Manager’s today are often referred to as insincere, uncaring, disconnected, and unsupportive. With low retention rates occurring in many organizations, statistics demonstrating this generation switching more jobs than they do light bulbs; who can disagree with this simple assumption. Obviously, today’s management is deficient. How can traditional methods become reinvented to suit today’s demands from its workforce? Good policies may be enacted for a company, yet bad management may offer poor practice and modeling through traditional behaviors. There is a gap that exists between levels of management and each individual from the bottom up. Providing a more cohesive structure that supports the deliverance of creativity, innovation, collaboration, cooperation, and teamwork; may nurture improve processes and productivity among all.
I view this structure to serve a contradictory process in the assignment of supervisors and managers within a single institution. In order to foster a more creative, dynamic, and fast changing environment; team leads should prove an essence in working directly with the individuals of each department. The terminology of leadership and management has become interchangeable through time. This mentality is incorrect. Leaders play more of an immediate role in coaching, mentoring, training, and development of their peers. Managers utilize totalitarian traits. Authority should be redistributed to allow decision making processes to function swiftly. Present times in business do not require the need for managers. Leaders are of an essence, defining new means of innovating techniques, collaborating directly and implementing creative ideas of each individual, and serving the purpose of continual development. By redistributing power to the leaders of the organization, new ideas can be fostered and employed in cultivating new business processes.
To support the redistribution of power to leaders, the traditional organizational structure requires transformation. Cells will be created in each department that would make up the body of that department. These cells would operate at a 25% ratio of the department size making up a total of four cells per department depending on the level of employees per department. A team leader would be assigned to each cell operating as its forerunner and representing his/her peers. This in all essence acts as the replacement of the traditional supervisor and management roles combined. These team leads will act as collaborators in their cells and with one another. The necessity of department heads has ceased to exist. One person is not needed to make one decision for all. Rather, team leaders enacted to share the vision of many, discuss these new ideas, and agree upon the improvement of operations and processes. This reorganization bridges the gap missing in traditional structure. Managers have conventionally acted in a controlling role rather than collaborative role. By these team leaders working directly in daily operations, more hands on management practices are endorsed. Direct methods of mentoring and coaching can occur while lines of communications from previous barriers are broken.
The absence of a single department head would be reinstituted to include a department leader of many. This individual would operate within the role of serving the operational process of multiple departments and handling issues that arise. The need for a more diversified management is necessary in present times. The agreement of a department leader will foster dynamic skills to be utilized within the organization and bridge the working of many departments together. An example of this restructuring may be the consolidation of a hardware support, software support, and research and development department combined under one department lead. Restructuring in this method would offer every individual a stronger knowledgebase throughout their organization, foster improved skilled workers that are increasingly diversified, and offer more ways for individuals to offer creative ideas that benefit multiple aspects of the organization.
The next level of this structure is the executive level. Traditionally, organizations have embraced the idea of a Vice President per every department. This may include Personnel and Administrative, Finance, Marketing, Legal, Planning, Research and Development, and/or Manufacturing. This gap between departments and managers must be brought closer together. A simple Vice President in Operations should be able to encompass multiple levels of operations in Research and Development, Human Resources, Administrative Personnel, and others. The second Vice President should be able to oversee the operations in Finance, Marketing, Legal, and Planning combined. This is open to be structured differently between organizations but the point being is the necessary elimination of increased management with smaller scopes of duties. This disinhibits the ability to be diversified throughout the organization and presents more authoritarian aspects that decrease the power given to middle and lower level leaders.
With today's technology, decision making and processes can operate at a quicker pace even in a global environment. The reorganization presented allots for the opportunity of collaboration among many to exist worldwide with the use of video conferencing among leaders. Traditional uses of email notifications and indirect delegation methods do not suit this new structure. It decreases time in distributing new information and lacks a method of personalization among management and employees. The introduction of multiple cells with team leaders and multiple department leads permits increased face time and a line for direct communications to open. This increases the use of human capacity and ensures that changes recommended by every employee is quickly realized and implemented upon discussion with other cell leads.
Executives are granted the time for evaluating new business ventures and growth opportunities for the organization while department leader and cell team leaders account for creative changes and innovative ideas. More recognized forms of decentralization from the traditional structure have demonstrated an environment where downsizing occurs, yet unnecessary levels of management are still focused on the delegation of duties and wasted time in maintaining constant accountability. Cell team leaders would not be placed in this role. They would be placed among their peers to operate with their team members, guide them, and improve their cells operations and service. This provides the ability to offer immediate feedback in performance delivered to each team member when necessary and an ability to directly communicate with someone of authority who is familiar with you.
To foster this renewal of faith from each employee, the company must reassure that each individual remains a value to the institution itself. The implementation of this change would prove to be difficult in altering traditional based mindsets, reintegrating operational processes, and selecting qualified individuals to suit this new structure. The roll-out would require the distribution of information notifying each employee of these changes and how it benefits them. Let their voices be head and recommendations given on suitable individuals to fulfill these cell lead positions. Previous traditional department managers would be evaluated in skills and experience to seek qualified department leaders in managing the functions of multiple departments. Appropriate access privileges would need to be given and authority redirected to these personnel. New training of these positions and appropriate changes in standard operating procedures may need to be updated. The integration of these new job titles within the restructure itself already offers the breakdown of traditional management barriers. Individuals will be likely to feel self-empowered within their positions and increase their work ethic, motivation, and production levels overall.
- The altering of traditional based mindsets
- reintegrating operational processes
- selecting qualified individuals to suit the new structure
- distribution of information notifying each individual of these changes and how it benefits them
- recommendations given on qualified cell leads
- new training and updates on standard operating procedures
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