13
\nLogic only gives man what he needs. . . . Magic gives him what he
\nwants,\u201d author Tom Robbins once wrote.1
\nThe tension between
\nthe mind and the heart and the desire to integrate the two have been
\ngrist for the writer\u2019s mill for centuries. Management theorists, by
\ncontrast, have focused their efforts on one aspect of this tension or
\nthe other and have spent the past hundred years debating each other
\nabout which is more important. Our intention in this chapter is to
\nshow that it is not a question of either\/or but rather of understanding what benefits the formal and informal offer, and why they need
\nto work together.
\nThe Head-Heart Debate: A Brief History
\nThe rational school of management dominated business organizations for the first half of the twentieth century. Its roots are in the
\nresearch of Frederick Taylor, often dubbed the father of scientific
\nmanagement.2
\nTaylor stressed the need for using scientific rigor to
\nselect, train, and develop workers. He believed in cooperating with
\nworkers to ensure the success of his scientific methodology, dividing
\nThe Logic of the
\nFormal; the Magic
\nof the Informal
\n1
\nKatz.c01.indd 13 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\n14 leading outside the lines
\nwork nearly equally between managers and employees as a rational
\napproach to optimizing performance.
\nTaylor\u2019s principles made sense. Prior to World War II, they were
\nused in many factories, often with surprising improvements in productivity. Taylor advocated that all organizations could use what he
\ncalled \u201ctime and motion studies\u201d to improve efficiency and unlock
\nhidden performance potential. Eventually, Taylor\u2019s ideas about scientific management spread from Henry Ford\u2019s automobile assembly
\nlines all the way to the home.
\nLater, a different school of thought emerged that took a very
\ndifferent, much more emotional, approach to the practice of management. In 1960, Douglas McGregor published The Human Side
\nof Enterprise, in which he identified two theories of individual work
\nbehavior.3
\nTheory X assumed that people dislike work, prefer to be
\ndirected, and are motivated primarily by monetary rewards and punishments. This theory aligned with the rational approach to management. His second theory, Theory Y, assumed that people enjoy
\nwork, seek responsibility, and are motivated by purpose, feelings, and
\nfulfillment.
\nTheory Y echoes the writings of other notable thinkers of the
\nera. In 1954, Abraham Maslow placed self-actualization at the top
\nof his hierarchy of needs.4
\nIn essence, this hierarchy refers to how
\npeople feel about who they are as individuals, what they do, and
\nwhy they do it\u2014and often, the people they do it with. Frederick
\nHerzberg, in an almost desperately titled article, \u201cOne More Time:
\nHow Do You Motivate Employees?\u201d answered his question by arguing that people are emotionally motivated by meeting challenges,
\ntaking responsibility, and doing work that they can feel good about
\nperforming well.5
\nAdvocates of both the rational and emotional approaches have
\nrarely sought to integrate their perspectives\u2014in other words, to see if
\nthere was a possibility for \u201cand\u201d instead of \u201ceither\/or.\u201d6
\nStanford professor Harold Leavitt, author of many books, including Managerial
\nKatz.c01.indd 14 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\nthe logic of the formal; the magic of the informal 15
\nPsychology and Top Down, from which the following passage is taken,
\ndescribes how the two camps studying organizational performance
\nin the 1950s viewed each other:
\nOne tiny skirmish of that great battle took place at MIT, where a
\nhandful of us were graduate students. We were proud and perhaps
\narrogant acolytes of McGregor, the pioneering humanizer of
\nTheory Y fame. Our hot little group called itself \u201cthe people-people\u201d
\nand inhabited the third floor of MIT\u2019s Building 1. Our systemizing
\nenemy\u2014the hard-headed accounting, finance, and \u201cprinciples of
\nmanagement\u201d people, along with Taylor\u2019s progeny, the industrial
\nengineers\u2014held down the first floor of the same building.
