Strata in Organizations

I have visualized the image of an organization I have in mind using a pyramid diagram.
I would like to put this image into words this time.

Thinking of it as strata

I used the image of strata to express that the thinking of the upper layers permeates and influences the lower layers. I also have the following images in mind:


・If the foundation is not solid, the upper layers cannot be built up.・"Solid" means putting concepts into words through introspection.
・To build up and create a large mountain, it is necessary to set high goals and philosophies and raise the peak of the mountain.
・At the boundaries where the layers are divided, connection through dialogue is necessary.

I am also thinking about these points.

I will try to put each layer into words.

Common Values and Standards of Normality

When two or more people gather to form a group, common values and standards of normality emerge.

・Arriving at the office on time.
・Greeting others when arriving at and leaving the office.
・Keeping one's desk area organized.
・Keeping to scheduled times.
...

Values and standards of normality vary from person to person, but when these diverge, it creates bad, unproductive stress within the group when conducting business as a collective.

Also, the division of labor structure, work methods, and the degree of commitment to goals will change the organization's values and standards of normality over time.

Regarding the foundation at the bottom layer, leaders often hesitate to put it into words (thinking, "Why do I have to say such things one by one? It's common sense"), but in the process of organizational expansion, it is required to put these values and standards of normality into words, and to exclude people who do not fit these standards when they join the organization.

Organizational Chart and Division of Labor Structure

When two or more people gather and start moving toward a single purpose or goal, a division of labor begins.

When an organization is first created, the number of people is small and people with similar values gather, so it is easy to align their thinking.
Therefore, a form of horizontal division of labor is adopted, where overall tasks are assigned to individuals as needed, and "thinking" and "execution" are performed individually.

However, as the number of people in the group increases, the divergence in values, the divergence in the sense of what is normal, and the differences in ability and experience become greater, so it is required to gradually fix the way of horizontal division of labor and transition to a "vertical division of labor" that separates "thinking" from "execution."

Roles, Responsibilities, and Authority

Once the horizontal division of labor is fixed and the vertical division of labor, which separates those who think from those who execute, begins, the gap in perception among members will widen unless the scope of what each individual can decide and the scope of their execution are defined.
Therefore, this is the phase where it is required to clarify roles, responsibilities, and authority, and accumulate them within the organization in documents such as manuals.
Regarding this part, if you do not set and change them while considering the experience and abilities of the members, you cannot achieve overall optimization.
Also, I feel from experience that if you do not understand the lower-layer structure and cannot clarify roles, responsibilities, and authority, it becomes difficult to expand beyond a scale of about 30 people, which is the limit of what one person can see.

Goal Management and Selection and Concentration

As horizontal and vertical division of labor progress, and the scope of roles, responsibilities, and authority is determined accordingly, it becomes necessary to strengthen organizational adjustment functions that are conscious of the time axis.

Since this is the stage where consistency between overall goals and individual goals is required, it is necessary to decide on the selection of multiple goals that each can conceive and the concentration of limited resources, and share them as an organization.

At this stage, a function is needed to break down multi-year plans, conscious of the time axis, into annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly, and daily units and adjust them, and in order to realize finer adjustments, since discrepancies in the lower-layer structure, especially in common values and standards of normality, will create wasted time, strengthening the foundation of the lower-layer structure—that is, further verbalization and the establishment of discipline based on this—is required.

Experiential Learning and Conceptualization

While executing the lower-layer structure established so far, both the external environment and the internal organizational environment are constantly changing.
In order to change oneself while the environment is changing, a function is required to introspect and verbalize what one has executed based on the reactions of others (including numbers), that is, a feedback function.
Implementing feedback with different subjects—feedback as an individual, feedback as a team, and feedback as an organization—conceptualizing it, and repeating execution based on this.
At this stage, it becomes a stage where it is required to clarify roles based on the hierarchical structure in the organization (management layer, middle layer, member layer) and engage in dialogue and introspection that moves back and forth between the concrete and the abstract.

Purpose and Philosophy

Through conceptualization, we repeat feedback with the organization as the subject, and as we move back and forth between the concrete and the abstract, the verbalization of our purpose and philosophy progresses.

If we do not advance the verbalization of our purpose and philosophy, it becomes difficult to consolidate the goal setting of individual groups with diverse functions into one great force as the organization expands.

A purpose and philosophy that emerges from experience and elevates the entire organization leads to broadening the organization's base and expanding the organization itself.

By the way, while I have been hearing the terms 'philosophy-driven management' and 'purpose' more often lately, I feel that in many cases, the lowest layer of 'shared values' is being confused with the organization's 'purpose and philosophy'.

If I were to verbalize how the two differ, 'shared values' are determined by the consensus or a conscious majority vote of the members belonging to the organization, while 'purpose and philosophy' are derived by the management team as an organization through conceptualization based on experience and reflection, and they are personal in nature, meaning they cannot be decided by consensus or a conscious majority vote.
Of course, the management team's 'purpose and philosophy' are established with 'shared values' as a foundation, but if these are confused, it becomes impossible to raise the summit of the mountain, and it becomes impossible to proactively create change within a changing environment.

The survival instinct that drives these

Various organizations have been born and have repeated cycles of growth and decline.

When I think about what the energy driving these was, I believe it was the survival instinct, the fear of death, and the fear of not being able to eat.

For modern for-profit organizations, in order to keep the organization alive and continue to earn a living, they are required to change themselves amidst environmental changes.
I believe that the way of an organization has been to expand, strengthen the division of labor, and enhance productivity in the process, based on environmental changes, because more compensation can be obtained by an organization that can provide more value.

Personally, I also find it interesting that there are leaders currently exploring a shift in driving energy from being driven by 'fear' to being driven by 'curiosity' or 'hope'.

Summary

Based on what an organization is and how it grows and expands, I have tried to verbalize the image.

When just starting out, shared values equal purpose, and with almost no strata in between, you launch the organization with a small number of people.
As the organization grows and members increase, the strata in between gradually accumulate in an ambiguous form, but to build a high mountain, it is required to verbalize and solidify each stratum.
Verbalization requires knowledge and experience, and that builds a new purpose and philosophy, raising the height of the mountain.

This model has organization growth as its main theme, and it does not encompass concepts such as the relationship between the organization and business to confront the external environment, the relationship between the organization and individuals, or the relationship between individuals within the organization.

In the future, I will also examine an image that can encompass the organization and business, the organization and individuals, and individuals and individuals.