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Improving Performance
Book

Improving Performance

How to Manage the White Space in the Organization Chart

Geary A. Rummler and Alan P. Brache
Jossey-Bass, 1995
First Edition: Jossey Bass Wiley, 1990
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

The more involved you are with process improvement, the more you will benefit from reading this book. Consultants Geary A. Rummler and Alan P. Brache focus your thinking on their process improvement method by including detailed diagrams, practical examples and flow charts. They demonstrate how the traditional use of hierarchical organizational charts creates silos, isolated corporate operations that are separated by white space on the chart and, thus, are literally unconnected. The authors’ “three levels” approach to management can mitigate performance issues within that organizational white space and avoid silos. They present their framework as a reliable method for upgrading organization design, improving processes and enhancing individual performance. Managing the “nine variables” that affect performance can help you develop a better understanding of your organization and build a strategic foundation for continuous process improvement, rather than wasting effort on ad hoc fixes. getAbstract recommends this book to thoughtful managers who don’t need lots of buzzwords

Summary

A Better Model for Performance

No business manager can be complacent about the future. You must set up an organization that makes efficient use of its resources and generates creative responses to change in its environment. You can achieve this only by truly integrating your entire organization, rather than working in silos, or allowing wasteful fiefdoms to root and grow. To fix your organization’s performance problems, you must first fix its system. Whether you work in human resources (HR), engineering, quality control or systems analysis, you can improve your organization’s processes by considering it overall. The modern marketplace is too complex for halfhearted solutions.

Do more to organize your employees than just drawing boxes for them on a hierarchical organizational chart. Reacting only to immediate problems or seeking single, simple answers to complex organizational problems will not provide the solutions you need.

The “three levels” framework is a better guide to making management decisions than a misleading organizational chart. This framework identifies “three levels of performance” – and “nine performance variables.” The three levels of performance...

About the Authors

Geary A. Rummler is a founding partner and Alan P. Brache is president and CEO of The Rummler-Brache Group, which provides consulting and training services to corporate and governmental clients.

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