\nWe people-people were sometimes required to take first-floor
\ncourses, all sorts of systemizing foolishness about such inhuman stuff
\nas financial controls and cost-accounting. As you might guess, those
\nforays into enemy territory served only to shore up our faith in our
\nthird floor\u2019s humanizing creed. And as our commitment to that creed
\ngrew, so did our scorn for the first floor\u2019s apostasy. Those first-floor
\nguys were blind to Truth down there, intransigent, prejudiced, just
\nplain wrong. They had adding machines where their hearts should
\nhave been. They didn\u2019t even comprehend our sacred words: morale,
\nmotivation, participation. We called the first-floor folks \u201cmake-a-buck
\nNeanderthals.\u201d They called us \u201cthe happiness boys.\u201d7
\nWhile Leavitt\u2019s story may be a little tongue-in-cheek, it\u2019s not
\nan exaggeration to say that similar battles still take place, and not
\njust among academics but also among leaders at all levels of business
\norganizations. There are serious disagreements about how best to get
\nemployees focused on what the leaders believe to be important to
\nimprove performance and achieve success in the enterprise.
\nWe have watched and participated in many of these debates, in
\nmany companies, and with leaders who inhabit both camps\u2014and
\na few who understood the importance of both. But our exposure to
\nthe head-heart debate goes back much further, to well before either
\nof us got involved in management consulting.
\nKatz.c01.indd 15 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\n16 leading outside the lines
\nHow Katz Discovered the Informal
\nKatz graduated from Stanford University in 1954 with a degree in
\neconomics, making him, by training at least, a charter member of
\nthe formalist club. He spent his college days immersed in economic
\nanalysis, structured problem solving, and rational decision making.
\nThe United States was still in the Korean War when Katz graduated. Had he waited to be drafted, Katz would have had no choice
\nabout which service he entered, so he decided to apply for the Navy\u2019s
\nOfficer Candidate School. He was accepted, graduated, then went
\non to the Navy\u2019s school for Supply Corps officers.
\nFor a formalist like Katz, the military was fascinating. To this
\nday, he follows developments in the procedures, programs, and rules
\nof engagement that contribute to effective supply operations.
\nKatz got his first real assignment, as Disbursing and Helpant
\nSupply Officer, aboard the amphibious ship USS Whetstone. His
\nimmediate superior, Lt. John Sandrock, had several years of experience in the Supply Corps and fit the stereotypical image of a good
\nnaval officer. He was tall, well-groomed, and commanding in every
\nway. He maintained a well-defined arm\u2019s-length relationship with
\nthe members of his crew. He enforced rules and regulations to the
\nletter and demanded that his men do the same.
\nAfter a year aboard the Whetstone, Katz was transferred to the
\nUSS Nicholas, then stationed in Pearl Harbor, where he served alongside Supply Officer Lt. Charlie Stewart. The Nicholas was a bit creaky
\nand rusty, since it was then the oldest active escort destroyer in the
\nPacific fleet.
\nCharlie was Mr. Informal, or appeared to be, anyway, and this
\nbaffled Katz at first. Unlike Lt. Sandrock, Charlie\u2019s uniforms were,
\nlike the ship itself, worn and rumpled. Nor did his conversation
\nsuggest much interest in rules and regulations. But he had very
\nclose relationships with the sailors under his command. And he
\nKatz.c01.indd 16 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\nthe logic of the formal; the magic of the informal 17
\nran a remarkable supply operation. In fact, in Charlie\u2019s final year
\nof duty on the Nicholas, the ship was awarded the Navy E Ribbon
\n(E for efficiency) for having the best supply operation in the Pacific
\nFleet for its type of vessel.
\nThe win was not accidental. Charlie and his crew had been
\nworking toward the coveted E for three years. The ship had the tidiest store, its disbursing records were flawless, and the storerooms and
\ninventory were maintained as brilliantly as any Wal-Mart is today.
\nEven the galley was known for the quality of its food and its speedy
\nservice. Not an easy trick aboard a creaky, rusty old ship at sea.
