Coordination Chaos

Why should I care

Every organization declines to Coordination Chaos unless the leaders know what to do. (4 min)

Background

Making sense of Coordination Chaos

Are you powerless in front of silos, confusion, and slowness? Is even dreaming of a better way impossible?

The researcher William Ouchi explains the mechanism of bureaucracy, and how it grows inevitably in a fragmented organization.

Management thinkers have given their warning. Gary Hamel , Allen Ward, Konosuke Matsushita, Clausewitz and von Moltke, Joseph Tainter, and Chris Argyris all explain the same pattern from different perspectives.

Nokia Mobile Phones fell from 40 BN revenue and 9 BN profit to zero in five years. Coordination Chaos was critical in the collapse of R&D productivity. It constrained the strategic decisions of the top management, and contributed to the management by fear.

Figure by Christian Sandström

Release your talent from the burden of bureaucracy

General principles of the transformation (3 min)

  • Mobilize the network of the key people. First learn and think together, then design the systemic change, and go back to coach the local adaptation.
  • Start deep and narrow, then gradually widen the front-line transformation.

Effective structures, teamwork culture, and learning lead to an adaptive and manageable organization.

Organize the Systemic Improvement (6 min)

Here you have condensed advice for the change drivers.

  • The timeline from initial ideas and pre-game to systematically organized change.
  • Structures for hundreds of people.
  • Building the knowledge and skill, from onboarding to thought leadership.
  • The Principles of Continuous Improvement.
  • Putting it all together.
  • Structures for thousands of people.