Control in an Age of Empowerment

by Robert Simons

In Control in an Age of Empowerment, Robert Simons explains how to give employees the freedom to innovate while protecting your firm from loose cannons. Using powerful examples, Simons shows how to apply four powerful management "levers" to balance autonomy with Traditional diagnostic control systems, Belief systems, Boundary systems, and Interactive control systems. Used in concert, these four levers give you the control you need--without sacrificing the creative thinking your company can't do without.

Genres: Nonfiction

55 pages, Paperback

First published September 9, 2008

Reviews

[Dr. Tathagat Varma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ducks appear calm on the surface, but are in reality peddling like hell underneath! #Organizations are a lot alike. A great organization in a picture-frame isn't quite an accident, rather a constant interplay of various forces - both that help unleash its power aligned to its #purpose while simultaneously constraining it meaningfully. This steady-state isn't quite much of an "end-state" but more like a constant readjustment and realignment of these forces that keep the social body known as the organization within acceptable ranges. So, what are these forces and how do they actually help?

I like this simple framework from 90s that is further based on ideas from 50s and 60s. Unless there is a combination of positive and negative #reinforcement loops, a system is likely to head towards a state that economists simply refer to as "there's no free lunch"!. Organizational #strategists and #leaders would be well-advised to not cherry-pick ideas to suit the "problem of the day" but actually consider all these forces at play that lead to the equilibrium lest hypertuning one of these variables leads to #chaotic and unpredictable outcomes.

https://hbr.org/1995/03/control-in-an...