“Managing change. How to effectively manage changes in society, business and personal life" Isaac Adizes
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May 27, 2017Managing change. How to effectively manage change in society, business and personal life Isaac Adizes
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Title: Managing change. How to effectively manage change in society, business and personal life
Author: Isaac Adizes
Year: 1992
Genre: Foreign business literature, Foreign psychology, Corporate culture, Popular business information, Social psychology, Management, personnel selection
About the book “Managing Change. How to effectively manage changes in society, business and personal life" Isaac Adizes
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent species that survive, but those that best adapt to change,” said Charles Darwin. Isaac Adizes continues this thought: “We will stop facing problems only if there is no change at all, and this will happen only when we... die.”
The book is devoted to the processes of making management decisions in conditions of constant changes occurring both inside and outside the organization. Problems arising as a result of changes, according to Adizes, are not only predictable, but also solvable. The author clearly shows how you can create and maintain the integrity of an organization if you master the art of making and implementing quality management decisions.
From this book you will learn: why conflicts are inevitable and even necessary; how to make conflict constructive; how to communicate with other people whose management styles are different from yours; how to recognize bad management; how to make quality decisions; how to predict whether a solution will be implemented; how to organize teamwork; how to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect; CAPI: the key to change management.
The book has been translated into Hebrew, Macedonian, Spanish and other languages.
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Daria Molchanova,
psychologist, human resources specialist
Today, many companies in Russia are experiencing development difficulties. The whole country is in the process of change and transformation. Business in Russia is growing out of “short pants” and requires new approaches to management.
The market is becoming more and more competitive, the client is “capricious”, the staff is “lazy” and demanding. In order to achieve the same results, increasing costs are required - financial, energetic, emotional and intellectual.
Today, old proven methods no longer work. Hierarchical, authoritarian control systems are dying out. The usual change of people in key positions, contrary to expectations, does not bring the desired changes.
Together with the “old” managers, valuable information about problems in the organization that continue to remain unresolved disappears. “Young and energetic” newcomers, unlike their predecessors who did not spare their bellies for the common cause, for some reason do not want to “burn at work.”
Increasing pressure placed on employees is ineffective. Funds invested in personnel development do not pay off. All the effort spent only leads to short-term, non-systemic improvement.
And so, when the ideas of the owners and top management of the company stop working, when there is an increasingly strong feeling that something is not going as it should, the administration decides to invite consultants.
Seeking outside support is becoming increasingly popular. And this is quite logical. After all, when we get sick, we do not self-medicate, but turn to a professional for help.
A business consultant is a doctor, only not for people, but for companies. It helps the organization and its top managers see the system from the outside, find the sources of problems and their new solutions, prevent possible negative consequences of introducing certain ideas, activate the creative potential of the team, establish business relationships with new partners, attract clients, etc. d. That is, consultants help the company reach a new level of development.
The result depends on the specific situation in the company, on the desire and readiness of the owners to cooperate with the consultant, and, of course, on the professionalism of the consultant himself.
The modern market for consulting services is rich in offers, but I want to tell you about one of the most interesting and popular approaches to managing change in an organization today - the Adizes methodology.
Dr. Itzhak Calderon Adizes is a recognized management guru, founder and director of the institute of the same name in Los Angeles, and has been developing a methodology for implementing organizational change since 1975.
All these years, Adizes has been working with completely different organizations with a number of employees from 30 to 150,000. His methods have helped commercial and non-profit companies in more than forty countries around the world achieve high results and take leading positions in a variety of industries, from banking to food trading.
Dr. Adizes is a consultant to six governments. Over the past three years, the Adizes Institute has been actively working in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Among his clients in our country are such well-known companies as Sberbank and Sibur Corporation. Adizes' methodology is built on the principles of process consulting.
Unlike expert consulting, where “doctors” give the customer a “diagnosis” and prescribe “treatment,” the main idea of process consulting is that the top executives of the customer’s company know it better than any external consultant and are responsible for any decisions made and their implementation in any case remains on them.
