1.5 - About University

Work designWhat challenged theparadigm Elements of the paradigm paradigm?About 1900:Experts solveproblems.About 1950:Everybody solvesproblems.About 1965:Experts improvesystems.About 1985:Everybodyimproves wholesystems.• Fredrick Taylor’s scientific management• Study, subdivide, and standardize work sothat anyone can do it.• The Human Relations Movement andparticipative management studies showpeople can be more productive when theyare involved.• The rise of the systems thinking and qualitymovements• Eric Trist and Fred Emory’s sociotechnicaldesign• Success of quality gurus with Japaneseindustry• Open-book management• The total quality movement combiningquality tools with teamwork• Systems thinking• The Hawthorne studies of the 1930s showedthat productivity increased when workerswere involved.• The knowledge that motivated people can bedefeated by poorly designed systems.• Studies show that a combination of involvedworkers and well-designed work systemsproduces better results.• Success of Japanese management style ofusing quality tools combined with workerparticipation.• Rise of technical complexity and theknowledge worker—no expert couldunderstand it all.• Rise of new economy, the Internet, ande-commerce• The changing employment contract, loss ofcorporate loyalty, and worker specializationand contracting outP ARADIGMS AND CHANGEIt is new entrants, not established players, who most often initiate the shift to a new paradigm.Defenders of traditional approaches can always point out problems with the new paradigm, asnew paradigms seldom solve more than a few of the problems that confronted the oldparadigm. Allegiance to the new paradigm is often a matter of faith, and cannot be forced. Forthis reason, the transition between competing paradigms cannot be made incrementally. Ashift of underlying assumptions is required. Inevitably, as we enter the twenty-first century,new paradigms of organization and leadership are already in the process of being sorted out.H OW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL“For a social discipline, such as management, the assumptions are actually a good deal more important thanare the paradigms for a natural science. The paradigm—that is, the prevailing general theory—has no impact onthe natural universe. Whether the paradigm states that the sun rotates around the earth, or that, on the contrary,the earth rotates around the sun, has no effect on sun and earth. But a social discipline, such as management,deals with the behavior of people and human institutions. The social universe has no ‘natural laws’ asthe physical sciences do. It is thus subject to continuous change. This means that assumptions that were validyesterday can become invalid and, indeed, totally misleading in no time at all.”—Peter Drucker, FORBES MAGAZINE, October 5, 1998Often, paradigm shifts are not easily identified. Symptoms that an organizational paradigmshift may be happening are:➠ Change seems overwhelming.30 SECTION 1 FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPTS