b. The organizational change from a bureaucratic matrix model to an objectives-processes driven model

SYMPOSIA:
“The application of the dialogicAL model to the Organisational change

speech:

The organizational change from a bureaucratic matrix model to an objectives-processes driven model: Merano Public Utility, a case study

Annalisa di maso, alessia appolonia, gian piero turchi
prÂgmata srl

This intervention is going to describe the organizational change implemented by Merano Public Utility, from a bureaucratic model to an “objectives-processes” driven model.

As already explained by Alessia Appolonia, the theoretical assumption of “dialogical consulting model” defines the "organizational change" as the discursive configuration came out by interaction between 3 poles:
-- discursive practices used by roles of the company (that is the “personal account”, through which “we take a picture” of the organizational matrix);
-- discursive practices used by consultant (that is the “narration”, anticipations made by consultant about enterprise requirements);
-- discursive practices used by community about the company and its services/products (that is “collective matrix”, talking-community discursive practices).
The “organizational change” gets the configuration that came out by these polarities over time.

As illustrated in this slide, company changes concern, in particular, the transition from interactive ways (characterized by “one-way communication”, hierarchical and routine relations between the roles, effectiveness orientation) to the introduction of an objectives-processes driven model that focuses on:
-- Sharing of objectives;
-- Roles responsibility and delegated objectives;
-- Multidirectionality communication processes;
-- Horizontal interactions between roles.

These elements, as explained in slide No 1, ensure both high levels of management efficiency and high levels of service quality. To increase management efficiency, as illustrated by Roberta Iacopozzi, the consulting intervention is mainly focused on the organizational “matrix”, that is on the “roles positioning” related both to company objectives and to the competences that roles could express. This intervention had an impact on the quality of company services, where “quality” is defined as how much the services and strategies used for offering them meet the “not yet expressed” needs of citizens.
So, the dialogical consultant model not only intervenes on services requirements, but especially on strategies used to manage the relationship between organization and users /citizens (for example, respect for workers health and safety, and for environment; billing modality; management of rubbish collection according both to environmental standards and economic needs of users).

Slide 4
The relationship between the picture of the organizational matrix took in a certain Δ t (synchronic aspect) and the strategies implemented for pursuing enterprise objectives (diachronic aspect) offers the opportunity to estimate the “management efficiency”.
As can be seen in this slide, management efficiency means “the ratio between the outcome obtained (Δ R), the structure of the organizational matrix (i.e. the set of relationships between roles and their fluctuations, identified through the discursive practices, Ao) and resources (human, technological and economic) used in units of time related to enterprise objectives (Ob)”.
The “strategic value” of the company (that is how much the organization is in relationship with community as well as market), comes from the relationship that the results achieved have both with the enterprise objectives and users satisfaction. In other words, a company acquires strategic value (and therefore you define it as efficient) when it creates markets, detecting citizens/users needs before they are expressed in terms of “demands”.

Slide 5
Therefore, the outcome of the dialogical consulting model is that:
-- roles shift from results orientation to goals orientation;
-- the company takes care of work organization as well as of roles competences;
-- the company evaluetes not only the results obtained but also the related strategies to obtain them.
To evaluate the strategies used by the matrix for achieving results, the enterprise evalues relations between roles, but also how much the organization detects needs of “community”.

Management efficiency
Efficiency
Goals orientation.
Results orientation.
Application Field: role competences; placement of roles, role satisfaction.
Application field: work organization (es. JUST IN TIME), personal satisfaction of workers.
Evaluation method to “photograph” the organizational matrix: discursive practices used in organization (M.A.D.I.T.)
Evaluation methods: achieved results

2. Methodological aspects to “measure” the structure of the organizational matrix

To “measure” the structure of the Merano Public Utility organizational matrix (that is the quantum of roles fluctuation, related to objectives and competences essential to manage objectives), we used two tools:
the organizational diagnosis (twice : 2001 and 2006);
the potential evaluation of manager roles (twice: 2003 and 2004).
To detect the needs of citizens/users, the tool of “Client needs survey” (in 2002 and 2004).

The organizational diagnosis is a tool that takes a picture of discursive practices used by roles. The discursive practices are related to some standards, that are associated with the roles fluctuation in respect to objectives and competences.
The potential evaluation is a tool that outlines the distance between the competences of a person who has (hold) or should play a role, and the competences essential for that role. The competences are measured through the discursive practices used.
The client needs survey is a tool that describes knowing processes used by users for choosing the services offered by company.

