Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Hodgetts, Richard M. (1995, Summer). A Conversation with Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Organizational Dynamics, 24 (1 ).
Kantor discusses her book World Class which examines the real meaning of globalization for every organization and each manager. The book emphasizes alliances and cooperation, a theme Peter Senge covers in The Fifth Discipline. Senge believes that a learning organization relies on cooperation, not competition, competition being one "dysfunction" that keeps an organization from operating at its full potential.
The two measures of globalization are cross-border activity and technology that permits instantaneous communication. In the interview Kanter says that the old rules of business are changing thanks to "the bypassing force." An example of the bypassing force is the way independent mail carriers have emerged -- in the U.S. you no longer have to go through the government in order send mail.
Another important force affecting international business is pluralism. As more products are available, it is harder to have superpowers. The centers of power are no longer supreme. This principle can be applied to countries as well as organizations. As Senge says the "management team" as the only arbiters of power in an organization is now a myth. There is also a shift in how businesses see their key relationships and how customers look upon choices -- there is a knowledge of what else is available, so traditional relationships can not be taken for granted. High standards are necessary to retain customers and the develop new ones.
Small sized and mid-sized companies need to have the strengths of larger ones, Kanter says - world class quality, value-added services, and the ability to partner. Another interesting idea that is illustrated in many partnerships today is that local collaboration can lead to more advantages internationally. Ultimately organizations must have the golden C's of global assets: connections, concepts, and competence (these sound a good deal like attributes of a learning organization.)
"We are living in a time when mastering change is probably the most important thing that leaders can help their organizations do," says Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the author of The Change Masters: Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the American Corporation and When Giants Learn to Dance: Mastering the challenges of Strategy, Management, and Careers in the 1990's. (p. 70)
The central metaphor of the article is the croquet game in Alice in Wonderland. Like the croquet game, the business environment is very unstable with nothing remaining quite the same for long. Everything is in constant motion. Especially because the rapid changes in information technology, change is going at a much more rapid pace than ever before. The image of Alice trying to hit the ball (the hedgehog) is like employers and employees. Just as the hedgehog asserts itself and moves wherever it pleases, employees today are mobile, and don't sit still to be ordered around by employers. The human factor in business is more important than ever. Organizations must be responsive to their workers.
In another sense the customer is the hedgehog, asserting independence and no longer tied to product loyalty. Power is shifting away from the producers of goods to those who buy goods and services. The health care industry is a good example of how consumer power has altered the way health services are offered to the public. Customers are more demanding and are aware that they can go elsewhere to spend their money.
"The final challenge of change that organizations face today is not only that tools and technology keep moving and changing, or that customers are more demanding and employees want more rewards and power now, but it is also that the very structure of the game itself is changing, the boundaries between industries are blurring and the boundaries between countries are blurring." (p. 75) This statement shows that Senge's "prisoners of their own thinking" need to be able to shift to see new systems taking place and new possible alliances forming.
Top down chains of command will not work in an era of rapid and unpredictable change. [My own note: although it has been a premise of military command hierarchies that it is just the nature of change and unpredictability of battle that requires commanders and soldiers who take orders.]
Kanter poses the four F's as necessary characteristics of organizations in a time of rapid change:
- Focused - organizations must choose areas in which they can excel and meet high standards
- Fast - no top down management can respond to change as rapidly as smaller divisions and departments can, so organizations must count on action taken by individuals. The job of the management, then, is transmitting values and priorities to the ordinary people in the organization.
Both innovation and speed in processing are needed. Recovery speed, the ability to fix problems, is also needed.
- Flexible - Job definitions need to be broader; team skills are necessary, and employees need to be able to bridge functions and departments. Learning skills are a perfect match for the need to be flexible. The ability to learn also decreases defensiveness and the resistance to change. Narrow thinking only leads to turf protection.
- Friendly - People need to find work pleasurable and satisfying. "We live in a world in which we need constant learning. This means that nobody can go to sleep on the job anymore" (p. 83) People need to work collaboratively.
Prepared by Claire McInerney