DEVELOPING THE ORGANIZATION’S PRIMARY ATTRACTOR: THE VISION PROCESS

Of the five workshops, only SES & Band 5, Band 4 and one of the Band 3 workshops managed to complete a vision statement during the workshop. The other Band 3 workshop and the Bands 1 & 2 combined workshop did not get a vision statement out and were far more focussed on values than the other groups.

TDI W/S Bands 1 & 2

The outcome of the Bands 1 & 2 Combined Workshop, which represents the lowest paid and ranked staff in the Organization, was set out under four headings: A. Community Spirit; B. Communication / Human Contact; C. Growth; and D. Leadership. There was much mention under each of these headings of values and ideals of behaviour such as: A. ‘Non-discrimination; More honesty and respect; No taking advantage of the system or resources; Loyalty between all staff, Commitment to telling the truth, Forgiveness, Understanding. B. Collaborative rather than authoritative decision-making;

Openness and communication between all channels. C. A flexible, dynamic and broad-minded environment - acknowledgment of different points of view, room to express suggestions, capacity to change and evolve to incorporate new ideas. D. Leaders who are approachable, and will listen …, do not exhibit favouritism, assess on merit only and have no hidden agendas’ (Bands 1 & 2 Mission Statement 1/11/94). However, there was a complete lack of a goal or mission - that is, any obvious structure to their view of the Organization.

Band 5 & SES Workshop

At the other end of the spectrum was the Band 5 & SES Workshop, which consisted of the Organization's leadership, the outcome of which had three goal based statements under the heading Vision, the first of which was ‘We are the best resource management organization in the world’; the second began with: ‘We are committed to managing …’ and; the third with: ‘We will achieve this vision through …’ (Vision Statement SES & Band 5 Workshop undated). These statements were written despite my repeated suggestion throughout the workshop and whenever consulted, that visions are not supposed to be

achieved, goals are achieved, visions are to be perpetually aimed at -

idealistic. Although the leadership group did include values such as ‘honesty, truthfulness and openness, respect for individuals and community values, consistency and integrity … tolerance, patience and compassion’ (ibid), its overall focus was far more task oriented (structure focussed) than those in Bands 1 & 2, who actually carry out the majority of the Organization's tasks. Whereas, the Band 4 Workshop, which comprised the Organization's

managers, come up with four separate vision statements which were all not only structure oriented but future oriented as well, with a focus more on the Organization itself rather than what the Organization might do. Two of the statements began with words: ‘To develop a globally outstanding organization … ; To become a strong organization …’ and the other two included: ‘dedicated to the highest level of achievement’. (Vision and Mission Feedback from the Band 4 Workshop, undated). Band 4 also included values such as: ‘

community, challenged, fulfilled, rewarded, heard, nurtured, respected, valued’ (ibid).

Structure (task) and Process

The merging of the structure and process sides of the Organization did not happen at the Band 3 level, it happened at band 4 level, for although one Band 3 level group managed to write a vision it was completely void of any task orientation: ‘We cherish the uniqueness of everyone … support each other in growing to our full potential’ (Band 3/1 Workshop notes, undated), whilst the other Band 3 Workshop simply stated values such as: ‘Truth, Personal

Responsibility, Respect, Care, Love, Self Acceptance, Acceptance of Others’ (Summary of Band 3 Vision Statement Ideas).

Given these statements it would seem that the bottom three levels of the Organization were focussed solely on improving the quality of their working environment / work culture (process), and were happy to leave the

Organization's outward goals and focus (structure) to those at the top. The task or structure focus of the Organization only appeared in the more senior Band 4 and SES & Band 5 workshop vision statements. However, the outward orientation for the Organization itself was the exclusive domain of the

Leadership group because the managers' group (Band 4) was goal oriented but its focus was on the state of the Organization itself.

Identity Maintenance

The above finding supports the idea of regression outlined in Chapter 3

whereby individuals and groups of individuals, i.e. organizations, undergoing a phase transition or an identity crisis become inward, or backward, looking. The further the stress rises and the more insecure (unsure of their identity) individuals in a group become, the more they regress to earlier stages of behaviour and become defensive of their individual identities (resistance to change). It also supports the evidence so far of the state of crisis the Organization was in at this time. What was happening was that the bottom three levels of the Organization were focused almost exclusively on the

on the overall structure of the Organization itself. And only really the Leaders were focussed on the outward goals of the Organization – perhaps as it should be.

Vision And Value Statement

Over the next twelve months each workshops’ vision statement and values were carefully integrated into a single vision and value statement for the Organization. The Vision Working Group managed to do this through constant communication with the members of the Organization and with each other. However, the process wasn’t without incident, the biggest being over the use of the word cherish rather than values - this held up the process for some three months. The conflict between the process and task orientation of the different groups was eventually resolved by including a brief statement on both in the vision and purpose as set out below: