“Theme of the month: Co-ordination and control mechanisms.” So began this month’s email from the European Organisation Design Forum. Note to self: renew subscription because these guys always bring interesting stuff, like: “Control in organisations. A phenomenon nearing extinction in times of self-management and ‘flatter is better’, right?”
The author goes on to discuss how control - read as inhibiting autonomy - goes with the territory when you enter an organisation. Even the most benign and worthy expect you to align with their goals, and it is highly likely that your own goals don’t quite match those of your organisation. This is why “whatever form it takes, control in organisations is here to stay.”
Control can be very structured and rules-based, or it can be much more cultural, with strong purpose and values guiding a committed workforce. In the University I often hear people complain about how controlled we are, with endless permission-seeking and bureaucratic inertia, while at the same time a fair degree of autonomy compared to other sectors, and aspirations towards a shared purpose with common values. Sounds messy, so can culture and values really be about control?
I recently read a report in which a majority of organisational leaders thought “managers don’t enforce the culture we want on their teams” and “we don’t measure culture effectively.” Words like “enforce” certainly imply this is a control measure, so let’s think about what culture really means. Here’s a description I particularly like from a senior University leader (elsewhere) who is a social scientist. “A complex intangible fabric of stories, practices and policies, laid down over time. More than two-dimensional and always changing. It’s hard to know objectively but has a material external reality, always refracted through an individual’s experience.” That seems rather more subtle and complex than a few defined corporate values and the behaviours we’re expected to display. Certainly it’s hard to see how an ever-changing, complex intangible fabric can be enforced and measured. Perhaps that’s why organisations are more likely to write rules.
And yet…the EODF’s next seminar is called: “No Budgets, No KPIs, No OKRs: How Can That Work? Is this truly possible for an engaged workforce, or just a fantasy?” I’ve already signed up.
How do you feel and think about control? In the area that you feel you have agency, what do you choose as controls? How do you experience it? Where do you think the limits lie for an engaged workforce?
Dr Simon Inger, Organisational Development Consultant, Workforce Development.
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