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"RETHINKING THE CORP." (ROBERT TOMASKO).
Term Paper ID:24296
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Essay Subject:
Reviews work on corp. success in management & organizational reform & relationship between corp. & architectural planning.... More...
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8 Pages / 1800 Words
1 sources, 13 Citations,
MLA Format
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Paper Abstract:
Reviews work on corp. success in management & organizational reform & relationship between corp. & architectural planning.
Paper Introduction:
Robert M. Tomasko's book Rethinking the Corporation: The Architecture of Change is a follow-up work to his earlier Downsizing: Reshaping the Corporation for the Future. Downsizing presented ideas on the need for streamlining the corporation to make it leaner, stronger and able to make quick changes to survive in the increasingly competitive future.
Rethinking the Corporation is the result of a "four-year journey" in which Tomasko studied dozens of companies around the world to find out what those corporations had done right and what they had done wrong in making management and organizational changes.
In his Prologue to the book, Tomasko writes that many corporations have used downsizing practices, but they have not dealt with deeper structural and organizational problems. He
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Tomasko also makes a suggestion which has been made by others beforehim, but which is still vital--that there be less distance between lower-level and upper-level employees of the company. Again, it is not always the overhead cost or crewsize, but the type of work and overhead which exists. Tomasko says that there are corporations in the world today which arestill using structures from the nineteenth century to try to deal withproblems of the twenty-first century. Writing on the first, Tomasko says, Applying design logic to reorganization suggests, first, careful consideration of what is already in place, how functional it is, and what turf it needs to cover. . This is important for a company which wants its workers at everylevel to feel that they are members of a family of human beings workingtogether for common human and economic goals. Some companies have run into trouble trying to make everybodya leader. New York: Amacom, 1993.----------------------- 9 By showing how the changes can be taken step by step, and how thechanges can be seen in architectural terms, Tomasko is trying to ease thefears of planners. Tomasko takes an unusual and fascinating approach to the problems ofthe corporation--the approach that an architect would take toward abuilding. No such leader should thinkthat he or she can simply look at a single plan for reorganization and findsuccess by following it to the letter. Every corporate leader canand should learn from this book, no matter what the company's size orgoals. give moreattention to splitting apart activities or functions." Hewlett-Packard, forexample, split its computer division into "one selling minicomputers andworkstations directly to large corporations, the other selling printers andpersonal computers through dealers to the mass market" (116). . For example, the book is divided into three sections, Resizing,Reshaping, and Rethinking. He wants to have leaders and workersof corporations completely rethink the way they do business, the way theymanage, the way they take part in the organization of the corporation. Tomasko points out that it is not only a matter of what to do, it isalso how to do it. The three divisions of the book are to be applied to the company inorder, just as the site, structure and infrastructure of a building aretaken in order. The book, therefore, is written for "two audiences: those with thepower to bring about change in their organization and those on thereceiving end of these changes" (1-2). At the same time, a booksuch as Tomasko's gives such leaders an idea about the common problems mostcompanies face as we move into the twenty-first century. The use of architecture brings reorganizing down toearth and to the world of practical solutions. This is comparable to the architect's designing he structure of abuilding. Here again the approach of the architect isuseful: At times during the design process architects stand back from their detailed drawings and look at the structure they are planning as a whole, as might a bystander walking by. However, Tomasko is clearly writingmore for those leaders who can make the changes necessary to meet theeconomic and organizational demands of the next century. He does say that some of the distance betweenupper level and lower level workers should be done away with, but this doesnot mean that there should not be strong leadership at the top of theorganization. The final section deals with rethinking the infrastructure of thecorporation, or how the work in the company is managed. For example, it is clear that downsizing is needed forcompanies that have grown too big to make quick decisions and be flexiblein putting those decisions into action. Such an approach will keepworkers from feeling that they are not merely parts of a machine turningout a product. Despite the fact that these new ideas and strategies are successful,some corporations are still timid about giving up the old ways, such as astrongly vertical hierarchy. The architect cannot build an abstractbuilding, but must find a real site in the real world, get the actualmaterials and designers together, and so on. For example, Tomasko is not againsthierarchy in organizations. . As he writes, he wants to "use the logic of thearchitect to build speed, flexibility, and focus into the organizationstructure" (9). In his Prologue to the book, Tomasko writes that many corporationshave used downsizing practices, but they have not dealt with deeperstructural and organizational problems. Tomasko returns over and over to the useful comparison of corporateplanning and architecture. , has a private office. Not all workers handle power well. . Tomasko's book is aimed at these timidleaders, showing them examples of the great success well-known companieshave had when they took bold new steps. As Tomasko writes, "If everybody is a manager, then . One interesting aspect of Tomasko's analysis is his ideas on dualperspective. The corporate planner also must find the proper size or site in whichthe activities of the corporate will best fit. A "site" too big or toosmall will not bring about maximum success and performance. What makes Tomasko's book so useful is that it offers a number ofalternative ideas for the planner. . Some workers whoare given more authority become "rigid and bureaucratic" (128). Tomasko's book Rethinking the Corporation: The Architectureof Change is a follow-up work to his earlier Downsizing: Reshaping theCorporation for the Future. The final step, rethinking, involves thinking in a fresh wayabout "the basics of how work is managed." This part is similar to thearchitect's planning of the infrastructure of the project he is working on. For example, "Most businesses will also face the requirement to bemore flexible than ever in deploying and redeploying resources to match themoving targets provided by customers' requirements and competitors'advances" (79). He knows that he cannot tell a specificplanner how to change his corporation. . All employees handle their own phone calls, make their own copies. no onereally is." He adds that the reduction of hierarchy in many cases is not aneffective way to improve attitudes or performance, and it is often counter-productive. . Tomasko is clearly in favor of hierarchical structures,but he urges planners to see the importance of the work of people who donot lead. Downsizing presented ideas on the need forstreamlining the corporation to make it leaner, stronger and able to makequick changes to survive in the increasingly competitive future. The author looks at theexample of Mars, Inc., the candy maker, and he finds that no employee, including the chief executive . For example, "As hierarchy is reduced, anxiety frequentlyincreases" (128). . Tomasko's book is useful both for its ideas about reorganizing thecorporation in a rapidly changing marketplace, and for its use ofarchitecture as a metaphor. (64). . In other words, Tomasko is trying to bring the lofty ideas andtheories of the organization down to the ground and into the real world.Architectural ideas let him do this. . In the section on reshaping, for example, hecompares the "building blocks" of the corporation with the actualfoundation and structural materials used by the architect in putting up abuilding. Tomasko's use of architecture brings organizationalplanning down to earth, but it also allows the planner to consider changinganything in the corporation in an orderly way without becoming overwhelmed.Tomasko sees that corporations do need major overhauls, but planners aretoo frightened to attack the problems with as much boldness as is needed. Two perspectives are looking at the company from the top down andfrom the bottom up. He also knows that the successfulplanner must use his own imagination and creativity in applying these ideasto his own business. Similarly, dual perspectives are essential when planning the restructuring of a corporation. Every corporation, like everybuilding, must be dealt with individually. The company planner can become stuck with one perspective sothat he cannot see as clearly what he is doing as he could at the beginningof the rethinking process. Rethinking the Corporation. He knows it is not possible for himto come up with specific solutions for every corporation's problems, but hedoes suggest a "process corporations and their managers can use to move theorganization from where it is now to where they feel it needs to be" (1). Many reorganization efforts flounder because they take an excessively simpleminded view of the enterprise's work (32). For example, he compares the overhead between a Michigan and aJapanese company with respect to administration at mid and lower levels.The Michigan company had more such workers doing "'today'-oriented overheadjobs," while the Japanese company had far more future-oriented jobs,including research and development engineers, process developmentspecialists, etc. . Robert M. The trick is to sift them out, compare them wherepossible, and compare them with what seems to be working in the real world"(2 ). If the planner can see that the process of change islogical, then some of that fear is surely eased. Rethinking the Corporation is the result of a "four-year journey" inwhich Tomasko studied dozens of companies around the world to find out whatthose corporations had done right and what they had done wrong in makingmanagement and organizational changes. The physical materials of a building must be flexible enough tomeet changes in the physical environment, and the activities of thecorporation must be flexible enough to meet the pressure of economicchanges. However, past success does not mean future success, because theconditions of the marketplace and economic reality are changing rapidly andcontinuously. Tomasko does not pretend to have all the answers to the manyquestions of corporate reorganization in a changing global market. Heclearly believes that the corporate leader must be imaginative and creativein using and combining his many suggestions. It is important that thecompany be "wider" than it is "tall." In the past, managers believed thatit was important to keep close connections between every branch of acompany. Work CitedTomasko, Robert M. It includeseverything from efficient heating to reporting relations, careerstructures, controlling and coordinating new learning, and so on. It is also not a good idea to throw out old ways of doingthings just because they are old. Also, of course, Tomaskoknows that many corporate leaders are victims of habit and that they wantto keep running their business in the same way they have run it in thepast. . Tomasko is not against hierarchical structures, but thinkingvertically is useful only in certain situations. The key issue here is resizing, adjusting the company's equivalent of the architect's "site" to fit the demands of its future mission (7). Every corporation';s problemsare different, and must have different solutions. In otherwords, it is not enough to merely deal with the resizing and reshaping ofthe corporation. He also believes thatcorporate leaders must be creative and use their imaginations inexperimenting with his ideas, combining them, finding out for themselveswhat works for their company and what does not. Therefore, Tomasko writes: "There are useful aspectsto each of these ideas. Today, however, as Tomasko points out, "businesses . . . However, a bad downsizing can hurt the company in long-lasting ways.For example, Exxon downsized, but it cut "muscle" as well as "fat," cuttingresearch and development at a time when it needed to expand that division.It is necessary to downsize and resize the right things and leave othersalone or even expand where needed. He believes that too many corporate leadersthink too much in abstractions, or are frightened at the prospect ofserious reorganization. Many do not want morepower in the workplace, but only want to do their jobs. Mars also maintains an exemplary profit-sharing program that reinforces the common ties between managers and individual contributors (98). Instead of anactual, physical site, however, the corporate planner deals with"capabilities and work processes" (8) The second step, reshaping, resultsin a reshaping of the structure which is already in place. .
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