Beer M, Eisenstat R A, Spector B
Harvard Business School.
Harv Bus Rev. 1990 Nov-Dec;68(6):158-66.
Faced with changing markets and tougher competition, more and more companies realize that to compete effectively they must transform how they function. But while senior managers understand the necessity of change, they often misunderstand what it takes to bring it about. They assume that corporate renewal is the product of company-wide change programs and that in order to transform employee behavior, they must alter a company's formal structure and systems. Both these assumptions are wrong, say these authors. Using examples drawn from their four-year study of organizational change at six large corporations, they argue that change programs are, in fact, the greatest obstacle to successful revitalization and that formal structures and systems are the last thing a company should change, not the first. The most successful change efforts begin at the periphery of a corporation, in a single plant or division. Such efforts are led by general managers, not the CEO or corporate staff people. And these general managers concentrate not on changing formal structures and systems but on creating ad hoc organizational arrangements to solve concrete business problems. This focuses energy for change on the work itself, not on abstractions such as "participation" or "culture." Once general managers understand the importance of this grass-roots approach to change, they don't have to wait for senior management to start a process of corporate renewal. The authors describe a six-step change process they call the "critical path."
面对不断变化的市场和日益激烈的竞争，越来越多的公司意识到，要想有效竞争，就必须改变自身的运作方式。然而，尽管高级管理人员明白变革的必要性，但他们往往误解了实现变革所需的条件。他们认为企业复兴是全公司变革计划的产物，并且为了改变员工行为，必须改变公司的正式结构和制度。这些作者表示，这两个假设都是错误的。他们通过对六家大公司为期四年的组织变革研究中所举的例子，认为变革计划实际上是成功复兴的最大障碍，而正式结构和制度是公司最不应首先改变的，而应是最后才改变的。最成功的变革努力始于公司的边缘，在单个工厂或部门。这些努力由总经理领导，而非首席执行官或公司员工。而且这些总经理关注的不是改变正式结构和制度，而是创建临时的组织安排来解决具体的业务问题。这将变革的精力集中在工作本身，而非诸如“参与”或“文化”等抽象概念上。一旦总经理理解了这种基层变革方法的重要性，他们不必等待高层管理人员启动企业复兴进程。作者描述了一个他们称之为“关键路径”的六步变革过程。
