Organizational Network Alignment

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Organizational Network Alignment

• Kent Myers, PhD
• Science Applications International Corp.

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Slack
Robust
High
Potential
Weak
Brittle
Low
Aligned
High
Low
Performance
Alert
Agile
Adaptive
Directed
Alert
Agile
Adaptive
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Three reflections
ENVIRONMENT
0
Wholes(appreciation)
Others(influence)
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STRATEGY
2b
2a
CRITICAL
TASKS
Self(control)
3
5
4
6
PEOPLE
CULTURE
7
8
FORMAL
ORGANIZATION
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Unpacking the Network Link Sub-Links

• 0t Accurate perception of and support for
  others intention
• 1t Effective incorporation of partner role and
  transactions

(repeat for each network pair)
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Unpacking the Network Link Forces
Three classes of expectations define - a
containment region for an organization- a
position of maximum alignment
Global change
Change Forces
Local change
Global role
Local role
Leading
The networks state
MovingToward
Moving Away
Lagging
A partners state
Contribution
Role Forces
Relationship
Interaction Forces
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Measuring the Network Link Questions
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Measuring the Network Relationship Indexes
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Measuring the Network Relationship Criteria

• Appropriate tension, not maximum alignment
• Non-discrepant viewpoints of situation
• Weakness not concentrated in a factor
• Weakness not excessive in an indicator
• Alignment seeking
• Better on weighted factors

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A Network Alignment Assessment Project
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A Surface Enterprise domain, recast as 6 nodes of
an organizational network
Logistics
NAVAIR
Manning
NAVMAC
Ships
OPNAV
Training
BUPERS
Support Nodes
NAVSEA
Maint.
NAVSUP
SPAWAR
CNSF Pillars
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Web survey
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Interview strategies

• START WITH PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF SUCCESS
• Often, nobody has ever asked. Establishes an
  open, creative, participative posture.
• Examples
• - When have you felt most energized in your
  role, here or elsewhere?
• - What is the most significant change,
  innovation, or transition you were a part of.
• - What relationships or project teams have
  worked especially well together, in terms of
  serving, adapting well, leading others in needed
  change.
• WHATS WORKING TODAY
• Ask about strengths they will supply the
  constraints
• Consider what somebody else said that you are
  genuinely uncertain about
• Ask about what they know, and you can often
  connect it back to broader alignment issues
• Focus on cycles, evolutions, innovations they can
  discuss in the form of a story
• Old timers have useful perspectives on larger
  external factors
• POSITIVE POSSIBILITIES
• Examples
• - What are the major opportunities.
• - Assume you have transformed in a way that makes
  sense, and tell the story
• - If you could change your network in any way
  three ways, what do you do, whats the impact.

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Relation-to-the-whole indexes
DRAFT
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7 conclusions located in alignment space
Network Relationship
Node as a whole pairs
alone
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Conclusion 4 Good network behavior is unrewarded
Factor Alert Extent Community

• All of Shores partners scored the
  Encouragement/Reward item lower, some their
  lowest item (2.9). Shores self-assessment is
  consistent, though not strongly so.
• A telling story Nobody asked me to it or gives
  me any credit for it, but I guess that I am
  spending time to educate people in other
  organizations on how the system works.
• Shore may be complacent in advancing its
  Enterprise relationships
• Fewer Shore respondents are interested in
  improving their relationships, compared to the
  other partners (50 compared with 70
• Only 50 (including Shore) would reconstitute
  Shore as is if it were eliminated

Data
Implications

• The network needs to change the way its
  participants are evaluated and rewarded. Shift
  from inward emphasis to an emphasis on balance
  with outward Enterprise interests.
• No-cost incentives are an under-utilized lever
  for implementing any change

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1 Help staff learn how manning roles and
processes interact and where there is tension
Action s
Resources, Timing

• - Establish a working group under training
  leadership
• - Name processes associated with nodes specify
  intersections only
• - Overlay basic four budgetary processes and
  schedules
• - Develop role profiles, external distractors,
  remaining game elements
• - Identify instances of misunderstanding,
  disagreement, surprise, and ignorance that are
  often experienced by newcomers
• - Devise scenarios for use in tabletop simulation
• - Pilot tabletop simulation with 1-year staff and
  revise scenarios
• - Rerun for newcomers
• - Revise as single-user interactive simulation,
  also text version with some reference materials
  (suitable for inclusion in start-up pack)
• - Invite comments concerning improvements and
  updates

Resources Part time work group, expert
assistance for simulation training Timing 4 mo
initial development, use as module in new course,
create single user version after revision
Outcomes / Benefits

• A memorable, compact experience of network
  interaction that accelerates job learning
• Understand sources of conflict, including
  different motivations, roles, criteria, schedules
• Greater readiness to cooperate with other nodes
  and to change together

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Some personal findings

• The network perspective is a distinctively
  different -- and increasingly important -- way to
  look at organizations
• Organizational potential is crucial, yet it is
  rarely isolated from performance or managed
  comprehensively
• Government and military organizations may have
  thought about it early this time, but commercial
  organizations are on the move.

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back up
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Labovitz Model
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Tushman OReilly Model
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Enterprise Position Index
Recognition as a player within the enterprise
community.
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Change Index
Capability and readiness for change in network
relationships.
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Node Index
Extent to which the node tends to be a successful
player within its primary network.
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Network Index
Network has well aligned partners, relative to
other networks.