Human being is characterized by an ability
and a need to socialize. The dependence on, and relationship with, other human
beings is one of the key shapers of human relations in an organization. While
individual plays a very significant role in organizational performance, his or
her performance as a member is dependent on his or her social characteristics. There
are many efforts to describe the social skills or personality traits. Broad spectrum
descriptors such as extrovert or introvert and narrow spectrum adjectives such
as adaptive, flexible, aggressive, docile are often used to characterize personality
types, and encourage people develop on the lines relevant to their teams, and
the organizations. In each case, these are further described by several other
adjectives or sentences, which lead to considerable ambiguity.
The issue with the use of general language is
that many of these words are general purpose and open ended. For example, when
one says adaptability is a desired characteristic, questions arise as to “how
adaptable is adaptable”. More fundamentally, the question is whether it is unquestionably
desirable to be adaptable without any limits. Several other descriptors raise
similar doubts. For example, does it pay to be uncompromisingly tough when dealing
with business partners across a negotiating table? The actual business
practice, in due course, lets people know the desirable and avoidable limits.
Still, the need to have better descriptors at a fundamental level remains. In
this context, certain scientific and technical terms become useful as powerful
descriptors of appropriate personality traits, and in some cases the
organizational constructs themselves.
Ductility
Ductility is the characteristic of certain
metals that enables them be converted into fine threads. Most precious metals
like gold and silver possess this property. This property enables the precious
metals to be shaped into intricate jewels, enhancing the desirability and value.
Individuals in organizations also need to be ductile, to be able to be drawn by
experienced mentors and leaders into strands that hold the teams and organization
together. Ductile persons are persons who can wade through cross-functional
complexities of an organization, and hold the different sub-units together. Like a master craftsman who understands the
limits to ductility of a metal, the expert coach also understands the
appropriate limits to ductility to which a person can be subjected to.
Malleability
Malleability is the characteristic of a metal
that enables it to be pressed or formed (or occasionally hit) into different
shapes without breaking or cracking. From a people perspective, malleability
denotes the ability to be influenced or changed. Malleability is the most
important characteristic that needs to be possessed by an individual who enters
an organization after general purpose education or experience in another
organization. Malleability helps a person fit into different roles of an
organization or acquire new skills to be integrated. As with metals, however,
extreme malleability does not provide any strength to the person. The leader
who mentors the malleable person also knows the extent to which he or she can
be molded without losing the basic characteristics of the person.
Osmosis
Osmosis is the gradual passing of a liquid
through a membrane as a result of which desired levels of dissolved substances
or particulates are held back at or moved across the membrane. In a people perspective, it reflects the
gradual process of learning or being influenced by someone, as a result of
close contact. Osmosis is a key aspect of organizational learning. An
experienced leader acts as an effective membrane which lets only the noble
characteristics of an individual pass into the organization. An individual who
comes in with multiple experiences, some virtuous and some toxic, is rendered
virtually toxin-free with well designed induction and learning programs at the
hands of experienced leaders that act as osmotic programs of organizational purity
and efficacy. The Japanese system of Sempai-Kohai is a great example of
virtuous organizational osmosis, and needs to be adapted.
Eutectic point
A eutectic system is a mixture
of chemical compounds or elements that has a single chemical composition that solidifies
at a lower temperature than any other composition. This composition is known as
the eutectic composition and
the temperature is known as the eutectic
temperature. On a phase diagram the intersection
of the eutectic temperature and the eutectic composition gives the eutectic point. An organization is
also a eutectic system wherein persons of diverse backgrounds are brought
together to form a single union. An ability to understand the characteristics
of different people and the conditions under which teams can effectively coalesce
is a prime requirement of organization designers and organizational leadership.
At an individual level, different educational and experiential perspectives can
be amalgamated into a solid personality when the individual is treated as a
eutectic system.
Semiconductor
A
semiconductor is a solid substance that conducts electricity under certain
conditions. Semiconductor chips as we know constitute the core of electronics
and digital revolution. A semiconductor is neither insular nor conductor, and
is itself a eutectic system. A mature executive in an organization is also like
a semiconductor, letting the right amount of data, information and cultural
inputs pass through him or her. He or she is also verily the chip which
provides the processing power to the organization and also becomes the storehouse
of institutionalized knowledge. Individuals and organizations would, however, do
well to remember that just as continuous upgrades in chips (dual core, quad
core) enhance processing power, the individual capabilities need to be
continuously upgraded to enable progressively higher business competitiveness.
Impedance
Impedance defines and measures the resistance
of a component or system to the flow of current. All individuals, teams and
organizations unfortunately suffer from a level of impedance. Just as electrical
impedance varies between different types of circuits (series and parallel) and
has real and imaginary components (resistance and reactance), organizational
impedance also varies by the design of organizational structures, the positioning
and repositioning of cross-functional teams, the conductors used (the
individuals deployed) and the leadership power that serves as the
organizational motive power. Clearly, in the delivery of organizational goals
and conduct of organizational processes, appropriate design of organizational
circuitry is mandated.
Enthalpy
Enthalpy is a measure of the total energy of a thermodynamic system. It includes the internal energy, which is the energy required to create a system, and the
amount of energy required to make room for it by displacing its environment and establishing its volume and pressure.
An organization is truly a thermodynamic system that is driven by heat energy
and works in the environment with competitive output. The energy of an organization
is akin to the enthalpy of a thermodynamic system. The greater the enthalpy in
an organization the greater will be the organizational effectiveness. Like enthalpy
in thermodynamic systems, organizational enthalpy needs to be measured by the
change in energy level. The greater the change in organizational enthalpy the greater
will be its competitive advantage. Individuals need to increased levels of
enthalpy to contribute to greater organizational enthalpy.
Entropy
Entropy is
the energy that is available in the system but cannot do work. Entropy in statistical mechanics is a measure of the
number of specific ways in which a system may be arranged, often taken to be a
measure of "disorder"; the higher the entropy, the higher the
disorder. The entropy of an isolated system never decreases, because isolated
systems spontaneously evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium—the state of
maximum entropy. The concept of entropy
has valuable reference as organizations become larger in scale. Builders of
organizations need to find out ways to minimize disorder in organizations as
they grow larger in scale and how the organizations have higher enthalpy and
lower entropy. Individuals do need to remember that as organizations become
larger, the focus on individuals reduces, in the process increasing both
disorder and entropy levels. Individuals and organizations need to minimize
entropy as much as they need to maximize enthalpy.
Organization as a powerhouse
Organizations are manmade. Given that they are at one level structural
designs and at another level they are human, they act as thermodynamic systems
at one level and at another level do think, behave and act as human beings. The
key concept is that elements of science and engineering apply to organizations
and individuals as much as they do to physical systems and their components. Organization
designers and business leaders must devise approaches to maximize the
productive energy of their organizations, and the people therein, as
thermodynamic systems. Viewing organizations and the personality traits of teams
through a technical lens, as discussed in this blog, provides a novel framework
for sustainable organizational energy.
Posted by Dr CB Rao on April 21, 2013
1 comment:
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