The consultant has no right to replace the management team. His task is to help the customer understand the problems he has. I tried to summarize for you the main ideas of this methodology. I'm sure you will find them interesting.
1. Formula for success. The success of any organization depends on the presence in it of an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect, primarily in the management team. In a favorable climate, you can always turn your back on each other and know that you will not be let down, and if you concede on something, you can count on a reciprocal concession.
If the company lacks such values as respect and trust, then most of its energy is spent on unconstructive internal conflicts, fruitless attempts to come to an agreement, and selling obvious ideas. In such an environment, there is simply not enough energy to focus on clients and business development.
2. Production method, making and implementing decisions. Since changes constantly occur in any system, which in turn inevitably give rise to problems that require solutions, management is the development of good solutions and their implementation.
To develop a good solution, the participation of everyone who can help or hinder their future implementation is necessary. This requires the so-called CAPI (Coalesced Authority, Power and Influence - a meeting of people with authority, power and influence). Thanks to a properly organized democratic decision-making process, we get a product - a solution that is easily and consistently implemented.
It is important that the person responsible for implementation, as a rule, the manager, is nothing more than a full participant in the development process and does not have the opportunity to put pressure on the group with his authority. But at the stage of implementing the decision, dictatorship rules the roost - everyone obeys the main person in charge. Therefore, the process of developing and implementing a solution in the Adizes methodology is controlled using the so-called democracy.
3. The goal of management in the Adizes methodology- is the achievement of efficiency and effectiveness of the organization in the short and long term. But in a company, some managers, due to their psychological characteristics, are more concerned with getting rid of risks, while others strive to increase its performance because they are focused on opportunities. Some prefer to solve current problems, others - strategic ones. According to Adizes’ theory of organizational vitamins, what makes a company healthy, and therefore successful, is the fulfillment of 4 management functions.
4. Functional approach. Organizational vitamins. The four functions of management are like a set of "vitamins" - all of them are necessary for the health of the organization in the short and long term. If even one vitamin is missing, the organization faces a disease with certain symptoms.
On the contrary, by skillfully feeding an organization with the missing “vitamin”, you can improve its work and make it healthier in the short and long term.
- Vitamin I In order for an organization to function as a single organism and be effective in the long term, it is necessary to create a value system that will encourage employees to act together and will not make anyone indispensable. This is the Integration function - integration. Figure 1 schematically represents the 4 functions of management.
Management styles.
No manager can perform all of the above functions to the same superlative degree, so there are no ideal managers in the world. This is just a utopia. All vitamins must be present in the “body” of a “healthy” manager, but in different proportions.
The dominant role always belongs to one function, less often to two. Moreover, they are not compatible at one point in time. The ability to successfully perform one function will necessarily interfere with the performance of another.
We all know managers who can come up with great ideas, but can't keep track of the details of their implementation. Other talented integrators are empathetic and know how to put themselves in another person's shoes, but they are not strong at making tough decisions and are often weak at administration.
The four functions are incompatible in any combination. An entrepreneur always conflicts with an administrator, and a manufacturer with an entrepreneur. How often do we ourselves, being carried away by our current activities, do not find time to think about the future prospects. Our minds are designed to focus either on nearby or distant objects.
Complementary team.
So, if ideal “book” managers do not exist in nature, then the conclusion suggests itself. Successful work requires a complementary team in which everyone is an asset. Often, when forming a team, a leader tries to attract people who are similar to himself. But such a team of “clones” cannot be successful. Adizes team members should not copy, but complement each other not in knowledge, but in temperament and character. They must be different.
The difference in opinions and views on the same situation is the main advantage of teamwork. The only reason for the typical avoidance of a variety of styles is their conflict, because each of them has a special manner of communication, and the same words in the mouths of speakers of different styles often have opposite meanings.
All this leads to misunderstandings and conflicts. A person, instinctively wanting to avoid conflict, again looks for his own kind.
Ingredients for the success of a good manager.
There are no ideal managers, but Adizes still has a vision of a good manager, capable of integrating a team and being its leader. He must have the following qualities.