\nAlthough Katz didn\u2019t apply the term at the time, Charlie\u2019s
\noperation clearly had an informal advantage. Yes, every sailor had
\nthe formal aspects of his job down pat. But that was not what distinguished the group\u2014rather, it was the pride they took in their work
\nand the emotional commitment they had to their jobs. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t
\nwant to disappoint Charlie,\u201d they often said.
\nSo effective was the supply group that Charlie\u2019s role in it
\nseemed almost unnecessary. After all, the guys were almost entirely
\nself-regulated. Charlie rarely made a suggestion, let alone gave an
\norder. So Katz began to think he was the luckiest guy in the Supply
\nCorps. When Charlie eventually moved on to his next ship and Katz
\ntook over the post, as was likely to happen, Katz figured that his
\njob would be easy. He would just follow the rules and procedures
\nalready in place and keep things rolling as they had been. How hard
\ncould that be?
\nOf course, Katz had so completely focused on the formal elements of Charlie\u2019s organization that he had not really noticed the
\ninformal aspects that Charlie was so good at, thinking them incidental, even irrelevant.
\nThen came a revelatory moment. It happened during an admiral\u2019s inspection of the Nicholas, which was anchored in Pearl Harbor
\nat the time. The day before the admiral was due to arrive, the captain
\nKatz.c01.indd 17 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\n18 leading outside the lines
\nof the Nicholas assembled his officers to review the procedure for
\nreceiving the admiral as he boarded ship. Two of the officers, however, could not attend the meeting. Charlie Stewart was on shore
\nliberty and William Inskeep was on duty.
\nA key element of the formal reception of an admiral is a \u201csword
\nsalute\u201d that requires that the receiving officers smartly, and in unison,
\nwithdraw their swords from their scabbards and snap the handles
\nto the proper position against their chests. The captain particularly
\nwanted to discuss the sword salute with his officers, because they
\nhad never actually worn or used their swords, nor had they ever been
\ncalled upon to execute the salute. So the potential for serious harm
\nexisted.
\nUnfortunately, the two missing officers, Stewart and Inskeep,
\nwould be the \u201cofficers of the deck\u201d on the day of the admiral\u2019s visit.
\nThat meant they would be the officers closest to the admiral as he
\ncame on board and the ones to initiate the sword salute.
\nThe day arrived. Stewart and Inskeep took their places. The
\nadmiral stepped aboard. Inskeep grabbed the handle of his sword,
\nclumsily yanked the blade out of the scabbard, and started to raise
\nit into position. Charlie Stewart, at the same instant, sharply angled
\nhis arm upward and snapped his hand to his forehead in a crisp
\nsalute. Inskeep, his sword in motion, glanced at Charlie, wondering what was going on, and in that split second of wandering focus,
\nthe tip of his blade poked the brim of the admiral\u2019s cap. Everyone
\ngasped as the cap flew off the admiral\u2019s head and went soaring into
\nthe ocean far below.
\nCharlie\u2019s informal organization had saved the day for him. It
\nturned out that, during the meeting with his officers, the captain
\nhad concluded that the sword salute was too complicated and dangerous and had instructed his men to execute the standard hand
\nsalute instead. As soon as Charlie returned from his shore leave,
\nhis men informed him of the change so he was prepared when the
\nadmiral arrived. Inskeep, however, did not have the same kind of
\nKatz.c01.indd 18 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\nthe logic of the formal; the magic of the informal 19
\nclose relationship with his men and they had failed to give him a
\nheads-up on the change in procedure. The \u201cit\u2019s not my job, man\u201d
\nattitude prevailed.
\nThe image of the admiral\u2019s hat slowly sinking to the bottom of
\nthe sea has become a compelling reminder for Katz that the informal
\ntakes care of its own when the formal does not.
\nIt\u2019s interesting that Katz learned the importance of the informal while serving in the military\u2014an organization that surpasses all
\nothers for its focus on hierarchy, formality, rules, and regulations.
