A Brief History of the Organization, New Edition: From the Dawn of Civilization to Leadership of Today's Corporation

By Lynn Bentley

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION, New Edition, is a captivating chronology of the thought leaders—from Plato to Rousseau, Sir Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking, Weber to Drucker, McGregor to Peters and Hammer— who have identified the fundamental pillars of organization effectiveness and thus have broken the barriers that cause organization gridlock and loss of human commitment. Lynn Bentley highlights their theories and practices plus groundbreaking accomplishments: Levi-Strauss’s penetrating insights about the interworkings of prehistoric clans, Immanuel Kant’s formulation of a basic scientific method, August Comte’s development of Sociology, Elton Mayo’s eye-opening discoveries resulting from Th e Hawthorne Study, Fredrick Herzberg’s thought provoking new work model known as Job Enrichment. Weaving centuries of organization evolution with current corporate CEO case studies and the discussion of a highly workable organization effectiveness model, Bentley artfully makes the study of the organization part of the panorama of history.

Business Coaching Partner In New England Publishes Leadership Book

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 4, 2010
• ISBN: 9781462047383

Lynn Bentley

Lynn Bentley is President of Organization Transitions, a consulting firm specializing in executive search and talent management solutions for Fortune 500 clients such as Autonation, Citigroup, DHL, ECI, Federal Express, Knobull.com, Microsoft, Motorola, Oce, Siemens, and Verizon. In addition to over 20 years of consulting success, he previously held executive positions with Daimler Benz, Exxon, Gillette, and Pfizer.

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A Brief History of the

Organization

From The Dawn of Civilization To Leadership of Today’s Corporation

Lynn H. Bentley

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Bloomington

A Brief History of the Organization

From The Dawn of Civilization To Leadership of Today’s Corporation

Copyright © 2003, 2010 Lynn H. Bentley

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-0-595-27132-0 (pbk)

ISBN: 9781462047383 (ebk)

iUniverse rev. date: 4/21/10

CONTENTS

What Have We Learned From Recent History

Prologue

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Epilogue

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

This project was made possible by a number of people—-friends, relatives, business associates, and scholars—-who read and commented on drafts: Douglas Adams, William Anthony, Meghan Bentley, Joseph Cosentino, Lori Hill, and George Milne. All contributed valuable insights and remarks. I also thank the executives that spent time with me reviewing their corporate applications including, Jack Blaeser, CEO, Concord Communications, John Jastrem, CEO, Rapp Collins, Tim Kardok, CEO, Urecoats, Rahul Khanorkar, SVP, Equitrac Corporation, George Milne, retired Pfizer Corporate Officer, Carlos Palomares, Chairman, Citibank Latin America, Bruce Rusch, CEO, Oracom, Ray Sansouci, CEO, MicroESystems. Their attention to fundamentals led to the development of many of the ideas expressed by me in this project.

I dedicate this book to my wife Dorothy and two daughters Meghan Bentley and Lori Hill. They supported my change from the life as a corporate executive to one as a corporate consultant and they continue to be a constant source of inspiration and endearment. I also dedicate this book to the many corporate colleagues that I have associated with during my business and consulting career that proved many of the concepts presented in this work on a daily basis.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM RECENT HISTORY

History is not history unless it is the truth

—Abraham Lincoln

HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS

Throughout history, an understanding of factors that drive organization success has remained elusive. The success landscape has not improved and numerous events lead many to believe that results continue to slide on a downward trajectory. Most notable are execution of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, preparation for and response to hurricane Katrina, the failure of companies To Big To Fail and many public and private organizations continually demonstrate an inability to recognize red flags and connect the dots. To be fair, there have been a few corporate success stories and public agencies periodically get it right.

Most researchers and economists remain focused on tangible financial, marketing and/or operating results to explain success. The recognition of valid, measured results that have been linked to sound organizational leadership practices continue to remain secondary while the more direct measures rule the day. Also, many of the solutions touted, are driven by cleaver promotion techniques to create another flash in the pan fad. For this reason the warning stressed in the Introduction that follows remains just as relevant today as it did when the first Edition was written.

After publishing A Brief History Of The Organization in 2003, I continued to gather evidence that supports the basic premise presented: there exist four measurable organizational leadership characteristics that drive significant enterprise success. These include: a workforce that has a clear understanding and leadership’s vision of long-term goals (Purpose), an environment where leaders encourage full staff engagement in the organization decision-making process (Participation), effective implementation of a well executed Performance Management program and consistent development and tracking of valid success measurements (Precision).

There have not been any significant organization effectiveness breakthroughs beyond those included in the first edition that begins by tracing the views of key historical thought leaders—from Plato to Rousseau, Sir Isaac Newton to Stephen Hawking, Weber to Drucker, McGregor to Peters—who identified the fundamental pillars of organization effectiveness. These key characteristics broke the barriers that caused organization gridlock and loss of human commitment.