- Awareness and consciousness of actions. A manager knows his own characteristics, his style, understands the meaning and consequences of his actions and knows how his actions affect the behavior of other people.
- A good manager has versatile abilities, i.e. there are no dashes in his PAEI code.
- A good manager knows what makes him unique, knows his strengths and weaknesses, and this helps him select those on his team who can complement him
- He accepts his strengths and weaknesses. Human energy resources are limited: if a leader spends energy on rejecting himself, there will be no energy left to change for the better.
- A good manager is able to appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of other people. And not just to evaluate, but to accept differences as a value, because inevitably, in certain qualities, subordinates will surpass their leader.
- A good manager knows how to slow down and relax in a difficult situation. To become a good manager, you need to be able to object without offending.
- A good manager creates conditions in which conflict is resolved in an atmosphere of mutual trust, respect and becomes a means of learning.
Life cycle of an organization.
The life cycle concept is the most widely known part of
Adizes methodology. According to this concept, any organization is born, grows, matures, flourishes, ages and dies. But if not managed properly, aging and death can occur much earlier than expected, even in infancy.The very essence of consulting according to Adizes, the so-called organizational therapy, is to teach the organization to remain for as long as possible in the most productive stage of the life cycle - the “Flourishing” stage.
Let's take a quick look at the stages of an organization's life.
Stage 1. “Nursing.”
This stage consists of the founder of the organization gathering people around him who gradually accept it and agree to take the risk of trying to make the idea a reality.
Stage 2. “Infancy”.
At this stage, the company does not have a clear structure and system of distribution of powers and responsibilities.
During this period, the process of organization begins, the transition from ideas to concrete actions. During this time, the focus is on production results and customer satisfaction.
Stage 3. “Childhood” (“come on”)
The organization begins to work more and more efficiently, overcoming obstacles, including, most importantly, the lack of funds. People realize that the “idea” has worked and can be cost-effective.
Based on this, people's ideas about the future of the organization change. The vision of the future sometimes expands to extraordinary dimensions. The rapidly growing company still does not have a clear structure, chain of command, prescribed functional responsibilities, etc.
Stage 4. “Youth”.
The organization is changing a lot. The most significant event in her life is that the founder realizes that it is impossible to run a growing business alone. There is a need to change the structure of the organization and delegate authority.
Professional managers appear in the company and begin to change the structure, motivation and control systems.
The arrival of new people inevitably leads to a conflict between two cultures: old-timers and new specialists.
Stage 5. “Flourishing”.
At the flourishing stage, the organization has a fairly clear structure, prescribed functions, reward and punishment systems. The success of an organization is assessed by the factors of satisfying customer needs and achieving its goals.
The ability to foresee the future is valued. Often at this stage, an organization opens several subsidiaries that go through all stages from the very beginning.
Stage 6. “Stabilization”.
The organization begins to age. It is gradually moving away from the policy of development, capturing new markets and increasing its share of existing ones.
At this stage, the desire for change and development disappears. Greater importance is attached to interpersonal relationships in the team rather than to business prospects.
Stage 7. “Aristocracy”.
The organization owns significant financial resources, which are spent on strengthening the existing control system and organizing its own activities. Unspoken formal rules are being strengthened, primarily related to clothing style and other traditions.
At this stage, organizations often “buy” new products and ideas, acquire or absorb other organizations in earlier stages of development.
Stage 8. “Early bureaucratization.”
The company is gradually plunging into a series of complex and sometimes intractable conflicts related to the structure of the organization, which it is trying to resolve by firing people, but without changing the structure. Gradually, internal red tape and conflicts increasingly distance the organization from meeting customer needs.
Stage 9. “Late bureaucratization.”
The organization is completely focused on itself, on internal intractable problems, trying to follow all the procedures, processes and regulations in the hope that this will help solve the problems.
The company is ruled by results-oriented structures that increasingly confuse the internal organization. There is no desire to increase efficiency, change, or focus on customer needs. A cumbersome and complex system of control over activities is maintained, which requires employees primarily to comply with rules and procedures, rather than to work efficiently.
Stage 10. “Death.”
