Multiple theories provide a basis on how to build organizational capacity. Some include Bolman and Deals (2003) approach.
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It includes understanding organizational climate, maintaining the correct corporate structure, focusing human resources in the correct direction, directing the political environment, maximizing organizational symbols, and the need for dynamic leadership. Prosci® (2007), in analyzing over 1300 international companies, would argue that leaders must maintain a properly integrated balance between change management and project management to ensure organizational capacity. These and other models provide intellectual stimulation for managers to understand the systems within their organization. This thesis discusses the need for organizations to utilize change management, knowledge management, and communications to maximize capacity.
Organizational Culture
Understanding an organization’s culture and structure, and the separate cultures within each system of an establishment, is the first step toward gaining organizational capacity. Haines (1998) in discussing systems states that a system is “a set of components that work together for the good of the whole” (p. 27). Leadership must understand the internal nature of each part of an organization, department-by-department, as well as the entity as a whole. In the US Navy, submariners use an internal navigation system computer, similar to today’s Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) systems used in automobiles, to navigate.
While underwater, the submarine system tracks the speed, course, and turns a submarine takes, resulting in the commanding officer having the approximate location of the submarine. Both systems initially receive an input from a satellite to establish its location. The submarine and GPS systems need this information before they can start functioning as designed.
The submarine system receives this input, and then, when submerged, uses the computer to track its approximate location. The reason the location is approximate is the possibility of continuing error, over time, expands the probability of inaccuracy. Therefore, the submarine commander frequently goes to periscope depth to receive an update from the satellite to mark the exact location. Not doing this increases the chances the commanding officer could cause the ship to go off course with disastrous results.
The automobile GPS system must have satellite information before it can navigate its user to a desired location. The difference between the automobile and submarine system is automobile systems continually receive inputs. When constantly receiving satellite data, the GPS can provide the user with updated information about upcoming exits and turns for guidance to the final location. It also provides the user with an immediately recalculated route if the driver needs to take a different road than the system expected.
Part of having a working understanding of an organization’s culture is the leaders desire to be more like the automobile GPS system versus the submarine system. Direction, culture, and change are a continual part of an organization life cycle. Having constant input and an understanding of the environment, vice the occasional “catch up” seminar, is vital.
Utilizing Change, Knowledge, and Communications
Strategy
Some organizations focus on strategy prior to making any policy or business rules. Although it is a good practice, it has disadvantages because it can lead to execution prior to understanding the corporate culture discussed above. Deal and Peterson (1999), discussing leadership and vision, state, “Through a careful probe of past and present, they need to identify a clear sense of what…can become a picture of a positive future” (p. 89). Leadership obtains a clear understanding of the past and present of an organization when they define and understand its culture.
After understanding the culture of an organization, leadership can start developing strategy that takes advantage of the strengths identified from its investigation. It can also start developing and training managers and the workforce to overcome the weaknesses identified from its research.
Change Management
Change is constant. The most difficult part of change in organizations is how innovation or an alteration to a process should start. It may appear the process will be easy, but until leaders have an understanding of culture and various organizational elements, start sharing knowledge, and establish communication, substantial change is difficult.
Hiatt’s (2006) hypothesis for change is the Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement (ADKAR) model. He believes these elements, when correctly instituted, and associated with various factors, create successful change. The ADKAR model includes a relationship between each of the ADKAR fundamentals with various change management techniques Hiatt (2006) indicates are required to influence the ADKAR steps.
These techniques are communication, sponsorship, coaching, resistance management, and training. Hiatt indicates communication is crucial to awareness; sponsorship primarily supports awareness, desire, and reinforcement; coaching is associated with each ADKAR step; resistance management supports desire; and training relates to knowledge and ability. An understanding of change principles, knowledge management, and how to incorporate them, associated with grasping the culture of an organization, is paramount in obtaining organizational capacity.
Knowledge Management
Knowledge Management (KM) has been taking place for centuries. The process did not have a label applied until recently. People have turned to various sources to obtain information about past theories and hypothesis, in order to understand an issue or help formulate an idea. The concept of using knowledge is not new. A formal structure, to assist corporations in organizational learning and having a “smarter” workforce is new.
Most would agree that change has both pleasant and objectionable facets. It depends on whether the individual desires the change, anticipates the value of the alteration, or believes something has thrust the variation upon him or her without input or comment. In knowledge management execution, similar outlooks reside within the individual. It is management’s responsibility to recognize the hurdles, plan for them, and create an encouraging environment where the workforce overcomes the challenge. Much like a coach, who trains the athlete for the competition, leadership has the responsibility to train employees for the contest.
