How to Compose and Build your Top Management Team
by Dr. Ichak Adizes (Ichak.Adizes@ManagementVitality.com)
Every organization, in order to be successful in the short and the long run,
must be effective and efficient. Effective means that
it fulfills the purpose of its existence - satisfying
the clients for which the organization exists. It can
be measured by the degree of repeat sales. An ineffective
company -- it loses its market share, it loses its clients,
and thus revenues. Efficiency is measured by how many
dollars are spent on fulfilling the purpose of the organization.
In order for an organization to be effective and efficient
in the short and the long run, several managerial roles
need to be performed. An organization needs to focus
on the results it needs to produce, it needs to pay
attention to the resources that it employs, it has to
focus on the future environment to which it needs to
proact. It needs to integrate the human resources by
being sensitive to their neeeds so that all of these
different orientations compose a holistic unity that
drives the organization forward.
One of the major mistakes of management theory is the
false expectation that a single individual - a so-called
top executive or leader of the organization - can perform
all of these roles. We expect this leader to be fiscally
detail oriented, creative, and risk-taking. In addition,
the leader needs to be focused on results. Not only
that, but at the same time, the leader has to motivate
the human needs of the organization. It is simply asking
too much of any single individual. I would claim that
this "textbook" leader who can perform all the roles
as a leader and to manage the company successfully simply
does not exist because human beings have strengths and
weaknesses, and no one is ever perfect. And, if so,
the question then arises will all organizations necessarily
be mismanaged?
The obvious answer is, no. What it means is that organizations
need to have a complementary team. Let me make it clear
that by complementary team I don't mean complementary
in knowledge. In other words, I don't mean that we need
someone who knows technology and someone else who knows
marketing and someone else who knows accounting and
finance. We need the knowledge as well, but what I am
referring to is style. We need a complementary style.
An organization needs someone with a "global strategic"
view with creative interests, who can see emerging patterns
in the industry or the economy, who can imagine the
moves the competition will make, and is willing to stick
his or her neck out and make recommendations as to what
the organization should do.
At the same time, the organization needs someone who
is "now" oriented, who focuses on what needs to be done
and whether the organization succeeds in the short run
in overcoming whatever obstacles are in its path and
whatever problems it is facing then and there. It is
opposed to the "global strategic" view, the creative
projection of the future compared to the right now.
It is like a camera that cannot be focused both on the
background and the person in the foreground. Because
the roles are incompatible, it is necessary and desirable
that different people perform the different roles.
The same applies to the efficiency implementation and
human factor integration. The person that pays attention
to cost efficiency is detailed-oriented, risk averse,
and orderly and thorough in his orientation. His style
is incompatible and usually in conflict with the creative
entrepreneur's "global strategic" vision who wants to
introduce change. Such a change can undermine the efficiency
and orderliness that the efficiency-oriented individual
is focused on.
The people person who pays attention to the organization's
value, culture, integration, and to communication -
ingredients that are necessary to the long-term success
of the organization - will probably be in conflict with
the previous three: the task oriented driver, the efficiency
person who is not culture or human oriented, or the
person who introduces change.
The sum of it is, in order for an organization to be
well managed, it needs a complementary team, which is
comprised of different roles, but which together provide
what ultimately the organization needs.
When there are different styles, there is inevitablY
conflict within an organization. This conflict is necessary
and indispensable for a well-managed organization. This
conflict could be a sign of health or a disease within
the organization depending on how it is handled. Conflict
can be destructive, and it has destroyed families, partnerships,
and organizations. In order for the conflict to be constructive
there must be mutual trust and respect in the organization;
then the complementary style will work in unison.
For a well-managed organization, complementary styles
are necessary. The minimum number of people is two,
a momma and poppa store, where the poppa is future and
results oriented, and the momma takes care of the books
and the people. In very large well managed companies,
one can find the "momma and poppa store" syndrome as
well.
The need for a complementary team has repercussions.
There cannot be a complementary team without a complementary
structure. How to structure a company correctly so one
can get a complementary team and get mutual trust and
respect is the subject of the next newsletter.
©
Copyright 2002 by Ichak Adizes and the Adizes Institute
LLC. Reprinted with permission by ManagementVitality.
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