Performance Management For Agile Organizations

Baker takes on eight dysfunctional people management practices originating from the scientific management and offers practical solutions for changing these practices and increasing organizational agility. Agile is the new black. Every business now has to be adaptive, nimble and ready to pivot – managers have to be comfortable with ambiguity and constantly ready for change. And yet... While agility is regarded as essential for competitive advantage, most organizations are still unthinkingly applying people management practices, rooted in Frederick Taylor’s scientific management philosophy of the early 20th century, designed to ensure consistency and efficiency on production lines but which actively prevent the sort of creativity and flexibility needed in the modern workplace. 100 years of scientific management has led to the creation of eight performance myths. Myths that impede the agility necessary to compete in the age of the knowledge worker but which are so instinctively embedded in management psyche that they go unchallenged despite the fact that the changing world of work has rendered them dysfunctional and counterproductive. Through case studies and examples Baker demonstrates how the right workplace culture for promoting and applying agile decision-making consists of eight values shared by employer and employee – values that are polar opposite of the values and assumptions of traditional management styles. A new psychological contract that enables the collaborative working relationship necessary for agility to flourish.

This book demonstrates, in detail, why annual performance appraisals might still work in hierarchical environments, but largely fail in agile ones. The annual performance appraisal is one of the world’s most widely used management tools. For many years, it was indeed seen as a pre-requisite for successful leadership and professional management. While most managers and employees have always been sceptical in this respect, those at a strategic level are now also realising it causes more harm than good, and a growing number of leading companies have similarly abolished this approach. One key reason lies in the changing working world, and the quest for greater organisational agility. Companies are moving away from rigid structuring. The arguments are presented objectively but with practical relevance, coherently illustrating the available alternatives for achieving what annual performance appraisals largely have not.

Agile Practice Guide – First Edition has been developed as a resource to understand, evaluate, and use agile and hybrid agile approaches. This practice guide provides guidance on when, where, and how to apply agile approaches and provides practical tools for practitioners and organizations wanting to increase agility. This practice guide is aligned with other PMI standards, including A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) – Sixth Edition, and was developed as the result of collaboration between the Project Management Institute and the Agile Alliance.

As contrary as it sounds, "planning" -- as we traditionally understand the term--can be the worst thing a company can do. Consider that volatile weather events disrupt trusted supply chains, markets, and promised delivery schedules. Ever-shifting geo-political tensions, as well as internal political upheaval within U.S. and global governments, derail long-planned new ventures. Technology failures block opportunities. Competitors suddenly change their product or release date; your team cannot meet the pace of innovations in your market niche, leaving you sidelined. There are myriad ways in the current business environment for a company's well-considered business plans to go awry. Most business schools continue to prepare managers to be effective in stable and predictable environments, conditions that, if they ever existed at all, are long gone. The Agility Shift shows business leaders exactly how to make the radical mindset and strategy shift necessary to create an agile, entrepreneurial organization that can innovate and thrive in complex, ever-changing contexts. As author Pamela Meyer explains, there is much more involved than a reconfiguration of the org chart and job descriptions. It requires relinquishing the illusion of control at the very foundation of most management training and business practice. Despite most leaders' approaches, "Agility is not simply accelerated planning." Unlike many agility books on the market, The Agility Shift provides specific, actionable strategies and tactics for leaders at all levels of the organization to put into practice immediately to improve agility and achieve results.

Digital Transformation Management for Agile Organizations highlights and explores new dynamics regarding how current digital developments globally scale, by examining the threats, as well as the opportunities these innovations offer to organizations of all kinds.

Given today's context of tough change, organizations need to be able to innovate as well as develop and implement strategy quickly and efficiently. The key to this is agility - a set of capabilities that can help organizations to rapidly adapt to changing circumstances. At the same time, resilience is also essential if benefits are going to endure over the longer term and if employees are to be kept on board. The Agile Organization focuses on how to build both agility and resilience at individual, team and organizational levels. It draws on a wealth of research, including the lived experience and learning of managers and HR and organization development (OD) professionals to show how it is possible to 'square the circle', becoming more sustainably agile while also enhancing employee engagement and resilience. The Agile Organization showcases the latest thinking - new organizational models, ground-breaking themes and case studies - that illustrate how organizations are addressing the challenge of developing organizational agility. Packed with helpful checklists and practice pointers, this book is a 'go to' guide for senior leaders and managers, HR and OD specialists who want to help bring about organizational transformation and create the new resiliently agile 'business as usual'.

An in-depth example of The Agility Factor in action Becoming Agile: How the SEAM Approach to Management Builds Adaptability illustrates the process of becoming an agile organization. Reflecting the principles presented in The Agility Factor, readers are taken on a real-world journey of transformation and change. This short-format case study of the French company Brioche Pasquier highlights how one organization successfully implemented the principles of agility using the socio-economic approach to management, detailing each step of the process and describing how every decision brought the goal closer within reach. Readers get inside the heads of decision makers to gain insight into how tough decisions were made, how new, important, and flexible management tools were implemented, and how the necessary changes ultimately benefitted both the organization and the people who made it work. From overarching policy to day-to-day procedure, the story provides a clear example of how an agile organization is developed, giving readers a foundation upon which to implement similar changes in their own organization. Smart companies understand the importance of agility, but identifying where and how to initiate those first steps often leads to paralysis by analysis. This case study allows readers to learn from an organization that got through the inertia and put the principles of agility into action, with incredible results. Understand how the principles of agility can be implemented using a specific intervention strategy Tailor those principles to suit any organization Calculate and convert the "hidden costs" of traditional organizational design into flexible, value added activities Formulate and execute an actionable agility strategy Big changes require a deep understanding of the problem at hand, and a viable plan for steering the organization in a better direction. By seeing how it's been done before, organizations can take a proven approach and tailor it to their specific needs. For those tasked with formulating the agility strategy, Becoming Agile: How the SEAM Approach to Management Builds Adaptability provides invaluable insight.