Effron (2004) states,
“The truth is the sheer concept of knowledge management is fundamentally flawed – it involves neither knowledge nor management and therefore cannot be expected to succeed” (p. 39). This presents a dilemma for an organization that wants to have a “learning” environment.
Organizational Learning (OL) requires the sharing of information, which results in obtaining knowledge that ultimately assists individuals in supporting an organization. Argyris and Schön (1978) describe OL as “the detection and correction of error.” This involves making improvements in an organization based on individuals having a system whereby they can easily access information, process that information into usable knowledge and understanding, share the information, and thereby make better decisions.
Knowledge is categorized into two areas. They are explicit and tacit. Easterby-Smith and Lyles (2005) explain that explicit knowledge is that which is easily recordable and retrievable. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is that which individuals hold in their minds based on a unique mixture of experience, learning, and education. It is neither easily recordable nor retrievable. Easterby-Smith and Lyles state that “…knowledge creation through transformations of tacit and explicit knowledge; the importance of national culture and philosophy to understanding the construction and communication of knowledge; the interrelationship between the policy domain and operational levels in the creation of knowledge…” (p. 11) is difficult because of the nature of coordinating the two across cultural boundaries.
Durham (2004), in discussing senior management KM initiatives, states that “…far and away most important is to recognize the need for and value of the KM initiative” (p. 297). Managers often forget the leadership approach needed in their positions. This approach calls for them to provide vision, strategy, clearly communicated goals, build teams, cause collaboration, energize, give responsibility with commensurate authority, and satisfy corporate and individual needs.
Any KM program must include the entire organization working toward common goals, with management visibly involved. This attention must be at all levels within management. Although senior executives (i.e. CEO) must be involved and provide support; middle management, and front line supervisors are the most important asset in incorporating a KM program. These managers are the ones that have day-to-day influence and control over the workforce.
They are also the individuals employees observe the most. Senior leadership must have a coaching influence on these mid-level managers. Executive level management must help them see the vision of KM, train them to understand the value of KM, and continue to work with them in sustaining KM. A middle manager must understand that his or her department’s acceptance and working within the knowledge organization goes beyond assisting their particular functional area. It must have value to the individual, the department, and the organization. This is the operational approach needed to have a valuable KM program. It eventually provides “buy-in” at all levels.
Communication
Effective communication is complicated by having your message surrounded by change, discord, conflicting schedules, urgent timelines, office politics, hundreds of emails in the “in box,” and any number of other distractions one can consider. No wonder there are always some who never get the message, others who deliberately ignore the message, and often those who have not had time to receive and digest the message.
George Bernard Shaw summarized this dilemma when he said, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
Most any textbook on communications would agree on the process involved in providing effective communications. The parts include a sender, the message itself (which includes the content, or what is stated, and the process, or how to deliver the message), the receiver, and the response (or feedback) the recipient gives the originator. It is important to note that “noise” affects the communication process.
The sender must decide the content – the specific message. In making this determination the sender must consider if the message is general or specific and the details needed to support that message. In determining content, managers must consider the background of the audience. That includes, but is certainly not limited to the age, status, education level, feelings, cultural setting, and what the message will mean to the recipients.
The delivery method, or process, requires thought. Usually the methods are verbal, written, visual, or a mix of these. According to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee paper (n.d.) – Principles of Communication - people remember, “10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, and 40% of what they hear and see” (¶ 8).
While it is important to communicate policy and guidance to all members of any entity, the methods need evaluation. It is best to deliver some messages via “mass media” within the organization. An example is announcing good news to employees, an improvement in benefits, increased sales, or other positive events. However, other information may require a communication process that is more structured and personal.
A written message is one of the communication processes. This requires careful planning, excellent word choice, formal or informal determination, and needs to be well organized and precise. Written language is beneficial because it provides a vehicle for the reader to review the material as often as needed.
Visual communication is effective in that the receiver normally has an image to assist in recall. Visual messages include video, live feed, illustrations, cartoons, posters, and flyers. It is especially helpful when coupled with written or verbal messages.
Noise is both a literal and figurative environment that prevents productive communications. Noise provides many enemies to the sender and receiver and includes decoding and encoding. If a sender cannot encode a message for correct decoding by the receiver, the content is lost. Some of the barriers that cause this noise, which reduces the likelihood of successful interaction, are culture, defensiveness, self-fulfilling assumptions, bias, change, as well as body language when using face-to-face verbal exchange.
Feedback is important for effective communications and helps determine how much “noise” prevented effective message transmission. Response verifies receipt and understanding of your message. Feedback also allows the manager to know if his or her message needs modification or re-emphasis.
