Distant management in the midst of Networks and Hierarchies

By Bente Thomassen and Henrik Villumsen.

We are moving away from a world where communication flows from the top in a command style, where the organisation operates in silos, and where work is task driven…. to a world where networks of people produce results, across borders, across functions.

As technology moves in, old control mechanisms are being replaced.

Do get us right: we are not claiming that the old hierarchy is dying, and gives way to the networked organisation. This does not correspond to the way we see most organisations function. What we do observe is not a radical shift but a gradual change. And as always: not a one-off, but a emerging process where these two paradigms co-exist.

And we agree with what Hubert Saint-Onge, well known Canadian knowledge management strategist, has pointed out: The key challenge for all of us will be to work in organisations where both types of structure exist, and where we have to manage both, as they will co-exist for a long time. And we are convinced that hierarchical organisations soon will find that they need to adopt “networked” ways of working, otherwise they will severely limit their ability to generate capability at both the individual and organisational levels. You need to manage both to be profitable and attract the right people.

Technology, hierarchy, network and organisational assessment

When organisations begin systematically to look into the technologies that go with distant management and virtual teams a number of questions pop up, many of which are of great significance and have a huge impact on the development of the organisations and the integration of both today’s and the emerging paradigm.

Some key questions are very important to address before an organisation systematically introduces new technologies:

Readiness

How ready is the organisation? Does a critical mass of the organisation understand the urgency and the necessity of using electronic media as the preferred way of communicating? Are they at the starting line? One might say: does the organisation have a desire to introduce new communication technologies?

Ability

Second question is related to the ability or capability of the organisation to operate virtually and deal with distant management? This means that management very carefully must evaluate the current state of affairs within the organisation. Relevant themes are current technologies, work environment, and business processes.

Technology and work environment must first of all be measured in the light of how the organisation operates today. Does electronic communication shape the backbone of the infrastructure of the organisation or are face-to-face meetings and paper the preferred way of working and getting things done? Is the organisation walking the talk by not only claiming they support electronic communication but actually allocating money and manpower to implement new technologies – and to which extent? Can data move quickly enough around in the organisation, and can it cross boundaries and silos? Where are the limitations in relation to which technologies the organisation allows their people to use?

Business processes have to be evaluated to which extent they have been set up to support virtual teams and distant management? How does the organisation measure productivity within virtual teams and get insight into best practices and communicate these to the other parts of the organisation? Are reward systems and career development tools ready to cope with virtual teams? Are corporate functions such as HR and corporate communications ready for these challenges?

On the macro level the raised questions are crucial and imply that distant managers must allocate time and resources to deal with these questions both in order to raise awareness of these issues and push for necessary decisions to be taken.

The movers: network driven individuals

At the same time the distant managers have to have virtual teams to function from day one and optimise already existing virtual teams.

First of all that is best done through spotting and lifting out the kind of people that are network driven and can handle a high degree of uncertainty, or at least have a few of these individuals to help glue together the virtual organisation.

In order to make the right choices of technologies it is therefore important to monitor who is on the team and, based on that assessment, get a realistic impression of how easy or difficult it will be to implement new electronic communication systems. Next step is to evaluate what the virtual organisation needs in order to define and plan for implementation of new technology and /or upgrading of existing systems.

An often overlooked facet of virtual work is to carefully make a diagnosis of the desired flow of information – where it should come from and where it should be able to go to in order to create an effective system to manage information. Last but not least management has to make decisions about how and when are we going to do this. 3 questions are key here:

• How do we make best use of what we have?
• How flexible do we need to be?
• How much can and will be spend?

What to look for in your teams: connectors and mavens

“Network revolutionaries” may be a minority today, as Georges Por pointed out in a recent article in the Mannaz Newsletter (see the article Liberating the Innovation Value of Communities of Practice). However, soon they will be the majority, as the web-generation of kids enters the workforce and becomes the women and men who want to use their full capacity to create, innovate, and make their work more “tripled-E”: more effective, efficient and enjoyable by means of technology, and by linking up with interesting people in other parts of the organisation.

While we are waiting for these kids to join our organisation – why not look out for the network driven people, the type of people who are able to connect easily with other people, across organisational boundaries and silos, across geographical boundaries?

People who enjoy linking up with teams for a shorter or longer period of time, people who enjoy, and maybe even thrive on chaos. Here are some hints on what to keep an eye out for: Malcolm Gladwell has described these individuals in his book “The Tipping Point”. He calls them Connectors and Mavens:

Connectors are

• people with a special gift for bringing the world together, people specialists
• know lots of other people (factor 7 to 8 times more)
• have an extraordinary knack of making friends and acquaintances, making social connections.
• have mastered the “weak tie”; a friendly, yet casual social connection.
• manage to occupy many different worlds and subcultures and niches. By having a foot in so many different worlds, they have the effect of bringing them all together

Mavens are information specialists. (Maven means someone who is experienced or knowledgeable, an expert). Once Mavens figure out how to get that great deal, they want to tell you about it too. A Maven

• solves his own problems, his own emotional needs, by solving other people’s problems.
• have knowledge and the social skills to start word-of-mouth epidemics
• is a teacher and a student
• in a social epidemic, Mavens are data banks. They provide the message.

The managerial paradox: staying in control by letting go

To keep the two paradigms together is a challenge for today’s executives. No doubt managers need to develop their dual capacity, that is handling both the hierarchies of today and the networks of tomorrow. It will be truly important to develop this dual capacity, both at the individual level as well as the organisational level. The clever executives of tomorrow have realised that staying in control is by letting go of power, and their crossover capacity is to carefully choose and integrate the electronic communication tools into the organisation so that both in-house managers and distant managers and their teams grow and create synergies.

Read the series of articles about distant management:

• Virtual line management: The competitive advantage
• Distant management in the midst of Networks and Hierarchies
• Distant management – practical philosophical perspectives

About the Authors
Bente Thomassen, coach and consultant.
Bente has more than a decade of experience in designing, developing and delivering leadership development programmes, and consults and trains in a number of projects across Europe.

Henrik Villumsen, trainer and consultant.
Henrik has 20 years experience in leadership training and development. Nowadays, he mostly works in international cross cultural settings, where distant line management is the rule rather than the exception.