How to Prevent Self-Inflicted Disasters

Excellent article How to Prevent Self-Inflicted Disasters
http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00086?gko=0c012

Summary here…

All too often, companies unintentionally create their own worst crises. With a little awareness of your organizational DNA, you can avoid that fate — and the headlines that go with it.

The organizational DNA framework is a vehicle for understanding the formal and informal elements that drive and constrain day-to-day behavior in your company.

The four bases are:
• Decision rights and norms. The rules and practices that govern how actions in an organization are shaped and focused.
• Motivators and commitment. The values and principles that drive employee behavior and engagement.
• Information flow and mindsets. The patterns of thinking and communication that inform what people do in an organization.
• Organizational structure and networks. The links and connections that guide how people work with one another throughout the hierarchy.

Key actions

1. Clarify who is responsible for which decisions, taking into account the influence that informal leaders already have (decision rights and norms).
2. Align incentives and other motivators to promote awareness of potential risks and their prevention (motivators and commitment).
3. Create formal and informal communication channels to raise awareness of current conditions on the ground (information flow and mindsets).
4. Set up better reporting relationships and prevention guidelines, using work-arounds as diagnostics (organizational structure and networks).