The Busting Bureaucracy Hackathon

Phase 2: IMAGINING ALTERNATIVES TO THE BUREAUCRATIC MODEL

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IMAGINING ALTERNATIVES TO THE BUREAUCRATIC MODEL

In the current phase of the hackathon, we’re working to define the attributes of the post-bureaucratic organization—what new management practices can provide an alternative to the bureaucratic model of top-down control and formal rules and procedures?

In a paragraph or less, please share your idea for an alternative approach that could replace an existing bureaucratic management practice (or "like" one or more of the existing contributions below).

Hint: when trying to imagine alternatives, you might find it easier to pick an existing management practice, for example strategy development or performance reviews. Then share a new approach that you believe might more efficiently or effectively replace the existing practice. You can also get some additional context and inspiration by reading Gary Hamel’s latest blog. Please share your ideas by May 16.

Submissions

Have a highly decentralized organization structure, where each role is assigned certain responsibilities/targets as well as given sufficient authority to deliver on those responsibilities. A knowledge based IT system could monitor the actions of each role, to ensure compliance. Certain actions could be disallowed by the IT system if they do not comply with organization polices and regulations. Manual overrides could be allowed to handle exceptions. The IT system could also provide dashboards for each role to provide performance monitoring support for feedback.
By Kaushal Chari on May 10, 2022
Would there be better or worse leadership, if leaders of projects / communities / departments / companies are chosen by people they want to lead?
By Frank Calberg on May 10, 2022
Replace boring and useless meetings with pp presentations by "liberating structures" such as "knowledge cafes" and "open space" where authentic conversations create collective wisdom.
By Edna Pasher on May 9, 2022
What if we bust the organizational rules and procedures, reengineered the business functions so that only few rules are kept and those not contributing much are busted and replaced with guides and shared understanding ?
By Huda Al Midani on May 9, 2022
Build a customer focused culture of collaboration which enables each person to perform at their best instead of the pervading culture of competition in bureaucracies which encourages people to devote energy and talent to beating someone else in the organization at the expense of optimizing customer value.
By Graham Douglas on May 9, 2022
To limit bureaucracy: 1) Identify what bureaucracy/admin are legal or fiduciary requirements. Design these bits into a simple, functional whole system that can be understood by everyone. 2) Create IT to automate the above system to reduce the necessary burden to a minimum. 3) Decentralise and flatten the structure, removing boundaries and specialisations. Making people multi-skilled is essential in this process. This process is key to getting people to both understand perspectives and constraints more widely than their "department" and in reducing interdepartmental communication (vertically integrated processes go on in a single mind rather than between departments- think of hosting a dinner party where you both shop, cook and host- yet at work this needs purchasing, production and sales). This process dramatically reduces both admin and communication. 4) Of specific importance: Devolve accounts measures down to individual level- that means Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet on each individual. Each person should be able to demonstrate their part of the organisations assets and liabilities that they are responsible for, and the income and expenditure they produce from them. Remuneration and reward should be significantly based upon these metrics- these are grown up boundaries that must be integrated into any sensible system. A business is not just a money making machine, but breaking even or making a profit does not happen without constant focus, vigilance and discipline in this regard. NEVER EVER spread rewards across groups- this has a massive negative impact in the long term- although its understandable as it masks deeper problems in the short term. 5) No business cost (expenditure) should be spread across groups or teams. All expenditure must be accounted for by the person who makes the expenditure and attributable to their P&L; and Balance Sheet. No business risk may be entered into that effects others without their prior agreement. My experience is that: a)the legal/fiduciary demands on an organisation are pretty extensive- and will significantly outweigh the operational admin of the organisation. b)IT is expensive and complex, but the payoffs are huge. c)The biggest barrier to flattening a hierarchy is status anxiety. d)People resist the financial constraints, but eventually become proficient and value it as a clear expression of their "financial" performance and a way of ensuring a level playing field for everyone. e)People are not financial animals- they are social ones. A "financial" organisation like this is full of social and human concerns- the finances becoming far less prominent as each individual has domain over theirs rather than being the sole preserve of the finance dept. This frees people to speculate and invest as a daily habit. f)There is a massive spurt in personal growth and maturity that takes place within an organisation like this- people gain much more self esteem and self confidence. Collaboration and teamwork is common place because its clear quickly that the opportunities and rewards are greater when you combine you efforts with others- but you cant force people to work together- they must want to work with you.
By Julian Wilson on May 9, 2022
Gary's blog presents three hidden principles that I believe could assist bureaucratic demise: Conditions, Actions, and Needs. The overall concept is one of communications, where organizations create a culture of openness; thus constantly providing current conditions around the business; actions needed to repair, maintain, or Improve the business, and needs as a forecasting or facilitating tool. Broadly, conditions, actions, and needs provide a quick assessment of the situations at hand, allowing agility of information sharing while providing at the same time a view of current actions and the need for solutions in the form of needs. At the small team concept, Conditions, Actions, and Needs, create a directional path towards problem identification and solving, where team members have a clear understanding of the situation and work together through facilitation rather than top down management.
By Javier Crespo on May 9, 2022
What if everyone participates / can participate in development of cities - like on FixMyStreet?
By Frank Calberg on May 9, 2022
miguel-veloso's picture
Reward only on group or, better, company performance, and the only metrics for that should be based on customer satisfaction an EBITDA. But NEVER EVER reward on personal performance metrics.
By Miguel Veloso on May 8, 2022
miguel-veloso's picture
What if we had trained coaches instead of managers, that would help people find a good personal strategy to improve their performance metrics gotten from an open access information system.
By Miguel Veloso on May 8, 2022

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