Similar to Murphy’s Law, is one of Osmo Wiio’s Laws, which states, If communication can fail, it will. If a message can be understood in different ways, it will be understood in the way that does the most harm. Some people “always” know better than you do by what you meant by your message. The more communication there is, the more difficult it is for communication to succeed.
Although these are humorous quips, they have some degree of truth imbedded in there banter. Communication is often misinterpreted resulting from poor preparation, the wrong delivery method, failure to remove emotion, and not willing to take the time to consider how the receiver will respond to a message.
Communications can be looked at similar to the construction of a ship. The keel on a ship, anchors the struts and frames (ribs). These, in turn, support the network of decks, bulkheads, and overheads that make up the various compartments. This interlinking of components, with the keel as the foundation, makes the ship seaworthy. Communications is the backbone for the organizational capacity components, related change management, and knowledge management techniques to work. They cannot interrelate to build a productive change management approach with out consistent and effective communications. Prosci® (2007) reports on the two biggest issues in communications are senior leadership being able to effectively “communicate with direct reports about the change,” and middle management and direct supervisors “not effectively communicating with their employees” (p. 35).
Summary
Effron (2004) relates that organizational culture prevents sharing of information because of the lack of communities to share knowledge, and gathering isolated knowledge requires major changes in company philosophy. Non-threatening communication, across boundaries, within cross-functional teams, and eliminating the “shoot the messenger” mentality is the focus needed to adopt a new atmosphere in an organization. It is also important for management to sell KM and not revert to old ways of doing business. The old culture has a tremendous draw. If not recognized, it is easy to slide into the past because it is convenient, tranquil, and easier than change. Leaders involved in cultural change have to challenge those ideas and comfort zones.
In the battle of Leyte Gulf, communication failure almost cost the US forces a victory. Admiral “Bull” Halsey was in command of Third Fleet.
A number of messages sent out by General Douglas MacArthur, who was in charge of the campaign, and Admiral “Bull” Halsey were misunderstood. Because Admiral Halsey was not “directed” by General MacArthur to take a specific action, “Bull” chased after a decoy force of enemy ships. Not understanding the culture of the organization in place for this battle, rapid change of plans, ineffective knowledge sharing, and a lack of clear communications, decreased organizational capacity, and almost caused US defeat. The same is true for an organization. It must understand its culture, recognize the need to change, share knowledge, and communicate in order to improve or maintain organizational capacity.
References
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Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley
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San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Deal, T. & Peterson, K. (1999). Shaping school culture; The heart of leadership. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Durham, M. (2004). Three critical roles for knowledge management workspaces:
Moderators, thought leaders, and managers. Koenig, M. E. D., & Srikantaiah,
T. K. (Eds.), Knowledge management lessons learned: What works and what
doesn’t. Medford, NJ: Information Today, Inc.
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organizational learning; harnessing the power of knowledge. San Francisco:
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learning and knowledge management. Victoria, Austrilia: Blackwell Publishing
Haines, S.G. (1998). Systems thinking and learning. Amherst, MA: HRD Press
Hiatt, J. M., (2006). ADKAR; A model for change in business, government and our
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Prosci®. (2007). Best Practices in Change Management, Prosci Benchmarking Report
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University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Center for Urban Transportation Studies,
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Copyright ©2008 David A. Larson, Sr.
David A. Larson, Sr.
David A. Larson, Sr. is a retired U.S. Navy Commander having served on active duty for 32 years. He has extensive worldwide leadership, management, supply-chain, operational, and logistics support experience. He served on surface ships, submarines, strategic policy staffs, and the US Embassy,
His vast experience includes teaching various business management, business policy formulation, organizational change management, organizational leadership, organizational behavior, media relations, human relations, and marketing courses as:
- Adjunct professor for Central Pennsylvania College – Organizational Change Management, Business Policy Formulation, Media Relations, Human Resources, and other management course.
- Adjunct professor for Colorado Technical University Online – Project Management
- Adjunct professor for the U.S. International University –
His consulting and training experience includes leading two Joint Contact Team Programs for the
David’s education includes:
- Completed eight advanced courses associated with Organizational Leadership with
- MA in National Security and Strategic Studies from the
- MA in Business Management (Management and Supervision) from
- BS in Business Administration from
- Change Management Certification from Prosci®
- Change Management Training Certification from
He is a fellow with the Institute of Leadership & Management (
David has been an active and award winning Toastmaster for over five years. His positions in that organization include club President and Area Governor, which won the Select Distinguished Area Award. He was a guest speaker at the 2003 European Supply-Chain & Logistics Summit in
