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Independent variable (fixed & imposed) OR Dependent variable (horizontal & flexible) |
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Stucture is a dependent variable. Process is the independent variable.
In other words, principled process must dictate organizational structure.
Sir Isaac Newton perpetuated a belief system, or paradigm that valued scientific objectivity, facts, measurement and controls. The Newtonian paradigm includes "...the beliefs that objectivity is possible, the world is arranged hierarchically, that change occurs through evolution, that the cause of events can be understood as a linear mechanical process, that nature can be understood in a rational way by manipulating it in experiments, that nature can be controlled and dominated, that the world we know is ‘out there’ and we are ‘in here’ in a separate and distinct way, and that truth is knowable." Dick Richards, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION [Sept. 1995]) Newton ideas influenced the structures that people adopted for their public and private sector organizations. Organizations became machine-like and scientific management permeated the culture. As a young nation focused on survival and influenced by competition and war, America also became dominated by hierarchical business structures. In the last decade, organizational scholars Peter Senge, Margaret Wheatley, Gifford and Elizabeth Pinchot and many others began to tell us that these hierarchical, machine-like structures are no longer appropriate in a world characterized by rapid change, exponential technological innovations and population growth, and global markets. Many scholars believe that the transformation we are seeing in organizations reflects a universal paradigm shift that affect the fundamental tenets of science, religion, and philosophy. This new paradigm encourages people to think beyond survival and to embrace principles that change the way we live, work and interact with others. |
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fixed, imposed, independent > flexible, self-created, dependent |
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Steve Barber, What do you mean...I might be illegitimate?, JOURNAL FOR QUALITY AND PARTICIPATION (Jan./Feb. 1994) at 40.
To succeed, the means used must reflect the ends. Your choice of means for implementing new organizational principles must be legitimate, and to be legitimate, employees must participate in (not just be told about) the change. In sum, process dictates structure and not the other way around.
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