Managing Interfaces: A Key to Rapid Product and Service Development

We all know that conventional management structures inhibit day-to-day interaction between departments. The problem shows itself when one department hands a project over to another at the end of a phase: “They can’t make what we’ve designed, and Marketing wants something else anyway!“

People from different departments and disciplines often work to different objectives. In an attempt to overcome the barriers to communication, senior managers may … [ Read more ]

Removing Barriers to Change: The Unwritten Rules of the Game

Traditional approaches to addressing organizational behavior problems always focus on changing shared values. They always try to change motivators. It’s the only approach most senior managers can take because they’re using models of the problem that have no cause-and-effect built into them.

So they try to “teach teamwork,” “encourage quality,” and “inspire customer service.” But they are trying to change the symptom without changing the factors … [ Read more ]