The death of a customer-centric organization occurs immediately when customers stop using the organization's services in droves. If this does not happen because the organization provides a monopoly product or is supported by the state, then its death may be delayed in time.
In this case, the degree of bureaucratization will increase and eventually reach its apogee, which will lead the organization to inevitable death.
The goal of the methodology is for the organization to adopt a lifestyle that allows it to remain in the Thriving stage for as long as possible. To do this, when Adizes consultants come to a company, they consistently guide it through 11 steps of transformation.
Having completed this path, the organization must immediately return to the first step and begin moving in a new circle. Isaac Adizes explains this by saying that on average the cycle lasts a year. During this time, new problems and opportunities inevitably arise in the company, requiring an update of the mission, strategy and structure.
This approach allows the company to identify difficulties in a timely manner, before they develop into a crisis, and to constantly remain young. This is the essence of the methodology.
Vitamin P The first function that management in any organization must perform is Producing, i.e., producing results that ensure the effectiveness of the organization in the short term. An organization must satisfy the needs of the customers for which it exists. You should always remember why people turn to your company, why they need you, and what services they require. The manufacturer's task is to satisfy their needs. You can measure the success of this function in an organization by the number of customers who return to purchase your company's products or services.
Vitamin A. The second function - Administrative - is needed in order to maintain order in organizational processes. The administrator's task is to ensure efficiency in the short term.
Vitamin E. For an organization to be successful over the long term, it is necessary to “see through the fog,” to discern the course the company should follow. A person capable of performing this function is ready to act in conditions of constant change and to take risks. This is the Entrepreneur function - entrepreneurship, which ensures the company's performance in the long term. If this function is performed successfully, the organization's services and/or products will be in demand among future, changed customers.
Isaac Adizes
Managing change. How to effectively manage change in society, business and personal life
Foreword from the publishing partner
You first decide what to do and then implement your decision effectively
If you don't want to make the change, I guarantee there will be someone who will do it for you.
Jack Welch
The Stins Coman group of companies traditionally supports the publication of new books by Professor Yitzhak Calderon Adizes in Russia. The approaches that the author talks about are necessary and in great demand in the Russian business environment. This is evidenced by the fact that Adizes’ books are constantly being republished and new ones appear.
According to Professor Isaac Adizes, to live means to solve problems, and to develop means to acquire skills in solving more complex problems. The book by I. Adizes “Managing Change” is devoted to the processes of making management decisions. The purpose of management, education, governance—in short, any form of organizational leadership—is to solve today's problems and prepare for tomorrow. This is change management.
The problems that arise as a result of the changes taking place are quite predictable. Professor I. Adizes clearly reveals the nature of problems and, in his characteristic thorough manner, explains how to effectively resolve situations related to the creation of an efficient team, be prepared for conflicts of interests, how to increase the number of constructive proposals from employees, how to eradicate disrespect for other people’s opinions and mutual distrust of the participants in the change being carried out.
Isaac Adizes is an unrivaled author of paradoxical management decisions. In one of his books, published four decades ago, he stated that there are no ideal managers and managers. In this book, he says that there is no such thing as a “good solution.” There are “good decisions for the moment,” and we must take into account that their life span is quite short, so decisions should be assessed by their impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization in the short and long term. “The right actions must be done at the right time, in the right order, with the right intensity and in the right sequence.” The manager’s task, according to the author, is to learn to do the right things correctly.
I. Adizes’ recommendations are addressed to those who are ready to work on themselves in order to achieve their goals, while showing a sufficient level of reflection and the ability to move away from stereotypes. First of all, I would advise managers whose career growth has been rapid to read this book. I. Adizes not only breaks down the nuances of management “in theory,” but also explains how to use this knowledge in practice.
The methodology of I. Adizes is a kind of matrix that can be applied in any system - be it an organization, a family or a team of like-minded people. Roles in the system must be distributed so that integration (I), entrepreneurship (E), administration (A), and production of the required result (P) are present. Only when all these roles are fulfilled can the management team make the right decisions and subsequently implement them effectively.