3. The structure of the organizational matrix of Merano Public Utility in 2001

The discursive practices used by roles in 2001 outline a matrix structure based on bureaucratic and functional modalities, as described in the this slide:

3.1 The axes of organizational change: year 2001

Four axes were considered to measure the degree of management efficiency:
-- Sharing process of general objectives company
-- Management ways of organisational processes
-- “Team culture” spread
-- Effectiveness of internal communication.

In 2001, the structure of organizational matrix was characterized as in the slide:

The company doesn’t be able “to adapt” to the changing community (with negative impact both on roles and consumers satisfaction).
Item: which are the management objectives of your role?
Discursive practices recorded:
- No answer pattern
- to “do an action” pattern
“Team” culture spread
The reference to shared objective or knowledge of other matrix roles does not emerge.
Organization splitting into specific areas, reducing objective sharing.
Item: which are the organizational critical apsects in your company?
Discursive practices recorded:
the “excuse” pattern
the “guilt” pattern
Effectiveness of internal communication
94% degree of communication focused on “personal opinion”
Reduction of the effectiveness of communicative processes with co-workers.
Item: which are the communicative critical apsects in your company?
Discursive practices recorded:
the “judgement” pattern
the “personal opinion” pattern

4. Targets for organizational change

According to what emerged in 2001, the objective delineated by the company management is to increase the roles managing competence. In order to perform this objective, the consulting intervention took place following 4 organizational directions:
1)to increase sharing objectives, that produce a culture of role responsibility in relation to role objectives;
2)to switch from a “control” viewpoint to a “process management” viewpoint, to develope a culture that overcomes the roles hierarchization;
3)to come out “team culture” for creating communicative and interactive multidirectional modalities;
4)to produce a communication culture as a tool to increase efficiency, through the development of competences of role identity.

5. The improvement strategies from 2002 to 2006
In order to create the organizational structure change, it was decided to implement strategies; therefore, these changes were directed and managed using the elements outlined through “client needs survey”.
So we compared discursive practices used in the company with discourse and practices used in the community about the services offered by the company.
In this way, the company get knowledge:
- to create “third party” criteria to offer services;
- to create shared objectives between the company and the community.

Implemented strategies
Achieved objectives
Definition of the organizational matrix
-- Definition of general objectives
-- Definition of roles and theirs objectives
-- Identification of processes related to general and roles objectives
11,640 hours of training
- to promote the use of appropriate discursive practices to the organizational matrix (discursive practice of description, evaluation, strategy, goal identification)
- to generate safety workers culture
- to communicate and to share new organizational matrix
Team works between management roles
- to generate indexes for monitoring the pursuit of management objectives
- to identify projects that meet the requirements of consumers.

6. The results obtained in relation to the roles and consumers
At the end of 2006, the company chose to make an additional intervention of organizational diagnosis, 5 years after the previous one. The aim of this intervention was to evaluate the strategies undertaken in the period between 2001-2006, and to define how much these strategies allowed to achieve the increase of management efficiency.
Hereafter, the results of this latest diagnosis.

“Management through processes” means a “roles positioning” way in which roles anticipate scenarios, and don’t act upon automatic “way of doing”, typically belonging to “performance pattern”. Moreover, to manage processes means to anticipate what is essential to create in order to transform objectives into results. The roles use discursive practices of “aim reference” pattern, of “strategy” pattern and of “proposal” pattern.
Team culture spread
The “excuse” and “guilt” discursive practices don’t come out, instead of what emerged in 2001-2002.
Increase of critical aspects among management areas, thanks to an increasing interaction among management areas.
Effectiveness of internal communication
66% degree of communication focused on “personal opinion” (vs 94%)
The degree of “personal opinion” pattern, used by managers decreased of 30%.

7. Conclusions
The diagnosis of 2006 shows that Merano Public Utility have becamed changes towards an objectives and organizational processes matrix.

The increase of management efficiency has created a structure founded on “objectives and organizational processes matrix”.
This organizational model allows the satisfaction both of the roles and of the community (thanks to projects that the organization has begun through the acquisition of knowledges achieved by client need survey).
Among the results achieved, there are:

1. increase in consumer satisfaction from 77.8% in 2001 to 85.7% in 2005;
2. innovation generated by new projects oriented to consumers (for example, new methods of rubbish collection and billing). In 2001 managers produced 12 projects, in 2006 they produced 55 projects, using the methods of teamwork;
3. despite the sale of gas-supply service, profitability pointers (ROI and ROS) remain over the sector average (1.8 percent points). These values had allowed structural investments (greater 100% compared to 2000);
4. increase of workers safety: reducing accidents from 20 (in 2000) to 7 (2006).

Contact: labsalute.psicologia@unipd.it