Jack, simply because a person does not know the purpose of his or her
organization doesn't stop it from being a system. Along with purpose, which
most organizations have regardless of who knows it, they also include the
other facets of systems including an input, a thruput and an output. This is
a given no matter what business, product, or service the organization
performs. Jay's list of questions attempt to get at why a part of that
system may be failing to accomplish its tasks. This list appears to come
right out of situational leadership issues Dan addresses probably the most
critical aspect of human activity systems: communications. If employees
don't know what they need to do, what success looks like,don't want to do it
or can't do it boils down to communications. Without looking at the
organization as a system, you ma will probably miss key communications
breakdowns as you attempt to analyze performance shortcomings.
Dr. Ken Rossi
Asst. Professor of Information Systems
Hawaii Pacific University
Honolulu, Hawaii
(808) 544-1412
kgrossi@worldnet.att.net
----- Original Message -----
From: Jack Ring <
jring@AMUG.ORG>
To: <
MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, October 31, 1999 3:54 AM
Subject: Re: Jay Warner's Summary
> Jay,
> Looks like a powerful list. Thanks.
> An observation and a question --
> [JR] It may be better to consider that companies are collages but not
> systems. A system has Purpose. This means that the majority of employees
> in a company would be able to state the purpose of their effort and the
> purpose of their company and how the two match.
>
> [JR] My question is: Considering that, without anyone knowing it
including
> the person themselves, the "person" may be severely preoccupied with
> marital problems, hypoglycemia, passive-aggressive mood, or another of his
> 23 personalities, how does your list deal with such situation?
>
> On Sat, 30 Oct 1999 15:28:09, Jay Warner wrote RE: Why won't peole work? -
> summary
> [...]
> >A company is a system. We know that.
>
>
> >The questions below can be answered yes or no. I've included possible
> >solutions for any 'no' answer. In every case so far where I have
> >applied these questions, the solution to the problem fell out. We could
> >apply a solution to the _system_ problem, and the _symptom_ problem
> >'went away.'
> >
> >When a person doesn't do something as desired, ask the following:
> >
> > Does the person know what is requested?
> > Make the request in a way that they can respond that they
> > understood it.
> >
> > Does the person have appropriate tools and equipment?
> > List tools and equipment, make sure they work, and give the
> > person access to all of them, including equipment training as
> > needed.
> >
> > Do they understand what is to be done, step by step?
> > Write up a Work Instruction (a.k.a., a process sheet), review
> > with a knowledgeable expert, and assure that the person doing
> > the work has access to it and understands it.
> >
> > Does the person have adequate information to accomplish the task?
> > Review the Work Instruction for input information & data,
> > checking that the person can obtain all the needed
> > information.
> >
> > Can they tell when they have done the work well?
> > Assure that measures and tests of performance are included in
> > the Work Instructions. Whoever does the testing, assure that
> > results are provided to the person doing the work as soon as
> > possible.
> >
> > Are they rewarded for doing the job well (better than for doing the
> > job poorly)?
> > Check that management understands the reward structure for the
> > individual. It ain't always money. Find different, more
> > specific, rewards. Remove rewards for poor jobs and
> > non-accomplishments.
> >
>
> Jack Ring, 32712 N. 70th St., Snottsdale, AZ 85262-7143
> 480-488-4615, Cell) 602.369.4615,