From: Jack Ring [mailto:
jring@amug.org]
Many of the participants have noted that this leadership and management
thing involves a lot of variables, most of which are implicitly related. I
find Prof. Rudolf Starkermann's <
rstarkermann@access.ch> model quite useful
in understanding all this. It uses a multiloop control system as the
archetype and interprets the 23 technical variables in terms of human
characteristics.
A simple form of this model is the Goal-seeking system. A Goal-seeking
system has a Goal, responds to a Trigger, has Energy for action, has
Competency for purposeful action, has Statusing so that it can accurately
determine its state with respect to its Goal and has Feedback so that it can
minimize the gap between its status and its goal over time.
Included in Competency are processes and decision rules as well as the
ability to mitigate ones own fears and those of others.
Included in Energy is Enthusiasm which is heightened by its perception of
the importance of the Goal but is modulated by fears.
Leadership is best seen not as a capability or process, whether genetic or
learned, but as a goal-seeking system. A leader has to Know, Do and Be,
simultaneously. A leader serves as a conduit of purpose, an amplifier of
meaning and value, a synergizer of enthusiasm and a damper of fear and
frustration.
This relates to the main trend in management development -- third order
systetms. For years managers were challenged to achieve efficiency and
productivity -- the state of the enterprise. The past two decades have
stressed the rate of the enterprise. Velocity has been the focus and
Continuous Improvement the method. Now, especially with the impact of the
web which enables non-hierarchical interrelations between customers and
suppliers, the management challenge is discontinuous innovation. And the
challenge is not just to quickly sense and respond to discontinuous
innovation but to proactively cause it to happen. The successful, in fact
surviving, enteprises of the future will be third order systems. And their
managers/leaders must be capable of designing, operating, diagnosing and
repairing third order systems. And they must do so while these systems are
in operation (no more write-offs for "restructuring" in the annual reports).
Jack Ring
32712 N. 70th St., Snottsdale, AZ 85262
480-488-4615
Slow Kills