A Brief History of the Organization, New Edition

Contents

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM RECENT HISTORY ...ix
PROLOGUE ... xvii
INTRODUCTION ... xxi
Chapter 1 PREHISTORIC ORGANIZATION ... 1
Chapter 2 SOCIAL THEORY ... 6
Chapter 3 DAWN OF THE 20TH CENTURY ... 13
Chapter 4 THE MODERN ORGANIZATION ... 19
Chapter 5 THE MODERN ERA ... 30
Chapter 6 EFFECTIVE ORGANIZATION ... 39
Chapter 7 CEO EXPERIENCE ... 49
Chapter 8 SOCIAL CONNECTION ... 65
Chapter 9 SCIENCE BRANCHES REUNIFICATION ... 72
Chapter 10 EFFECTIVENESS MODEL ... 85
EPILOGUE ... 89
BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 97

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM RECENT HISTORY

“History is not history unless it is the truth”
—Abraham Lincoln

HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS

Throughout history, an understanding of factors that drive organization success has remained elusive. The success landscape has not improved and numerous events lead many to believe that results continue to slide on a downward trajectory. Most notable are execution of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, preparation for and response to hurricane Katrina, the failure of companies “To Big To Fail” and many public and private organizations continually demonstrate an inability to “recognize red fl ags and connect the dots”. To be fair, there have been a few corporate success stories and public agencies periodically “get it right”.

Most researchers and economists remain focused on tangible financial, marketing and/or operating results to explain success. The recognition of valid, measured results that have been linked to sound organizational leadership practices continue to remain secondary while the more direct measures “rule the day”. Also, many of the solutions touted, are driven by cleaver promotion techniques to create another “fl ash in the pan” fad. For this reason the warning stressed in the Introduction that follows remains just as relevant today as it did when the first Edition was written.

After publishing A Brief History Of The Organization in 2003, I continued to gather evidence that supports the basic premise presented: there exist four measurable organizational leadership characteristics that drive significant enterprise success. These include: a workforce that has a clear understanding and leadership’s vision of long-term goals (Purpose), an environment where leaders encourage full staff engagement in the organization decision-making process (Participation), effective implementation of a well executed Performance Management program and consistent development and tracking of valid success measurements (Precision).

There have not been any significant organization effectiveness breakthroughs beyond those included in the first edition that begins by tracing the views of key historical “thought leaders”—from Plato to Rousseau, Sir Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking, Weber to Drucker, McGregor to Peters—who identified the fundamental pillars of organization effectiveness. These key characteristics broke the barriers that caused organization gridlock and loss of human commitment.

“Watershed” discoveries include: insights of anthropologists that penetrate the inner-workings of prehistoric clans, early scientists’ formulation of a basic scientific methodology, development of the social sciences, eye-opening discoveries that were initiated by the Hawthorne Study, Herzberg’s thought provoking work model known as Job Enrichment, Tom Peter’s early 80’s revelations in his book “In Search of Excellence”, the TQM revolution and rounding out the 20th Century, organization reengineering.

My chronology of organization evolution that weaves centuries of organization effectiveness success and failures, is reinforced with 21st Century CEO case studies and the discussion of a measurable organization effectiveness model that wraps the “study of the organization” within the panorama of history. The first case study sets the tone for each proceeding success story. It outlined the results achieved by the SVP of World-wide Research for Pfizer that served during the era where R & D productivity was doubled from the late 1990’s through the beginning of the 21st century. The goals created represented his “vision” which focused on “ambition for excellence”. This “launch pad” drove the development of stretch objectives across the entire organization, the ability to attract and engage the best people, success out-learning the competition, technical sophistication and a dynamic Performance Management program.

Many readers have reported that a strong case has been made to prove that “a lack of leadership focus on critical fundamentals” leads to poor organizational results. Using this historical backdrop, the book concludes with a review of concrete steps that dramatically improve organization effectiveness.

RESEARCH BREAKTHROUGH

A research model is presented in the Book’s Epilogue that measures the power of these factors and demonstrates a positive correlation to financial success. No significant study results have been reported that prove this direct link but in 2009, Profiles International completed a study to identify factors that drive employee productivity within an enterprise. The researchers analyzed financial data from over 1600 publicly traded companies and then organized these companies into 175 sub-industry groups to facilitate the analysis of the data gathered.

The total annual revenue achieved per full-time employee was calculated to rank the Companies in each group and then the factors that enabled the leaders to out-produce their peers were analyzed. The findings were broken into two segments:

Synthesis and discussion of the top ten factors that drive measured success

The ranking of Companies within each designated industry Group

The success was measured as revenue produced per full-time employee or equivalent in 2008. The revenue data evaluated was recognized revenue reported on the balance sheet resulting from accrual accounting methods. Companies were segmented into clearly defined, industry groupings to ensure that a valid analysis could be achieved. This insured an “apples to apples” comparison. Examples include: PCConnection, Samuel Adams, Dow Chemical, Tenet, Afl ac, D & B, Capital One, Hasbro, PENSKE, shutterfly.

The Report presented an analysis of the data gathered to establish a ranking that they titled, America’s Most Productive Companies. The report combined these rankings with further in-depth research that focused on the companies that were ranked the highest. This included an on-line literature review and interviews with key executives. The results identified “best practices” which explained the reasons for the highest rankings. To summarize the results, the researchers created the following categories that can be directly linked to the four variables driving organizational effectiveness. The connection clearly supports the conclusions reached in the body of my book.

MOST PRODUCTIVE COMPANIES STUDY – A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION LINKAGE PERFORMANCE DRIVEN CULTURE - CLEAR ORGANIZATION PURPOSE

Organization culture is defined by the attitudes, beliefs and values held within an organization and is the critical driver of staff behavior. The workforce demonstrates a focus on efforts that will achieve top priority results (Clear Organization Purpose).

Leaders promote individual initiative and high levels of teamwork.