Notes and interviews on organization development, management, and group dynamics.
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One of the reasons I started studying organization structures, org psychology, and general organization development was to find more lenses that helped me explain my own experience in the groups I was a part of. Polarity Management is one of those gems that has help tremendously in that effort.
This article takes up the question of whether community based organizations should use participatory or directive management practices. That has been one of the most prevailing issues in every organization I’ve belonged to from Universities to Community Organizing Groups. The article I’ve written here introduces the concept of polarity management to understand this common dilemma.
Comments from readers:
“I just finished reading for the third time, BREATHE! I am totally using it in my presentation tomorrow at the Young Women of Color and Trans Leadership Symposium. Just what I needed.” - Adriann Barboa, Young Women United, Albquerque
“Yay polarity management! I can’t wait to put this to use!” - Radha Patel, United Nations Population Fund, New York City
“I think the article hits on a great issue CBO’s face on a regular basis. Damn, if only we would have known this earlier.” - Ray Padilla, High School Teacher, Las Cruces
Over the years there have been competing trends in community based organizations, and particularly in community organizing groups. One trend has called for participatory management. This approach is in response to legitimate concerns over the downsides of directive management, which include autocratic decision-making, the inability to tap the wisdom and leadership of members and staff, and abuse of power.
The other trend has called for a “strong hand” and directive management. This has been a response to equally legitimate arguments in organizations that have become unable to manage themselves and have become immobilized…
Study: Power without status can lead to to rudeness, even abuse -
This new study looks at how a combination of “some authority” with low perceived status can encourage behaviors that are rude, demeaning, or abusive.
Culture Trumps Strategy, Every Time -
The title says it all…
Whether you read Nilofer Merchant’s article or not, I think the title offers us a golden nugget of advice. What truly impacts your ability to execute a strategy with success?
Unfortunately, many strategic planning processes in the world today are more likely to be intellectual exercises to develop neat ideas on a piece of paper.
I’ve come to believe that strategic thinking and strategy development are vital to an organizations success. Strategic planning, in the traditional sense, is not so helpful.
What I’ve found is that strategic plans have the greatest impact if the process to develop it and the process to monitor it raise the ability of the group to question assumption; strengthens the groups ability to identify and manage unsolvable problems; and strengthens communication between members of the organization, while creating a coherent plan to guide the work.
I think Gary Hamel said it best, “The real leverage is not in creating the ‘right strategy’ but in increasing a [leader’s] capability to surface and test the assumptions behind the strategies they advocate.”
Here is a juicy tidbit from Merchant’s article that highlights the impact to this elusive and mysterious thing called “culture:”
Do We Trust Each Other?…A team I was recently working with reminded me of 6-year-olds playing soccer, where every team member simply surrounds the issue much like a team of kids surrounds the ball. They then travel en masse, afraid to move away from the proverbial “ball.” In this culture, no one owns a position on the field. This “we’re all in it together” cultural norm is certainly egalitarian, but it doesn’t support specialization, scale, or accountability. I worry that as this team grows, and when they’re not all in the same room, they will fail. When they are huddling, what they are signaling is that they don’t know how to trust one another to do their unique part. They — like many teams — simply don’t know how to “let go” to and with others, thus risking their ability to scale results.