Watershed discoveries include: insights of anthropologists that penetrate the inner-workings of prehistoric clans, early scientists’ formulation of a basic scientific methodology, development of the social sciences, eye-opening discoveries that were initiated by the Hawthorne Study, Herzberg’s thought provoking work model known as Job Enrichment, Tom Peter’s early 80’s revelations in his book In Search of Excellence, the TQM revolution and rounding out the 20th Century, organization reengineering.

My chronology of organization evolution that weaves centuries of organization effectiveness success and failures, is reinforced with 21st Century CEO case studies and the discussion of a measurable organization effectiveness model that wraps the study of the organization within the panorama of history. The first case study sets the tone for each proceeding success story. It outlined the results achieved by the SVP of World-wide Research for Pfizer that served during the era where R & D productivity was doubled from the late 1990’s through the beginning of the 21st century. The goals created represented his vision which focused on ambition for excellence. This launch pad drove the development of stretch objectives across the entire organization, the ability to attract and engage the best people, success out-learning the competition, technical sophistication and a dynamic Performance Management program.

Many readers have reported that a strong case has been made to prove that a lack of leadership focus on critical fundamentals leads to poor organizational results. Using this historical backdrop, the book concludes with a review of concrete steps that dramatically improve organization effectiveness.

RESEARCH BREAKTHROUGH

A research model is presented in the Book’s Epilogue that measures the power of these factors and demonstrates a positive correlation to financial success. No significant study results have been reported that prove this direct link but in 2009, Profiles International completed a study to identify factors that drive employee productivity within an enterprise. The researchers analyzed financial data from over 1600 publicly traded companies and then organized these companies into 175 sub-industry groups to facilitate the analysis of the data gathered.

The total annual revenue achieved per full-time employee was calculated to rank the Companies in each group and then the factors that enabled the leaders to out-produce their peers were analyzed. The findings were broken into two segments:

• Synthesis and discussion of the top ten factors that drive measured success

• The ranking of Companies within each designated industry group

The success was measured as revenue produced per full-time employee or equivalent in 2008. The revenue data evaluated was recognized revenue reported on the balance sheet resulting from accrual accounting methods. Companies were segmented into clearly defined, industry groupings to ensure that a valid analysis could be achieved. This insured an apples to apples comparison. Examples include: PCConnection, Samuel Adams, Dow Chemical, Tenet, Aflac, D & B, Capital One, Hasbro, PENSKE, shutterfly.

The Report presented an analysis of the data gathered to establish a ranking that they titled, America’s Most Productive Companies. The report combined these rankings with further in-depth research that focused on the companies that were ranked the highest. This included an on-line literature review and interviews with key executives. The results identified best practices which explained the reasons for the highest rankings. To summarize the results, the researchers created the following categories that can be directly linked to the four variables driving organizational effectiveness. The connection clearly supports the conclusions reached in the body of my book.

MOST PRODUCTIVE COMPANIES STUDY – A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ORGANIZATION LINKAGE PERFORMANCE DRIVEN CULTURE - CLEAR ORGANIZATION PURPOSE

Organization culture is defined by the attitudes, beliefs and values held within an organization and is the critical driver of staff behavior. The workforce demonstrates a focus on efforts that will achieve top priority results (Clear Organization Purpose).

Leaders promote individual initiative and high levels of teamwork.

EFFECTIVE MANAGERS - PURPOSE & PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Leaders take responsibility for ensuring that individuals and teams achieve expected results that have been well defined. The Most Productive Companies provide information and tools that everyone needs to succeed. Examples of leadership skills include two-way communications, coaching, adaptability, promoting efficiency, action/results oriented, cultivating talents, seeking personal improvement.

EMPLOYEE UTILIZATION - PARTICIPATION

More is accomplished by the top ranked companies with fewer people than demonstrated by less successful peers and everyone at all levels of the organization is on the same page. There is clear understanding and agreement on what needs to be done and how. The result is a high level of flexibility, cross-trained staff and consistent accomplishment of top priority results. The top companies use superior talent management practices (e.g., efficient staffing; effective on-boarding; clear, consistent performance feedback).

EMPLOYEE EFFECTIVENESS - PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Objectives that focus on clear goals must be achieved, at the individual level, to produce well-measured organizational results. Individuals prioritize efforts that are linked to critical success factors. The top ranked companies demonstrate the ability to identify functional skills and experience needed for success. Other traits include effective employee development programs, reduced workplace injury rates and high employee satisfaction.

INNOVATION - PRECISION

Most industry segment leaders develop business process enhancement results utilizing focused, continuous improvement initiatives that generate significant ROI. With solid manager and employee collaboration, realistic measurements are utilized to drive positive results. The Most Productive Companies typically are more successful than lower ranked companies achieving measurable success. The leadership team has the precise information needed to guide investment decisions and provide rewards for performance delivered.

OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS

The Most Successful Companies in each industry segment had the following operating characteristics:

• Technological Sophistication

• Financial Success

• Operating Efficiency and Excellent Quality

• Effective Channels of Distribution

• Marketing and Brand Power

The findings substantiate the causal nature that the application