- Welcome Page 2 - Update Page 3 - News Page 4 - Brief lines | Welcome to this issue of 2PLM, an e-zine distributed every two weeks on a free subscription basis. The article below, Can Your Organization Benefit from PLM? has been written by Joel Orr to coincide with the publication of his book Structure is Destiny: The Dandelion Paradox. Details We hope readers will find it an interesting change after recent articles about the "To-PLM Map" and the definition of Product Lifecycle Management. * Can Your Organization Benefit from PLM? * Structure is destiny:
Some consider this to be unfair. Aren't we free to do and to be whatever we want? Sure. We're free to fly unaided, to travel through time, and to live 500 years. But we are structurally constrained from doing these things. So when we band together to create organizations, isn't it clear that their structure is bound to limit their destiny - all that they are to be and do? As powerful as PLM is, its full promise can only be fulfilled in a healthy organization. I've been involved in many professional associations, and I noticed that - for example - few things are as permanent as an ad hoc committee. When people come together in a committee - or a company, or whatever - they acquire a new range of powers and behaviors, which they individually enjoy. So when the purpose for which the organizational entity was created is fulfilled, the members cast about for other reasons to keep the entity alive. But to be effective, an organization must have a structure that ensures a lifecycle that corresponds to its vision and purpose - and the very notion of a lifecycle includes death. Otherwise, when its original purpose is fulfilled, the organization will act like an organism. It will try to perpetuate itself. Projects provide such a lifecycle. They have a beginning and an end, a purpose and a budget. When the project is over, the project team is disbanded, the people go on to other projects. Most organizations are organized hierarchically. The control structure is familiar to you. There is someone at the top, to whom report several people, who themselves head similarly-structured organizations. But it is not an organism. It is a pyramid - and the pseudo-life it exhibits by trying to perpetuate itself is nothing but the mindless and irresponsible growth of a crystal, reflecting nothing but a molecular imperative, not creativity in the service of a larger vision. The hierarchical organization has a structure that is unrelated to projects and their goals. It is organized functionally. There are departments that have functions - personnel, engineering, marketing, and so on. The pyramid's overriding concern is to perpetuate itself. Everything else is subservient to that goal. Within the pyramid, the individual is like a building block. Its shape must conform to the overall structure. Anything that does not fit must be eliminated. Implicitly, then, the whole is more important than any of the parts. In fact, what pyramids are really about is power. The framework of the pyramid simply provides a matrix about which people can acquire more and more power. Individual actions and achievements have no great meaning; only the power of the organization, meted out at all levels for the pyramid "blocks" to exercise, has meaning. It's not that pyramids are evil per se. They have a place in human organization - for example, in the military. To wage war, individual soldiers, and commanders at every level, must submerge their individuality and submit their will to those above them in the chain of command. The focus of a military organization would be dulled and even thwarted if it could not operate as a machine, with clear lines of command. But individuals can only do this for a time. There are relatively few career military. Most armies consist primarily of young conscripts, serving two to four years. When your life is a Dilbert cartoon, you hate where you are and what you have had to become in order to stay there. That's where pyramidal hierarchies inevitably wind up. What's the alternative? I suggest something I call "the Dandelion Principle." In a "Dandelion Principle" organization, there are five fundamental points, each corresponding to a part of the dandelion plant:
Dandelion organizations have that tenacity, too. If you maintain respect for the life, liberty, and property of individuals, the organization can survive almost any adversity. And the individuals who make up the organization can live lives of integrity. PLM professionals can benefit from understanding the Dandelion Principle. You can read about it in my book, Structure is Destiny: The Dandelion Paradox. Details Joel Orr has been a consultant, writer, and speaker in PLM and pre-PLM technologies for over 30 years. He is vice-president and Chief Visionary for Cyon Research Corporation. Write him at joel.orr@cyonresearch.com.  PLM articles We're always pleased to hear from readers about PLM articles that appear in other publications. This week : "Shall the twain meet?" Details |