\nAnd yet what he came to realize is that the Navy (and other armed
\nforces he has since studied) is so driven by emotion\u2014trust, courage,
\nfear, loyalty\u2014that it could not function at all without an informal
\ncomplement to its rigorous formal structure.
\nThe Overlooked Influence of Emotions
\nIf Katz had asked Lt. Sandrock\u2014he of the well-pressed uniform and
\nwell-thumbed rulebook\u2014if emotional commitment was important
\nto his operation and if the feelings of his crewmen mattered, it is
\nlikely that Sandrock would have said, \u201cYes, but not nearly as much
\nas process and execution.\u201d
\nToday, when we ask that question of managers and executives,
\nespecially in large companies, their answer tends to be about the
\nsame as Sandrock\u2019s would surely have been.
\nFormalists view the world through the lens of rationality\u2014they
\nvalue logic, analysis, data, and frameworks. They manage through
\nformal processes and programs (usually devised and enforced by a
\nselect group of senior executives). These formal elements are promulgated through the organization in protocols and memos and
\nenforced with comprehensive control-and-reward systems. If formalist managers accept that an emotional commitment is important, they tend to believe that it is a by-product of the right rational
\nKatz.c01.indd 19 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\n20 leading outside the lines
\napproach\u2014employees will eventually see the logic of a good plan
\nand will feel good about it.
\nThese mechanisms rarely take emotional issues into account,
\nbut that does not mean that people don\u2019t react emotionally to them.
\nThey do\u2014it\u2019s just that their reactions are often more negative than
\npositive. As a result, they adopt attitudes and engage in behaviors
\ncounter to the plan and to what seems rational to the makers of the
\nplan. Over and over again, we hear executives say that they just don\u2019t
\nunderstand why their employees are not \u201con board.\u201d Didn\u2019t they get
\nthe memo?
\nHowever, rational clarity does not always create the emotional
\ncommitment that motivates a desired behavior. And when emotional factors are not taken into account, organizations fall short of
\ntheir intended goals.
\nThe fundamental issue is that formalist managers do not fully
\nunderstand or believe in the importance and power of emotions in
\neffecting change. They discount the degree to which human behavior is emotionally determined. They also see it as difficult, if not
\nimpossible, to manage or control emotional forces.
\nWe do not want to diminish the value of rational structures and
\nlogical plans. At the same time, however, the bulk of our experience
\nand research over the past several years has caused us to believe that
\nemotional influences shape attitudes and drive behaviors as much
\nas logical arguments and rational influences\u2014and often have more
\nimpact.
\nThe Logic of the Formal
\nWhy do managers favor the rational approach and rely on top-down
\nexecution efforts?
\nLargely because the mechanisms of the formal organization can
\nbe clearly defined, named, captured in written form, and measured.
\nThey include
\nKatz.c01.indd 20 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\nthe logic of the formal; the magic of the informal 21
\n\u2022 Strategy. A set of priorities, plans, and performance objectives
\nthat guide choices throughout the organization in how to best
\nuse resources and deploy capabilities.
\n\u2022 Structures. The lines and boxes that determine who reports
\nto whom for what and that help align the decision making
\nneeded to achieve the organization\u2019s strategy.
\n\u2022 Processes and procedures. The written ground rules that
\ndetermine the information and work flows needed to
\nefficiently carry out the organization\u2019s day-to-day tasks.
\n\u2022 Programs and initiatives. Sets of goals, work plans, rules of
\nengagement, and resources dedicated to achieving specific
\nobjectives within defined time lines.
\n\u2022 Performance goals and metrics. The explicit targets and
\nmeasures that can be used to monitor and evaluate the
\nperformance of different groups and individuals.
\nVirtually all of these formal mechanisms can be found in official documents. In fact, the capture of these formal mechanisms in
\nwritten form is crucial. It enables them to become fixed, made available for approval and subsequent reference, and easy to distribute to
\nlarge numbers of people in precisely the same way every time. This
\nis how the formal lines of organization become well known.
