Covert Processes at Work: Managing the Five Hidden Dimensions of Organizational Change - Softcover

Marshak, Robert J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1576754154 ISBN 13: 9781576754153

Verlag: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2006

Inhaltsangabe

The first and only guide to diagnosing and dealing with the hidden or covert factors that can ruin even the most meticulously planned change processes.

Organizational change initiatives often fail because they focus exclusively on the rational, overt aspects of change, overlooking the powerful role played by concealed or irrational factors. It’s well known that these covert processes—such as hidden agendas, blind spots, office politics, tacit assumptions, secret hopes, wishes and fears—frequently sabotage change efforts, but up until now nobody has offered a rigorous, consistent way of identifying and dealing with them.

Drawing on over thirty years of experience as an organizational change consultant to global corporations and government agencies, Robert J. Marshak shows precisely how to bring these hidden processes to light and deal with their negative impact. Marshak identifies five different dimensions of covert processes, presents an integrated model to explain the ultimate source of all of them, and shows how to diagnose whether any covert processes might be at work in your organization. He then offers specific tools and techniques for engaging and managing these “under-the-table” processes and for creating the kind of organizational environment in which such hidden dynamics are unable to flourish. Covert Processes at Work is a comprehensive and practical guide that managers, leaders, and consultants can use to deal with the hidden dynamics that are often at the root of many organizational problems.

“Adding these tools…will take both your practice and your clients to a whole new level of capability and impact.” —Karen Boylston, PhD, Managing Director, Duke Corporate Education

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Robert J. Marshak is president of Marshak Associates, scholar-in-residence at American University, associate editor of the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, and a member of the board of trustees for the Organization Development Network. He was awarded the Organization Development Network’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000. Among the organizations Dr. Marshak has consulted with are AOL, BASF, Exxon, Freddie Mac, Kodak, Lucent, UNICEF, and a wide range of US government agencies and offices.

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Covert Dimensions and Change

Have you ever sat through a business meeting, thinking “Something is going on here that is really getting in the way, but I can’t put my finger on it.” You were probably sensing covert processes at work. Covert processes are hidden dynamics that routinely impact human interactions and can confound our most diligent efforts to accomplish our goals. When we try to effect organizational change, these hidden factors impact our ability to recognize the need for change, plan appropriate responses, align people and resources, and successfully implement new initiatives. In short, covert processes are a crucial aspect of organizational change and, when not made explicit, they can block even the best of intentions.

The term covert processes is used here to mean any hidden or unconscious dynamic. In every culture there are unspoken beliefs and assumptions underlying people’s behavior. They affect what we say and do even though we may not be aware of them. From a psychological viewpoint, covert processes include the unspoken mental models and unconscious dynamics of individuals and groups. In everyday usage, the term covert tends to evoke images of spies, intrigue, and secret deals. For our purposes we define covert more neutrally as “out-of-everyday awareness.” Covert processes include all out-of-awareness dynamics that occur in human systems, for whatever reasons.

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This book represents an integration of personal and professional experiences that incorporates some of my earliest memories. I grew up in a family that, like many others, had its secrets. Family members used hushed voices about certain topics that others were not supposed to hear. As a boy I was interested in magic, magicians, and carnival games—the secrets of misdirection and illusion, as well as the unseen gimmicks and ruses that rigged the games of chance. As a young man I was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War and assigned to duty near the DMZ in South Korea as a special agent in military intelligence. When I returned home I started a career in government service and completed a doctorate in public administration.

In my early career as an analyst and executive in the U.S. government, I had a chance to witness and learn at close hand the political behavior of public organizations. This led me to study organizational psychology and organization development. Later, as a professional consultant, I encountered covert processes while working with executives on organizational change in corporations around the world. All of these experiences, along with research about covert processes drawn from the social sciences, have informed the principles and practices presented here.


The Limits of Rationality

As a society we place great importance on being rational and logical. This is the primary reason that certain crucial elements may become covert during change initiatives. Presenting a rational argument is often done at the expense of attention to anything else—emotions, for instance. In many years of working with executives around the world, three aspects of organizational change have become increasingly clear to me:


Most change agents rely primarily on rational approaches to foster organizational change.
Most change initiatives actually involve significant non-rational dynamics and processes.
3 Most change agents still insist on operating as if organizational change is a purely rational process.

Time after time I have witnessed the over-emphasis on reason contribute to failed or ineffectual change initiatives. Because of their insistence on rational approaches, many change leaders are unable to see the non-rational dimensions of organizational change that are adversely impacting their initiatives.


Analyteks, Inc.

Analyteks, Inc., was a highly successful professional services company for over forty years. Analyteks’ culture and management style were based on a small circle of entrepreneurial executives doing all the marketing and sales work. These executives would then provide instructions to highly educated analysts, who were expected to follow directions while applying their professional skills to assigned projects. This centralized model had for decades produced many notable accomplishments and steady growth.

Now, changes in the competitive landscape and new advances in technologies threatened Analyteks’ success. After many quarters of decline, management announced the first cutbacks in the company’s history. Anticipating the need for even more cutbacks, leadership decided that the analysts needed to become more entrepreneurial in their work so the company could continue to succeed in the new world they were facing.

Accordingly, the executives presented their case for more entrepreneurial behavior from the analysts at a series of company-wide meetings. Then they waited for behaviors to change. When nothing very different happened, they were confused. After all, they had clearly stated the reasons for change.

Some Often-Neglected Dimensions

What had the Analyteks executives failed to consider in their planning sessions? They had not thought about the differing self-interests of the executives and analysts and how those differences might impact support of the new directions. In fact, the analysts saw the call for them to be more entrepreneurial as a bailout for the failures of the executives.4 One analyst summed it up with the comment: “When I joined Analyteks it was with the understanding that they would do the selling and I could work on neat projects.” Furthermore, becoming sales people did not inspire the analysts, who wanted to do cutting-edge work and not just survive to sell “schlock services to make a buck.”

Unfortunately, the analytical nature of the people and of the business culture, added to concerns about being seen as weak, prevented the analysts (and the executives, for that matter) from openly expressing their fears or their anger. Those feelings were covert, and thus there were no signals to alert the executives that they were on the wrong track. The top-down, centralized culture of Analyteks had helped to create mindsets in which analysts were not expected to be entrepreneurs. That was the job of the executives. In fact, it was considered unprofessional within the Analyteks culture for an analyst to “sell out by selling your work.”

Finally, it would not be too great a stretch to speculate that unconscious processes involving denial or excessive rationalizations among the executives, who were facing failure for the first time in their careers, may have prevented a more carefully thought-out approach. Instead, the executives ended up repeating the very behavior they said they wanted to change. In the meetings they presented a rational plan, predicated on the assumption that they knew best, even as they called for more ideas and involvement from the analysts.


Beyond Good Reasons

The Analyteks case helps to illustrate the overt and covert dimensions of organizational change. Analyteks executives relied on their rational analysis of the situation to provide good reasons to persuade the analysts to change their behavior. Overlooked or hidden from consideration, however, were the politics of the situation, including the differing needs and interests of the analysts and executives. The absence of providing anything to really motivate or inspire the analysts to change their behavior, as well as the inability to express such emotions as fear, anger, or doubt, prevented important considerations from being overtly discussed.

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The unaddressed organizational culture and mindsets about what constitutes prestigious and professional work made it virtually impossible for the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Berrett-Koehler Publishers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2006
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1576754154
• ISBN 13: 9781576754153
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 216
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