Over the course of years,
organizations are shifting from a very strict structure to something more
fluid. The help of technology greatly reduced manual labor, which established
additional time to focus more towards the needs and expectation of employees
and external stakeholders (Obolensky, 2014). The workplace hierarchy is also
becoming flatter and more obsolete: as many organizations are finding positive
benefits of forming communities (Clark, 2012). Pixar Studios is one of few
organizations that follow this structure: as they realized that establishing
communities promotes collective creativity.
Pixar Studios is well known for
their computer animated films such as Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and Finding
Nemo. They are the leading pioneers of computer animation and continues to
adapt with emerging technology. Like all creations, they consist of an array of
ideas and inspirations. Unlike most studios however, many of Pixar’s ideas are
created internally by their community artists (Catmull, 2008). Whether it’s an
animation studio or a university, all organizations are composed of different
departments. While all departments share the same common goal, they often have
different tasks and ways of thinking (Hill, 2014). This is what Pixar keeps in
mind, and they encourage employees to communicate with one another. In addition
to establishing relationships, the social network creates a learning atmosphere
to not only educate one another, but to also inspire one another: sparking new
ideas for future films (Catmull, 2008).
Currently, I work for a university
as a student advisor. Overall, the university is doing well and continues to
establish exciting, new learning opportunities for students across the globe.
Despite the overall success, one thing that the university could improve to effectively
move forward is to listen and consider other departments’ point-of-view more
often. Every so often, the university send out emails and have web conferences
to share new ideas and procedures to help improve our campus operations. While
many of these are interesting and helpful, they don’t often work well with the campus.
The university I currently work for has an online branch that consist of over a
hundred campuses scattered across the globe. Similar to the idea of different
departments of an organization, each campus is unique and have different
demographics and geography.
Often times, the decisions made by the
university are one-directional: sparking some issues. For instance, the university
got concerned when a student complained to them about the lack of on-campus course
offerings at my campus. The solution they provided was to have the student travel
to the neighboring Seattle campus, which is 40 miles away. While the distance
may not appear to be an issue, there was also a time and traffic issue that
made this solution ineffective. Many of our students are full-time employees
and typically get off a few minutes prior to when most of our classes start. In
addition, Everett and Seattle, Washington are major cities, and we experience
very heavy traffic during the evening. As a result, a usual 40-minute drive to
the neighboring campus can take over an hour: which can result in attendance
issues for the student.
Rather than focusing based on one
point-of-view, organizations should always view from multiple perspectives to
make effective decision-making (Hill, 2014). Whether it’s a campus a thousand
miles away to another department inside a company building, every group has different
procedures and thoughts. Despite some differences, coming together can establish
a social environment, where people can learn and inspire one another. This could
then result in an array of opportunities to help strengthen an organization.
References:
Catmull, Ed. (2008). How Pixar Fosters Collective
Creativity. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from
https://hbr.org/2008/09/how-pixar-fosters-collective-creativity
Clark, D. (2012). Is Workplace Hierarchy Becoming Obsolete?
Forbes. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dorieclark/2012/08/08/is-workplace-hierarchy-becoming-obsolete/#6e5406ad291e
Hill, L. (2014). Linda Hill: How to manage collective
creativity. TED. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/linda_hill_how_to_manage_for_collective_creativity?language=en
Obolensky, N. (2014). Complex Adaptive Leadership: Embracing
Paradox and Uncertainty (2nd ed.). UK: Gower Publishing.
No comments:
Post a Comment