\nUnlike face-to-face meetings, conversations, social networks,
\nand actions\u2014which are more ephemeral\u2014these formal documents
\nbring precision and permanence. They officially document the outcomes of rational and analytical problem-solving processes. They
\ncarry a sense of authority. The organization chart, the role description, the scorecard\u2014all can be referenced in ways that are especially
\nuseful in times of disagreement or disruption.
\nAll of this is sensible and good. The formal comprises the nutsand-bolts hardware that runs the machinery of business. Formal
\nmechanisms provide time-tested templates that users of leadership
\nsystems can understand and follow and that can be passed along
\nKatz.c01.indd 21 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\n22 leading outside the lines
\nfrom one generation of leaders to the next. The formal organization
\nhelps create efficiency, clarify authority, communicate priorities, and
\nalign rationally driven behaviors around common objectives. Every
\ncompany needs these logical things, so it\u2019s no wonder that most
\nleaders rely so heavily on the formal\u2014and therefore lead primarily
\nwithin the lines.
\nRationality Has Its Limits
\nWhen formalist leaders want to make a change of some kind, however, their reliance on the formal organization may not serve them
\nso well. They invariably overemphasize the rational case, especially
\nwhen they want to make an unanticipated change of some kind,
\nexplaining in excruciating detail why the new plan is important.
\nThey will explore what competitors are doing, describe customer
\nsegmentations, go through elaborate financial forecasts, discuss corporate objectives at length, and explain scorecards in endless detail.
\nTheir assumption is that once the rest of the organization understands the logic of why certain behaviors are important, they will
\nget it and do what\u2019s expected. If it\u2019s rational and explained properly,
\nthere shouldn\u2019t be a problem.
\nBut there often is. For a workforce to be motivated to make a
\nchange in behavior, people need to believe that their individual and
\nteam efforts have a meaningful personal purpose that connects them
\nemotionally to important priorities of their work situation. To that
\nend, leaders need to be able to translate vision, targets, and strategies
\ninto personal purpose, accomplishments, and choices that each one
\nof their people can understand and feel good about pursuing.
\nIt\u2019s impossible to do this without drawing on strong emotional
\nsupport. That\u2019s why formal methods frequently fail to elicit the level
\nof performance that many leaders want. They are \u201crationally conKatz.c01.indd 22 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\nthe logic of the formal; the magic of the informal 23
\nstrained.\u201d They simply don\u2019t allow room for the emotional determinants of behavior. These exist outside the lines of rational argument
\nand the formal organization.
\nAny effort to create rational understanding has rapidly diminishing returns if it does not take into account that people\u2019s choices
\nand behaviors are determined as much by emotional responses as by
\nlogical argument\u2014and the former seldom follow the latter.
\nThat\u2019s where the informal comes in.
\nThe Magic of the Informal
\nThe informal isn\u2019t as easily defined as the formal, because it does
\nnot have the clear structural boundaries that the formal has. Its elements often overlap and don\u2019t follow the clean principles of \u201cmutually exclusive, comprehensively exhaustive\u201d that analytical thinkers
\nprefer. In essence, the informal is the aggregate of organizational elements that primarily influence behavior through emotional means.
\nAnd, unlike the formal elements, the informal elements of an
\norganization rarely appear as written instructions. Even so, they can
\nstill be identified and named. They include
\n\u2022 Shared values. These are the shared beliefs and norms
\nfor taking action and making decisions as demonstrated
\nindividually and collectively. These often differ from the
\nvalues that are formally stated and displayed. For example,
\nsome organizations have an unspoken (and unwritten) norm
\nfor avoiding open conflicts, instead resolving them behind
\nclosed doors.
