Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 9, 1995 TAG: 9507100011
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TAWN NHAN KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Re-engineering and downsizing tend to not consider the people or the workplace culture,'' says Marshall, a Chapel Hill, N.C.-based management consultant. ``If you impose structural change on people, the people get very angry and very resentful and their productivity will go down.''
Downsizing or re-engineering changes only the organization's structure and some work processes rather than its culture, work behavior and management style, says Marshall, who has written a book called ``Transforming the Way We Work.''
If Michael Hammer's and James Champy's landmark best-seller, ``Reengineering the Corporation,'' is the authority on changing organizational structure, then Marshall's book could be the authority on changing organizational culture. His book, which details, among other things, his award-winning work in implementing culture change at DuPont, has already received enthusiastic praise from executives nationwide.
In ``Transforming the Way We Work,'' Marshall suggests changing the culture first, then going after structural change. He offers a model that invites people to work more productively. He calls it the ``collaborative workplace'' - a flatter, more democratic alternative to the traditional top-down bureaucracies of most companies.
If you think Marshall has merely coined a new buzzword for old fads such as self-managed teams or worker empowerment, you're wrong.
Marshall says that a collaborative workplace is ``a fundamental shift in values'' that reaches beyond organizing workers in new boxes.
``You can have a self-managed team in a hierarchical environment or a collaborative environment. The difference is the principle or values by which they are managed,'' says Marshall, whose clients include Marriott International, IBM and AT&T.
``In a hierarchical environment, the role of the leader, manager or supervisor is telling people what to do - they reserve the right to lead. In a collaborative environment, the leader is a coach or sponsor who works with team members to make sure they are aligned, that they have ownership of the work environment and add value to the business.''
One of the more striking tenets of a collaborative workplace is ``situational leadership.'' That means leadership changes depending on what skills the situation demands.
``Collaboration is the way people naturally want to work,'' Marshall says. ``Most people want to be respected. They want acknowledgment for their expertise and contributions. They want to participate in the decisions that affect them and they want accountability and responsibility. But a hierarchical organization assumes you are a child and you have to be supervised.''
In his book, Marshall offers a blueprint for companies committed to implementing a collaborative workplace, but emphasizes that it's an evolutionary process - not a quick fix.
One key to implementation is creating an operating agreement for the company, group or work team. The operating agreement, created by consensus, documents the obligations of each member - to communicate ideas or express disagreement, for example. In it, members may make a commitment to such values as being open to others' ideas, refraining from making issues personal and showing up for meetings on time. It could also lay out how conflicts will be resolved and how members will be held accountable. In sum, the document is a tangible expression of the collaborative culture - it puts in writing the values and beliefs of the group.
Marshall advises his clients to let workers - even those who have a vested interest in the status quo - participate in implementing organizational changes.
That contrasts with advice from re-engineering gurus Hammer and Champy, who advise against ``making re-engineering happen from the bottom up.'' Trying to do so won't work, they say, because front-line workers lack broad perspective and long-term vision and because processes cross organizational boundaries, so no midlevel managers will have sufficient authority to insist on changing them. Managers may also be ineffective because of self-interest in protecting their own jobs.
Ultimately, a collaborative workplace will improve the bottom line, says Marshall. A customer service group, for example, doubled its productivity in six months after implementing collaborative teams.
``The point here is that in the new marketplace, the businesses that will win are those that learn to collaborate inside to compete outside,'' he says.
by CNB