The book is written as a conversation and is easy to read. The methods and approaches are not only explainable, but also well structured. In addition, the main ideas to which the author leads are presented in the form of brief conclusions.
After reading this book, one cannot hope to obtain the only and completely necessary knowledge. But by taking it as a basis and increasing your own experience and knowledge, you can count on success.
Irina Slesareva,
Vice President of Marketing and HR of the Stins Coman group of companies
Preface
Dear reader!
The book you are holding in your hands was written by the famous “guru” of management theory, Dr. Isaac Calderon Adizes. About ten years ago, this name in Russia was known only in narrow scientific circles - it was referred to in dissertations and scientific articles. But in most cases these were references to exile, since the books of I. Adizes in the original were practically inaccessible, and Russian translations did not exist. But over the years the situation has changed dramatically: almost all of his books have already been published in Russian; his articles and interviews regularly appear on the pages of domestic newspapers and magazines; as a consultant he works with the largest Russian companies; Dr. Adizes regularly gives lectures in Russia, not only to students and professors, but also to government officials, including governors of all subjects of the Federation. All these positive changes occurred to a large extent thanks to the efforts of the Institute of Business and Business Administration of the RANEPA under the President of the Russian Federation, where he is a scientific consultant for the Executive MBA and MBA programs. His applied management theory, known throughout the world as the Adizes methodology, forms the basis of our training programs. And in the Executive MBA program, which is focused on training owners and top managers, this methodology is a mandatory part of the program and has been implemented for many years in collaboration with Adizes Graduate School (Adizes Institute Graduate School).
In all his monographs (and there are already about thirty of them), Dr. Adizes examines the issues of the development of organizations and their behavior within the life cycle, problems of leadership, change management, and management styles. Thanks to Adizes’ unique methodology, all these elements of management theory not only received a new scientific meaning, but also began to be used in practice to solve the most complex management problems.
What is the essence of this methodology? If we try to define it briefly, then two concepts are quite enough for this - analysis and synthesis. Any community, be it a company, a family or a country as a whole, is a living organism that has its own life cycle. They are born, grow, reach their peak, eventually enter a stage of decline and die. This is a classic life cycle curve, in which only the first and last stages are constant. The set of all other stages and their sequence is an individual feature of each organization and its management system. Therefore, the ability to effectively solve problems that periodically arise in an organization comes to the fore. To do this, it is necessary to constantly analyze the situation in which the company finds itself, identifying what is “normal” and what is “abnormal” at this stage of the life cycle. The effectiveness of decisions made entirely depends on how fully the features of managing an organization at various phases of the life cycle are taken into account. The fundamental monograph by Itzhak Adizes “Corporation Life Cycle Management” is devoted to a detailed analysis of all stages of the life cycle.
At the same time, any management process is a relationship between people. Three points need to be made here. First: all people are different.
Second: ideal people (including managers) do not exist - everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Third: change is a constant factor in any activity. The fundamental part of Adizes' methodology is based on these three conceptual observations.
The book “Managing Change” is devoted to the consideration of management decision-making processes. The problems that arise as a result of the changes taking place are quite predictable. To make quality decisions, you need to create a balanced and efficient complementary team of managers. However, any team is a clash of different interests, styles of thinking and behavior. Therefore, conflict is inevitable, but it is very important that it is constructive so that the parties hear each other and benefit from their differences. And such a situation is only possible when people trust and respect each other. It would seem that these are completely abstract concepts that are difficult to apply in the real decision-making process. But that's not true. The essence of trust is that, although the team may differ in particulars, it is united in its strategic interests. And respect for the opinions of others, even if different from yours, allows you to take into account all the nuances and make a high-quality management decision. Therefore, an effective manager gathers around him people with different styles of behavior, whom he respects and trusts, since they are united by common strategic interests.
I would like to note an important feature of Adizes’ methodology, which is most clearly manifested in this book. The vast majority of modern management theories are based on American business experience and rely on the Anglo-Saxon model of behavior. But the modern world is diverse, and standard methods and techniques are not always applicable and effective in different regions. That is why Adizes’ theory compares favorably with all others, since the author examines the processes of management and decision-making through the prism of national characteristics in a particular country. He always tries to understand the cause-and-effect relationships, specifics and mentality of various national groups through a serious study of the business cultures of various nations.