\n\u2022 Informal networks. These are positive patterns of relationships
\nbetween people that may be based on knowledge-sharing,
\ntrust, energy, or other characteristics. Savvy people\u2014the
\nKatz.c01.indd 23 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\n24 leading outside the lines
\nones others seek out for their insight\u2014are often called hubs,
\nand these go-to people play critical roles in forming and
\nmaintaining informal networks. To envision one of your
\nnetworks, consider the people you go to outside the normal
\nhierarchy for career advice, political wisdom, or special
\nexpertise. Or the ones you share speculations with about
\n\u201cwhat is really going on here\u201d when uncertainties prevail.
\n\u2022 Communities. These are more focused, cross-functional groups
\nthat share a common identity and practice. In some ways, a
\ncommunity is a more bounded network with a higher density
\nof intergroup relationships, in addition to a common focus
\nor reason for existence. One example might be a community
\nfocused on environmentally sustainable ways to do business.
\nAnother might be cigarette smokers who convene and interact
\ndaily in the designated outdoor smoking areas. A third might
\nbe minority groups who provide each other with informal
\nsupport and mentorship.
\n\u2022 Pride. People feel proud when they use their skills to realize
\ngoals that are meaningful to them. The goals vary by
\nindividual. For example, a CEO may be proud of closing the
\nlatest acquisition deal, while a service representative may be
\nequally proud of solving a loyal customer\u2019s complaint. Pride,
\nand the anticipation of feeling pride, is a strong behavioral
\nmotivator. The pride is deepened when accomplishments are
\nvalued by people the worker respects outside the workplace,
\nsuch as family members or mentors. Their approbation
\nmultiplies the motivational impact.
\nIt can be an advantage that the informal elements are not written down and fixed. For example, it\u2019s easier to try new things when
\nthe rules are not rigidly codified. Networks and communities spring
\nup faster when fueled by peer interactions within the informal orgaKatz.c01.indd 24 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\nthe logic of the formal; the magic of the informal 25
\nnization than when ordered with an edict from the top. A sales rep
\nwho gets a spontaneous accolade from a customer feels far more
\npride\u2014and more immediately\u2014than any formal metric or monthly
\ntracking system could inspire.
\nSometimes we\u2019re asked if there is a difference between the informal organization and culture. It\u2019s a good question because the two have
\ncommon elements and therefore can seem to be the same, but there
\nis an important distinction. Our desk dictionary (Merriam-Webster\u2019s
\nCollegiate, 10th edition) provides a good definition of culture as \u201cthe
\nset of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes
\n(human behaviors in) a company or corporation.\u201d This definition,
\nwhich we and many leaders would agree with, puts human behaviors at the center of culture, and human behaviors always involve
\nboth rational and emotional dimensions, as well as formal and informal components. Culture can also be more simply and colloquially
\ndescribed as \u201cthe way things are done around here.\u201d
\nThe informal organization is better described by its mechanisms, most of which can be clearly identified and consciously influenced, and that link very closely with other cultural elements. Charlie
\nStewart\u2019s men, for example, had an informal mechanism for keeping
\nhim informed about fluid situations that enabled him to perform
\neffectively when the time came. The mechanism no doubt developed
\nover time as a result of the intense loyalty that Stewart and his men
\nfelt for each other.
\nIt is difficult, if not impossible, to change a culture directly by
\ntrying to mandate a change in values like loyalty. It would not work,
\nfor example, to command Inskeep\u2019s men to be more loyal to each
\nother. What does that mean? How does one go about doing that?
\nHowever, had Inskeep been as sensitive as Stewart was in developing
\nspecific mechanisms that built emotional commitment among his
\nmen, they would have never let him down by not letting him know
\nabout the change in \u201csalute plans.\u201d
\nKatz.c01.indd 25 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\n26 leading outside the lines
\nCulture change can be effected, therefore, by adjusting the mechanisms of the informal organization in ways that tap into the underlying elements of human behaviors and result in the desired performance
\nimprovements. While programmatic change efforts driven through the
\nformal organization can also change culture, they do so much more
\nslowly and often with undesirable side effects from negative reactions
\nand resistance to being programmed.
