Features of Transformational Change Undertaken by Lars Kolind
Questions:
1. Important features of transformational change undertaken by Lars Kolind. Change processes employed that are fundamental to undertaking organizational transformation.
2. Assumed risks and benefits of Spaghetti organization. Does Spaghetti organization leads to acquiring competence in managing continuous change?
3 What management practices or actions will be required to sustain the revolutionary new culture?
The following were the features of transformational change undertaken by Lars Kolind:
- Self- defined role: The major feature of the transformational change undertaken by Lars Kolind was self- defined role wherein the employees themselves were responsible for initiating, participating and assembling a project in order to successfully complete a project. It is the sole responsibility of the employees to find a suitable job for themselves by either joining an existing project or by starting a completely new project (DeFillippi 2015). For this purpose, it is necessary for the employees to be provided with sufficient resources and freedom in the processes. However, the employees are responsible for completing their projects within the deadlines provided.
- Multi- level role: Another feature of transformational change undertaken by Lars Kolind involves the multi- level role. According to Lars, every employee of an organization must take active participation in a minimum of three projects that belong to different fields. This shall enable the employees to enhance their skills and knowledge and understand their capabilities and capacities. For this purpose, it is necessary to eliminate all the hierarchical structures within an organization that do not allow the employees to undertake several tasks at a time (Birkinshaw 2015). Therefore, Lars emphasizes upon the removal of the managerial positions and formal job titles so that all the organizational members can become associates and work more efficiently.
- Transparency: Another important feature of transformational change undertaken by Lars Kolind is transparency. Lars emphasized upon the importance of transparency for the success of an organization. He stated that knowledge must be shared within an organization so that all the employees are able to enhance their knowledge and skills, which shall ultimately enhance the overall efficiency of an organization. This is possible only when there are no hierarchical structures and partitions within an organization.
- Begin with a proper vision: According to Lars Kolind, a proper vision was necessary for increasing the profitability of an organization. He believed that an organization must have a strong customer base in order to be successful in the long- run. For this purpose, the products offered to the customers must be developed and adjusted individually for the customers. He understood the importance of having a clear direction, which was accepted and understood by the others. Therefore, he developed an entirely new mission statement for his organization that successfully captured his vision.
- Redesigning rules: Lars Kolind described his new vision with respect to organizational design and named it “spaghetti organization”. This model is based upon the human values, while it assumed that only adults were employed in an organization. This model consists of certain rules that state all the managerial positions and formal job titles to be removed so that all the organizational members can become associates. He also emphasizes on replacing the personal desks by an open office space. The model allows associates to undertake any project they want and are continuously encouraged to gain knowledge and new skills (Tsuchiya 2017). The model redesigns the jobs in order to find a suitable job combination as per the capabilities and requirements of the employees. The model lays additional emphasis upon communication especially face- to- face communication within an organization.
- Teams in charge: The transformational change involves encouraging the teams to undertake projects from the beginning to the end and complete the entire project themselves. According to Lars, it is the responsibility of the employees to find a suitable job for themselves by either joining an existing project or by starting a completely new project. He believes that the employees must be given sufficient resources and freedom in the processes and in return the employees must respect deadlines (Foss and Dobrajska 2015).
- Building for performing: Lars emphasizes upon performance and removal of any hierarchical structure that hampers the organizational performance. It took a lot of time for others to understand his approach but his approach worked surprisingly well. The removal of organizational structure has been successful in improving the overall organizational efficiency of Oticon.
The following are the risks of Spaghetti organization:
- Negative competition: As every employee of a spaghetti organization are required to take active participation in a minimum of three projects that belong to different fields, this might lead to conflicts and negative competition amongst them. More than one employee might be willing to work on the same project and might compete with each other leading to negative competition.
- Lack of delegation or direction: Lack of proper hierarchical structure within an organization might result in misguided employees. Absence of proper leaders and managers, who delegate tasks to the employees and show them the right direction, might result in misguided employees moving in the wrong direction.
- Uncertain job role: A spaghetti organization does not define a proper hierarchical structure and job role of the employees, which might result in uncertain job roles. The employees have the freedom to choose any job role and project, which might result in serious confusions (Felin 2015).
The following are the benefits of Spaghetti organization:
- Employee motivation: Spaghetti organization removes all the managerial positions and formal job titles so that all the organizational members can become associates. It also emphasizes on replacing the personal desks by an open office space. It allows associates to undertake any project they want, which motivates them to work harder.
- Higher productivity: Absence of hierarchical structure helps in increasing the productivity of the organization as the employees are highly motivated and they undertake projects according to their skills, knowledge and abilities (Hecker 2017).
- Faster decisions: Elimination of hierarchical structures within an organization enables faster decision- making as the employees are not required to inform their superiors and the decision is not required to be approved by the highest authority while passing through the long chain of command. In a spaghetti organization, decisions can be taken instantly by the employees.
Yes, Spaghetti organization leads to acquiring competence in managing continuous change. Spaghetti organization enables the individuals to obtain competencies by undertaking several projects belonging to different fields. This enables the individuals to obtain competencies from a wide range of tasks and responsibilities. For this purpose, an individual is required to have proper knowledge and several skills that would enable him or her to complete several tasks simultaneously and handle their complexities. Spaghetti organization encourages the employees to take participation in several projects and shift from one project to another. This shifting enables the employees to gain several competencies and skills. This makes it easier for the employees to manage the continuous changes as they are accustomed with performing several tasks at the same time (Benn, Dunphy and Griffiths 2014). Spaghetti organization removes all the managerial positions and formal job titles so that all the organizational members can become associates. It allows associates to undertake any project they want, which motivates them to work harder. These employees themselves explore their skills and abilities and explore their capabilities while guiding themselves throughout the process. This helps them to obtain in- depth knowledge about the processes and enhance their existing skills. Due to the in- depth knowledge of the processes and wide range of skills, the employees belonging to a spaghetti organization become capable of managing continuous change.
