Informal Coalitions

We believe that something vital is missing from most approaches to organisational leadership, change management and performance improvement.

In particular, these consistently fail to address crucial aspects of the 'real world' organisations that managers face on a daily basis.

Almost invariably, emphasis is placed on changing the formal and structured elements of organisation - its processes, systems and structures - and on getting these 'right' through detailed analysis, structured change methodologies and project management techniques.

Other, ever-present features of organisational life, such as the influential role played by informal interactions, the impact of power and politics, and the powerful grip of cultural assumptions on decision-making and performance, tend to be dealt with superficially or ignored altogether.

Structured analysis and project management disciplines have an important part to play in organisational change and performance ... but only where these are used in their proper place and when their limitations are understood.

Organisations do not follow the same rules as inanimate structures, systems and machines. Instead, they are made up of dynamic networks of people interacting with each other. And people have a habit of not conforming to the mechanistic assumptions that still channel much of the mainstream management thinking about organisational change and performance.

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