\nUnlike the formal, the informal construct is not strategic, analytical, logical, efficient, or enforceable. Nor is it manageable in the
\nusual sense of that term. It is intuitive, personal, emotional, immediate\u2014and it can be influenced. It is uniquely good for motivating
\npeople to go above and beyond their job duties, communicating
\ninformation quickly and meaningfully, catalyzing collaboration, and
\naccelerating behavior change. What exists outside the lines isn\u2019t as
\nclearly defined as what exists within the lines.
\nThe Organizational Quotient
\nThe Spanish bank Caja Navarra\u2014known as CAN\u2014has pioneered
\na new business model called \u201ccivic banking\u201d that weds profit with
\nsocial responsibility. The informal played an important role in
\nenabling the company\u2019s CEO to transform what had been a typical, hierarchical Spanish community bank. For example, CAN hires
\npeople who do not have typical banking experience and places as
\nmuch emphasis on their ability to work with customers as on their
\ntechnical banking skills. The bank encourages employees to define
\ntheir roles more broadly than as the collection of the tasks required
\nin their formal positions. The focus on customers and civic service
\nleads to the creation of informal networks both within the company
\nand with people in the outside community. As a result, CAN has
\nachieved real and positive social impact along with healthy profits.
\nKatz.c01.indd 26 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\nthe logic of the formal; the magic of the informal 27
\nAlthough Caja Navarra helped create its transformation
\nthrough the informal organization, that does not mean that it abandoned its formal processes and practices. No bank could survive
\nwithout them, after all.
\nIn fact, the employees who are most effective in any organization invariably recognize the importance of both the formal and
\ninformal. People who take on a new position, in particular, find that
\nthe best way to succeed is to get smart quickly about how the informal side of an organization actually works rather than learning the
\nformal processes governing how things are supposed to work. Some
\ncompanies, like CAN and Google and Southwest Airlines, make this
\nintuitive capability to sense the informal a criterion for new hires.
\nThe characteristics of the formal and informal organizations
\ncan be compared to the differences between the traditional measure of intellectual ability, the intelligence quotient or IQ, and the
\nemotional intelligence quotient or EQ. IQ purports to measure a
\nperson\u2019s rational skills and intellect through a battery of verbal and
\nnumerical performance tests. In school, students with high IQs tend
\nto perform well and then attend prestigious institutions of higher
\nlearning, from which they move to careers requiring \u201cbook smarts.\u201d
\nMost of the activities in the formal organization involve IQ skills:
\nforming strategies, analyzing processes, designing structures, and
\ncreating integrated performance metrics.
\nHowever, it has long been argued that IQ does not measure
\nall aspects of intelligence. In the past ten years in particular, the
\nidea of emotional intelligence, or EQ, has gained currency in management thinking, largely thanks to the book of the same name by
\nDaniel Goleman.8
\nThe origins of the concept, however, go back to
\nCharles Darwin\u2019s work on the importance of emotional expression
\nfor survival. Darwin realized that empathy became an evolutionary
\nadvantage for primates because it greases the wheels of sociability. In
\nthe 1920s, Edward Thorndike, a professor at Columbia University,
\nKatz.c01.indd 27 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\n28 leading outside the lines
\ncoined the phrase \u201csocial intelligence,\u201d which he described as the
\nability to understand and manage people.9
\nGoleman\u2019s book made such an impact, in the United States and
\naround the world, that he expanded the concept to the workplace
\nin his second book, Working with Emotional Intelligence. He writes,
\n\u201cThe rules for work are changing. We\u2019re being judged by a new yardstick: not just by how smart we are, or by our training and expertise,
\nbut also by how well we handle ourselves and each other.\u201d10
\nIQ comes into play in the world of strategies, structures, and
\nmetrics. EQ is necessary to instill values, build relationships, and
\nemotionally engage people with their work. A manager\u2014indeed,
\nany employee\u2014can achieve extraordinary performance by knowing
\nwhen to draw on IQ and when to employ EQ. Those who can do
\nthis have what we call a high \u201corganizational quotient,\u201d or OQ. The
\nability to achieve this balance distinguishes the best managers from
\nthe formalists (who are highly reliant on IQ) and informalists or
\n\u201crelationship cultivators,\u201d who are much stronger in EQ.