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent species that survive, but those that best adapt to change,” said Charles Darwin. Isaac Adizes continues this thought: “We will stop facing problems only if there is no change at all, and this will happen only when we... die.”
The book is devoted to the processes of making management decisions in conditions of constant changes occurring both inside and outside the organization. Problems arising as a result of changes, according to Adizes, are not only predictable, but also solvable. The author clearly shows how you can create and maintain the integrity of an organization if you master the art of making and implementing quality management decisions.
From this book you will learn: why conflicts are inevitable and even necessary; how to make conflict constructive; how to communicate with other people whose management styles are different from yours; how to recognize bad management; how to make quality decisions; how to predict whether a solution will be implemented; how to organize teamwork; how to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect; CAPI: the key to change management.
First conversation
The meaning of management
One day I got into a conversation with one of my students. He was an intelligent and inquisitive young man. He wanted to find out what my special knowledge of management had given me the opportunity to teach and lecture around the world. So he asked if I would have time to talk to him about this topic. I liked his curiosity and agreed to answer his questions. As we walked through the park, exchanging questions and answers, the concept of this book gradually formed in my head.
I know that you have been studying management processes for over twenty years. What is it?
First of all, we need to define what the word manage means.
Traditional management theory
I discovered that in some languages, such as Swedish, French and Serbo-Croatian, the verb to manage does not have a literal translation. In these languages, verbs such as guide, lead, or command are more often used instead. When people speaking these languages want to say what Americans mean by using the verb to manage, they usually also use this English word. For example, in Spanish, the verb manejar - the literal translation of to manage - turns out to be closer in meaning to the verb to handle (“handle something, manage something”) and is used only in relation to horses or cars. When the Spaniards want to use a word close to the word to manage in the American sense, they say “manage” or “do business.”
But isn't the management process universal?
No. In some countries, management as practiced in the United States and taught in American business schools is prohibited by law. In the system of “self-government” in the former Yugoslavia, the head of an enterprise who made an economic decision unilaterally could end up in court. Such an action would be interpreted as a violation of democracy. Instead, the plant director had to “suggest” a solution, and the workers could accept or reject it. In Israel, the head of the kibbutz, who essentially occupies the position of manager, is regularly re-elected so that no one person can claim permanent leadership of others.
Are you saying that the head of the kibbutz leads the people for a while and then returns to the farm to milk the cows?
Or cook food, or wash dishes. In this organization, no leader is elected forever, just as the government in democratic countries is not elected forever. Otherwise it would violate the principles of democracy. The head of a kibbutz is not a profession.
What should be understood by the word to manage, if in some languages it does not have a direct translation, and in some socio-political systems the activity it denotes is considered unnecessary or even prohibited?
What synonyms would you suggest?
Decide, act, plan, control, organize, dominate, achieve goals, lead, motivate, complete...
Some dictionaries offer the same synonyms for the word "manage" as you do. But there are also other intriguing synonyms, such as dominate or rule, which are given in the American Collegiate Dictionary. Oxford Dictionary adds the verbs to manipulate and connive to this list. It is interesting to note that none of the dictionaries I looked at listed the verbs to lead or motivate as synonyms.
I don't like the synonyms pandering or manipulating.
And there is a good reason for this. To understand what it is, let's define the "common denominator" of all the synonyms mentioned above, with the exception of lead and manipulate. Imagine the process described by each of these words. Animate their meaning. Can you now identify the common denominator? Act... plan... control... organize... achieve... complete.
They all describe a one-way process. The one who leads tells those he leads what they should do. The leader determines what needs to be done, and his subordinates become the instruments for achieving the goal.
That's why we call a manager the "head" of the department and his most capable subordinate the "right hand." The right hand does exactly what the head tells it to do, while the left hand acts as if it can act of its own accord. Her behavior is not completely controlled.