The management practices or actions that shall be necessary for sustaining revolutionary new culture are as follows:
- Ensuring appropriate communication channels within the organization: Communication is an essential part of an organization and presence of a proper communication channel is necessary for the success of an organization. Spaghetti organization removes all the managerial positions and formal job titles so that all the organizational members can become associates. This results in the elimination of formal relationships especially superior- subordinate relationships. Therefore, the management practices must emphasize upon ensuring an appropriate communication channel within the organization so that the individuals can easily contact each other. This shall enable the organizational members to communicate freely without any hindrances for exchanging ideas and making proper decisions. A working environment that enables the organizational members to interact freely with each other is necessary for sustaining the revolutionary new culture. Therefore, the management must ensure that there are no hindrances in the communication channels (Shin et al. 2015).
- Positive working environment: A positive working environment comprising of motivated employees and healthy competition is necessary for the success of an organization. The absence of hierarchical structure in a spaghetti organization results in the lack of delegation and direction. A working environment that enables the organizational members to interact freely with each other is necessary for sustaining the revolutionary new culture. There are no managers and leaders within a spaghetti organization for guiding and motivating the employees. The employees in such an organization are self- motivators. Therefore, the management must attempt to create a positive working environment within the organization so that the employees are motivated and work harder towards the achievement of the common objectives of the organization (Leih, Linden and Teece 2014).
- Strong relationships amongst the employees: Spaghetti organization encourages the employees to take participation in several projects and shift from one project to another. This shifting enables the employees to gain several competencies and skills. However, this also might lead to negative competition and conflicts among the organizational members. More than one employee might be willing to work on the same project and might compete with each other leading to negative competition. Therefore, it becomes necessary for the management of the organization to ensure consistent and positive relationships among the organizational members. There might be various issues within an organization that cannot be resolved by a single individual. Individuals need guidance and assistance in every sphere of his or her work. Absence of hierarchical structure helps in increasing the productivity of the organization as the employees are highly motivated and they undertake projects according to their skills, knowledge and abilities. Due to the lack of managers and leaders within a spaghetti organization, the individuals tend to rely upon each other when they face any issues. This helps them in taking appropriate actions and making more reliable decisions. Work becomes easier when it is shared among individuals. Healthy relationships amongst the co- workers ease the work load on a particular employee as the responsibilities are shared among the individuals. Strong relationships amongst the co- workers also make the organization a happy place to work as the employees consider other co- workers as their family. Therefore, it is necessary for the management to ensure strong relationships amongst the organizational members.
- Creation of an inclusive organization: Inclusive organization refers to the organizations that enable the employees to embrace the diversity and richness of their backgrounds. Inclusive organization has several benefits as it leads to higher job satisfaction, lower rate of employee turnover, higher productivity, higher employee morale, improved creativity and innovation, improved problem solving, increased organizational flexibility and better employees (Stokes et al. 2016). Absence of hierarchical structure helps in increasing the productivity of the organization as the employees are highly motivated and they undertake projects according to their skills, knowledge and abilities. In case of a spaghetti organization, it is the sole responsibility of the employees to find a suitable job for themselves by either joining an existing project or by starting a completely new project. For this purpose, it is necessary for the employees to be provided with sufficient resources and freedom in the processes. However, the employees are responsible for completing their projects within the deadlines provided. An inclusive organization enables all its members to take part in various projects within the organization without any limits. Creation of an inclusive organization shall motivate the employees, which shall ultimately result in increase in the overall productivity and efficiency of the organization. Therefore, the management must ensure that there is proper creation of an inclusive organization.
References:
Benn, S., Dunphy, D. and Griffiths, A., 2014. Organizational change for corporate sustainability. Routledge.
Birkinshaw, J., 2015. What lessons should we learn from valve’s innovative management model?. Journal of Organization Design, 4(2), pp.8-9.
DeFillippi, R., 2015. Managing project-based organization in creative industries. The Oxford handbook of creative industries, pp.268-283.
Felin, T., 2015. Valve Corporation: Strategy Tipping Points and Thresholds.
Foss, N.J. and Dobrajska, M., 2015. Valve’s Way: Vayward, Visionary, or Voguish?. Journal of Organization Design, 4(2), pp.12-15.
Hecker, A., 2017. The Intrapreneurial Nature of Organizational Innovation: Toward a New Process Model. International Journal of Innovation (iji), 5(3).
Leih, S., Linden, G. and Teece, D., 2014. Business model innovation and organizational design: a dynamic capabilities perspective.
Shin, J., Seo, M.G., Shapiro, D.L. and Taylor, M.S., 2015. Maintaining employees’ commitment to organizational change: The role of leaders’ informational justice and transformational leadership. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 51(4), pp.501-528.
Stokes, P., Moore, N., Smith, S.M., Rowland, C. and Scott, P. eds., 2016. Organizational Management: Approaches and Solutions. Kogan Page Publishers.
Tsuchiya, Y., 2017. A CRITICAL REVIEW OF ORGANIZATIONAL IDENTIFICATION: INTRODUCING IDENTITY WORK TO EXAMINE DYNAMIC PROCESS. Journal of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 21(2).
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