\nKnowing When to Emphasize Logic or Magic
\nThe formal is best used for predictable and repeatable work that
\nneeds to be done efficiently and with little variance. The predictability and repeatability of the work warrants the effort to develop the
\ninfrastructure of the formal organization, which can be documented
\nand constantly improved upon to improve efficiency and remove
\nvariation. Payroll distributions are a good example.
\nConversely, the informal is best applied against unpredictable
\nevents. Issues that arise outside the scope of the formal organization
\nare often surprises that need to be sensed and solved. Increasingly,
\npeople who need to do the solving need to be motivated outside
\nthe reward system, collaborate across organizational boundaries, and
\nKatz.c01.indd 28 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\nthe logic of the formal; the magic of the informal 29
\nmake decisions with little guidance from formal strategies. In many
\ncases, activity in the informal organization starts to repeat itself,
\nwhich is a signal for broader changes that need to be made to the
\nformal organization.
\nAnother distinction is that the formal organization is typically
\nconstrained by the doctrine of \u201cbest practice.\u201d A common desire
\nacross all organizations is the relentless pursuit of best practice as
\na means of improving performance in various functions, departments, and levels of management. The theory is simple: \u201cIf we can
\ndetermine and apply proven best practices, we should be able to
\nperform at the top level in our industry.\u201d However, great leaders are
\nseldom satisfied with the formal spreading of best practices. And to
\ngo beyond best practice requires a level of insight, risk taking, and
\ntrial-and-error responsiveness that demands understanding and harnessing of the informal. This is often the magic that separates \u201cbest
\nperformance\u201d from \u201cbest practice.\u201d
\nCharacteristics of the Formal and the Informal
\nFormal Informal
\nEfficient Adaptive
\nScalable Local
\nPredictable Innovative
\nControlling Motivating
\nClear Ambiguous
\nDisciplined Spontaneous
\nHierarchical Collaborative
\nRational Emotional
\nKatz.c01.indd 29 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.
\nKatz.c01.indd 30 2\/10\/10 10:24 AM
\nKhan, Zia, and Jon R. Katzenbach. Leading Outside the Lines : How to Mobilize the Informal Organization, Energize Your
\nTeam, and Get Better Results, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/upenn-ebooks\/detaCreated from upenn-ebooks on 2022-03-16 17:29:22. Copyright \u00a9 2010. John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
13 Logic only gives man what he needs. . . . Magic gives him what he wants,\u201d author Tom Robbins once wrote.1 The tension between\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7643,7642,7645,7644],"tags":[7678,8989,8988,7387,633,8991,630,8987,8994,8467,15,8990,7656,7571,8993,66,8992],"class_list":["post-105090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-custom-same-day-essays","category-custom-writings-writers","category-do-my-essay-mla-format","category-write-my-paper-hub-writers","tag-best-custom-paper-writing-service","tag-best-online-paper-writing-service","tag-best-paper-writing-service","tag-best-research-paper-writing-services","tag-cheap-research-paper-writing-service","tag-cheapest-paper-writing-service","tag-college-paper-writing-service","tag-free-paper-writing-service","tag-free-term-paper-writing-service","tag-paper-writing-service","tag-paper-writing-service-reddit","tag-professional-paper-writing-service","tag-someone-to-write-my-paper","tag-websites-that-write-papers-for-you","tag-what-is-the-best-paper-writing-service","tag-write-my-paper","tag-write-my-paper-for-me-free"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.studyproessays.com\/help\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}