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The struggle between decisiveness and influence is an ongoing dance.
That leaders and followers need each other is surely in the category
of a universally accepted axiom. Equally obvious is the tragedy
perpetuated in the 20th century from dysfunctional dances when the
balance was missing. Usually there was too much authority placed
in the leader, or too little. This has been true in nations,
organizations, and families. The familiar polarization in families
between the over-authoritarian parent and the permissive parent
is also manifest in large systems. More accurately, authorities
often are inconsistent and flip from being authoritarian to being
permissive and back again. The statement about parenting, "Parents
are authoritarian until they can't stand themselves and then permissive
until they can't stand the kids,"¹ also characterizes
much management behaviors.
Finding the appropriate balance in leadership style is extremely
difficult. This book has been written for the manager who is ready
to do a different dance but not give up the leadership role that
is appropriate and desperately needed."The goal is to change
the organizational dance in such a way that the whole system experiences
change…and…If you change your individual dance, the whole
system will react."²
The creation of an empowered and high-performing organization is
dependent on several factors. The author,using his personal experience
and data from over 500 United States, Canadian, and British organizations,
has identified 25 factors that impact performance.³ When these
factors are attended to, productivity and quality are high, absenteeism
is low, accidents are reduced, and employees are more likely both
to enjoy and be motivated in their work environment. In other words,
people are empowered.
| ¹The author associates this statement with
the Parent Effectiveness Training work of Thomas Gordan. He
published a book with that same title. |
| ²From training materials written by Ron
Short of The Leadership Group, Seattle, WA. |
| ³Data is from the People Performance Profile
(PPP),™ Computer Profiles, Inc., Narberth, PA. These key
factors were presented by Robert Crosby in 1986, at a NASA conference
on Productivity/Quality. The original PPP was developed in 1979
by Robert Crosby and John Scherer, assisted by Dr. Ron Short. |
Excepted from Walking the Empowerment Tightrope by Robert P.
Crosby.
Copyright © 1992 by Robert P. Crosby. Published by Organization
Design and Development, Inc. HRD Quarterly, King of Prussia, PA
(610) 279-2002. HRDQ@HRDQ.COM
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt can be used without
permission of the publisher.
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