Organizational Diagnostic "Molecular" Model

Robin Cook

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Structure

There has been considerable discussion over the past several years about “flattening” organizational structures.  Over the course of the site visits and panel presentations of the Innovation University program, we realized that the organizational structures at truly best of the breed companies at innovation were analogous to the quantum physics model of an atom.  The organization’s leadership would form the nucleus of the atom, with the rest of the organization in a constant state of flux around them, much like the atom’s electron shells, constantly changing orbits, and energy states.  Individuals would constantly move around and redistribute themselves along new elements and team as tasks change and teams formed around new projects. 

Strategy

We saw many examples of brilliant strategy at work within the companies we visited including American Greetings’ efforts to migrate at least a portion of its business to the Internet, Manco’s trademarking of the Duck for its duct tape products and Roberts Express’ emphasis on customer service.

Environment

Environment to a large extent is influenced by Culture and could be said to be a component of culture. However, we decided to treat Environment as a discrete element of our Molecular model to reflect the critical role it plays in an organization’s culture. During our site visits, we observed many examples of environments that foster innovation.  Again, GSD&M topped the list.  Their “Idea City” headquarters utilized bright colors and cutting edge graphics/decor.  There were numerous, informal meeting areas scattered throughout the building, each with a different motif.  These spaces encouraged spontaneous interaction among staff.  There were whimsical sculptures and even a section painted by graffiti artists.  Each major client had its own, dedicated space, decorated to reflect that particular client.  The Southwest Airlines section, for example, included an actual airport gate and a row of airplane seats.

At American Greetings, all the employees are encouraged to decorate their cubicles with examples of their work, whether product related or personal.  There were also highly visible displays throughout the facility highlighting the company’s history and origins.

Nortel’s Corporate Design Group had a workspace, which was organized by teams, with extraordinary shared team workspaces.  eLab has open loft-style offices which include a “Napatorium”, a “Leave-Me-Alone” room, and a full wall where teams display the status of their projects, open for comment and feedback from other staff.

We found the headquarters of Cirque du Soleil to be as unique as those of GSD&M.  It had been designed so that the training and rehearsal spaces were along the exterior of the building with all the infrastructure and support functions housed in the interior.  All interior spaces had windows looking out into the coaching and rehearsal areas, so that all staff, regardless of their function, could look up from their work and see the end result of their efforts. 

Management Style

We decided to treat Management Style as a separate element for reasons similar to those that made us choose to treat Environment as a element in its own right, separate from culture.  Open management styles demonstrating high levels of communication and information access were quite common in the organizations we visited. 

The next step in the development of the molecular model was to capture the nature of interactions between the orbiting elements and the nuclear ones. We chose to depict both the relative strength and the direction of the influence through the use of arrows.

For example, the reader will see that “Mission” heavily influences several of the “orbital” elements, however it is rare that these elements will return that influence.  Thus, arrows illustrating the influences exerted by “Mission” are, of course, blue, and are uni-directional.  Bi-directional arrows show that the influence travels in both directions.  The color of the arrow indicates which direction the influence is strongest.  Thus, a red, bi-directional arrow between “Systems” and “Values” indicates that while both elements influence each other, “Values” is a stronger influence on “Systems” than vice-versa.

Let’s explore each of these interactions in detail. Both Values and Culture influence Systems and Structure, and vice versa.  However, in both cases, the influence is stronger from Values and Culture, hence the arrows are color coded accordingly. While Mission influences Strategy, strategy does not influence Mission - thus the unidirectional arrow.  Culture influences and is influenced by Strategy, but, again, the influence is stronger from the nucleus element.

Both Strategy and Mission have reciprocal relationships with Values. In a healthy, innovative organization, Values should shape both elements, and, 

in return can be influenced by them.  Mission should be strongly reflected by both Environment and Management Style, but if Mission is properly developed, it will not be influenced by either of these elements. 

Application of the Model for Organizational Diagnostics

This section uses the model to analyze an organization and suggest ways to improve its innovation coefficient. 

Background: This organization has a strong, well defined mission.  It’s structure is rather unique balancing centralized standards and controls with a substantial amount of local autonomy.  As a not-for-profit, its systems are relatively archaic, but the organization is in the process of upgrading its systems as limited resources permit.

The organization’s values are strong, although they could be more explicit than implicit.  It’s strategy is solid, and has made extraordinary strides toward achieving its mission.

This organization’s culture is very poor.  It does not support or seemingly value its employees’ skills or individuality.  Employee recognition is minimal.  There is little or no celebration of successes.  While this organization has a very rich history, much of that history has been lost, due to extremely high staff turnover.  There are no “organizational stories” to strengthen commitment to the mission and values.

The environment is inconsistent across the organization, but is not conducive anywhere to developing innovation or individual potential. This is largely due to lack of resources.

While the organization’s leader is a true visionary, its management style is highly controlling and generally extremely poor.  This is not likely to change.

Given this analysis, the model clearly shows that the area where an intervention would be most effective would be Culture.  Although there are obviously several elements that need work, based on the resource and other constraints within this organization, focusing on changing the organizational culture would have the greatest impact, ultimately affecting 6 of the 8 elements of the organization. 

A typical organizational change effort would begin by developing a set of teaching stories in conjunction with an intensive new employee orientation process. Next step would be development of systems for disseminating and openly celebrating successes, followed by creation of an environment that truly appreciates the whole person and all she/he can bring to an organization. Lastly, mechanisms would be developed for encouraging cross-functional/multi-disciplinary teams.

If successful, these efforts would then radiate outward, affecting the remaining elements of the organizational model in positive ways that would ultimately create a far healthier organization that fosters ongoing, self-sustaining innovation. 

Conclusion

The organizational diagnostic molecular model is a useful diagnostic tool that innovation consultants can arm themselves with as they tackle complex people and organizational malaise issues at their workplace. The model is a step by step approach towards peeling the layers towards getting to the root of the problem and can be very effective in bringing about rapid change within organizations.

“Molecular” Model © 1999 Robin Cook, Greg Fleet, Mary Gravelle, Tim Mills