 million, including original and follow-up search and selection costs, plus buyout and outplacement

The costs of failure can be astounding

Martha Stewart

The Economic Cost$ of Scandal

• Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has reported 4th quarter loss of $2m due to high legal fees & loss of sales

• Stewart’s television network holiday special was cancelled resulting in TV revenues dropping from $9.6m a year ago to $6.4m

• Shares have fallen from $19 to just over $9

• In 2003 Stewart reported that legal fees, lost business, & lost opportunities due to the Imclone insider trading scandal had cost her over $700m

• A conviction could have resulted in $2m in fines & 30 years in prison if found guilty of all charges

So, how do leaders and organizations

get derailed?

Premises • cognitive resources refer to the leader's intelligence, ability, technical competence • leaders make the best use of their cognitive resources under different situations • stress is an important situational variable • use of intelligence & rationality is best under conditions of low stress and high follower support and

competence • use of prior experience/intuition is best under conditions of very high stress

Overview of GroupThink

1

23

4

Team Stagesof Development

Promotion ofTeam Cohesion

Advantages of Cohesion

Team Pressureto Perform

Flawed Organizational

Structures

Symptoms of GroupThink

Consequences ofGroupThink

Countermeasures

Leadership

1. Procrastination 2. Perfectionism 3. Type-A (workaholic) 4. Narcissism (self-centered) 5. Authoritarian 6. Low self confidence 7. Stress dumper (contagion) 8. Conflict avoidant 9. Need to be liked/accepted 10. Need to know everything 11. Need to be certain of everything 12. Chronic anger, abrasive, sarcastic, vengeful 13. Incompetent, "Peter Principle" 14. Insensitivity to needs and expectations of others 15. Cold, aloof, distant, arrogant 16. Betrayal of trust, break confidence 17. Unable to take strategic view (long term planning) 18. Unable to use staff effectively and build cohesive team 19. Over-dependent on advocate or mentor 20. Unable to adapt to superior with different style 21. Overly ambitious; thinking of next job, playing politics 22. Specific performance problems with business (not know the business) 23. Over-managing (Unable to delegate or build team)

Personal Traits of Failed Leaders

Untying the Double-Bind

Repairing Problems

• The CEO must recognize the criticality of the political problem and its impact on the business performance. S/he must commit to change and be its leading champion• The CEO can use independent and qualified advisors/facilitators to support the change program (outsiders who have no internal agendas or biases)• The CEO must use adequate scorecards and open employee-feedback surveys to assess the health and performance of the management team, and to identify performance roadblocks. The surveys must be anonymous and conducted by independent consultants on a biquarterly basis• For valid differences of opinions, consider mediation and arbitration. If that does not work, replace difficult and uncooperative managers.• If the existing management team does not demonstrate a true change of heart and policy, then a new powerful leadership must be brought in• If a new leadership is brought in, s/he must be backed by the full support of the board of directors. The new CEO/leader must be given the power to make decisions, hire, fire and end bad politics.• The leader must gather the team together and be honest and direct about bad political behaviors and should be willing to back threats with actions. It is important to have the legal counsel be present and announce that those who continue in their negative behavior will be out the door.• To quote Gandhi: "Be the change you want to see.” The most powerful leaders are almost always the role models for the change they seek. If the CEO practices bad politics, no amount of training or coaching will change the management team.• Do not tolerate bad behavior. Realize that both bad and good behaviors are contagious. It is a proven sociological fact that people will imitate the behavior that appears to be socially acceptable, even if it is not their normal behavior. If you allow some people to get away with bad political behaviors, other people will follow.• Focus on building a culture of collaboration as part of the management strategy. The process of building a healthy organization starts by creating cohesive teams at all levels (top, middle and line managers). Leverage executive-coaching programs and action-learning teams to solve problems and develop strategies. Learning together helps them to work better together• Conduct company-wide team building workshops, educate teams on professional ethics and train them on people skills, communication, negotiation and conflict resolution • Communicate, educate and build consensus on strategy, direction and performance targets• Once a strategy is agreed upon, design a performance system to motivate and control - include both incentives and penalties. The new system must be aligned with objectives and designed to reward collaboration and penalize silos• Use collaboration tools (Information and communication technologies) between geographically dispersed business units and teams

Best Practice for Controlling Bad Politics

Leadership Substitutes & Neutralizers

Can’t hide poor leadership– but sometimes you also can’t get rid of it

• Will tampering/intervening with the situation make it worse?

• Will attempted intervention increase the resistance, stress, or punishment?

• Will it get better on its own SOON without intervention? (e.g., retirement, imminent transfer, health problems, legal issues, etc.)

• Will it take more effort and expense to change it than will be gained in benefit?

• Do you have "response-ability" to influence the conditions and outcome (e.g., right, legitimacy, authority)?

• Can such change be done within the constraints of time, money, safety, skills, effort, availability, support, etc?

• Will the probable amount of change due to the intervention be enough to reduce the problem effects?

The feasibility of changing a problematic situation can be difficult to determine, and there is not clear formula for its assessment. Here are some criteria that can be used for consideration:

Feasibility of change

Supplementary Slides(not required)

International CEOs