Group Leadership: the Minefield Experiment

1. Group Leadership: the Minefield Experiment Dick Heimovics Levitt Professor of Human Relations

2. Changing Models of the Corporation • Flatter • To get closer to the customer. • To avoid stagnant bureaucracies. • To respond more rapidly. • To push responsibility down. • In Flux • To innovate. • To network, link more closely to other organizations. • More Flexible • To respond to diverse needs of employees. customers, and stake holders. • To provide “flexible” or “customized production.” • To adjust to a complex and an unpredictable external environment.

3. Features of the Old Model of Organization • Clearly delineated, specialized individual positions. • A formal hierarchy with clear lines of authority. • Formal rules and standard operating procedures. • Set boundaries. • Standardized training, career paths, and reward systems. • Emphasis on predictability and reliability. • “Impersonal system” to avoid favoritism with reliance on merit/expertise.

4. Individual position/job as the basic unit of organization Vertical information flow. Decisions come down; information flows up. Emphasis on rules and procedures; standards and procedures Single strong culture Tall with many layers Teams as basic unit. Horizontal and vertical flows of information enhanced by technology. Decisions made where information resides. Emphasis on processes and results Diverse behaviors, and viewpoints. Flat with few layers Summary Features of the Old and New Models of Organization Old Model New Model

6. THE MINE FIELD A terrible war has been fought in your homeland. You had to leave your homes, but now you have an opportunity to return. You have learned that the other side of the war has placed land mines in a narrow canyon through which you must go to return home. Fortunately, as a group you have information about a clear path through the mine field. Each of you will have a map depicting part of a clear path. You will be allowed three minutes to memorize your map, then you must turn it in. You can think of this information as the unique resource you bring personally to your group. Your maps are keyed to the pegboard in front of you. BE SURE TO ORIENT THE TOP OF YOUR MAP TO THE TOP OF THE PEGBOARD. You pick your way through the mine field by inverting the pegs. If you invert a red peg, you have hit a mine placed by some other group. As any group you may not always agree about things or which peg to pull. In this case, it is your right to decide who should pull the next peg. But be careful. Some organizations "sacrifice" members with no evil intent. In highly politicized or internally competitive organizations some members are sacrifice by design. Similarly, organizations often under‑utilized an individual member's potential to contribute. Someone must pull a peg if you are to advance. Remember, however, that any member of your group who is sacrificed (or is killed or commits suicide) can no longer participate in finding the path. If you personally pull a red peg, you will need to sit on what is left of your hands and watch the balance of the problem solving. Your information is lost to the group. As long as you uncover only green pegs, you are still on the clear path. When you pull a peg, please invert it and replace it color side up (so we can "document" your pathway). Some in your organization may have better information than you have. For example, collectively, your maps reveal the location of two of the mines in your path. You have two special detonators which you can use to discharge these mines safely. When you reach the spot(s) where you believe the mines are, mark the peg with a detonator. Remember that you only have two detonators so use them carefully. Each one can be used only once. To make the exercise more realistic, please keep these rules of procedure in mind: 1. Proceed in a continuous, step‑by‑step manner from the entrance of the mine field to the exit. Do not jump from one position of the path to another. Pull the pegs one at a time, one peg to another, horizontally, vertically or diagonally. You will collectively know where to enter the mine field. You exit the mine field at the edge of the board when you pull a peg that is both green on the bottom and green partly up the side of the peg. 2. You must work from memory. That rules out making marks on the board or drawing maps to aid your memory. 3. As you pull a peg, invert it and stick it back into the pegboard as a record of your work. Your performance as a group will be determined in terms of how well and how fast you solve the problem.