Dear Fred, Thank you for your interesting post. It reminds me of what
Fremont Schultz called "bounded discretion." The notion that any decison
had to meet certain mores, ethical standards, legal requirements, etc.
before they would be accepted no matter how technically good the decison
was at solving the issue at hand. This is slightly different the how
Sidney Finkelstein and Don Hambrick talk about how much discretion leaders
may or may not have to do things. there focus seems to be more on
"organizationally" determined discretion and not "societally based"
discretion.
The budgetary saying, "dead on arrival" seems congruent with your notion of
fit.
Regards, Kim
p.s. Because I am an academic, I view one of my roles is to stay grounded
by interacting with other academics and practitioners in my field. Thus, I
do not feel defensive about using the "company's" time or equipment. To
the extennt that you gain job relevant knowledge, I don't think you should
either.
At 12:13 PM 4/17/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Hello all. Fred Nickols here. As some of you will note, I've moved my
>subscription from my ETS at-work email address to my private email address.
> Yes, I'm still employed at ETS but I'm feeling guilty about participating
>while on company time.
>
>Now on to the subject line.
>
>Kim Boal inquired about and listed some of the factors affecting change
>management. The first thing that popped into my mind as a factor affecting
>change management efforts is the range of actions acceptable to the CEO.
>No matter how good your diagnosis, no matter how pressing the issue, no
>matter how important it might be, and no matter the correctness of your
>proposed course of action, no action will be undertaken in the course of a
>change management effort that does not meet with the approval (grudging or
>otherwise) of the powers that be (usually the CEO). Moreover, your
>diagnosis must often meet with approval, too. Sometimes, the very models
>you use must pass muster.
>
>What I'm getting at here is that the world view of the senior managers and
>executives who are involved in the change management effort constitute the
>most significant set of restraints (can't do) and constraints (must do) on
>any such effort. As such, this world view is a significant factor
>affecting change management, much more so in my opinion than the style of
>the consultant. (Indeed, the style of the consultant per se, is perhaps
>irrelevant; it's the "fit" between the style of the consultant and the
>expectations/preferences of key client managers and executives that matters.)
>
>Finally, and in good humor I assure you, Kim's email signature line, "Tot
>homines quot sententiae" greatly exceeds my meagre grasp of Latin and drove
>me to my reference books. There, in my Dictionary of Foreign Terms &
>Phrases, I learned that it means "So many men, so many minds." That leads
>me to ask Kim this question: Has anyone ever suggested that the line is
>sexist?
>
>
>Regards,
>
>Fred Nickols
>Distance Consulting
>http://home.att.net/~nickols/distance.htm
>
nickols@worldnet.att.net
>(609) 490-0095
>
--------------------------------
Kim Boal
College of Business Administration
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX 79409
(806) 742-2150
KimBoal@ttu.edu