2. Introduction
The Power of Reframing
Virtues and Drawbacks of Organized Activity
The Curse of Cluelessness
Strategies for Improving Organizations: The
Track Record
Framing
Multiframe Thinking
3. Are top managers clueless?
Home Depot CEO Bob
Nardelli somehow didn’t
anticipate that a rushed
shareholders’ meeting
where no one but him got
to say anything would
produce bad press and a
major rebellion by
shareholders and analysts.
4. Are top managers clueless?
CEO Jeff Skilling
thought Enron
was “in excellent
shape” when he
quit a few months
before it
collapsed
5. Are top managers clueless?
Joseph Berardino, CEO
of Enron’s auditor,
Andersen Worldwide,
said no one told him
some of his partners
thought the firm was at
risk in approving
Enron’s aggressive
accounting practices.
6. Are top manager clueless?
As New Orleans
recovered from
Hurricane Katrina, the
Secretary of
Homeland Security
told reporters he had
no reports of things
that viewers had
already seen on
television news.
7. Virtues and drawbacks of organization
Prevalence of large, complex organizations is
historically recent
Much of society’s important work is done in or
by organizations, but…
They often produce poor service, defective or
dangerous products and…
Too often they exploit people and
communities, and damage the environment
8. Signs of Cluelessness
Management error produces bankruptcies of
public companies every year
Most mergers fail, but companies keep on
merging
One study estimates 50 to 75% of American
managers are incompetent
Most change initiatives produce little change;
some makes things worse
9. Strategies to improve organizations
Better management
Consultants
Government policy and regulation
10. What is a frame?
Mental map to read and negotiate a “territory”
The better the map, the easier it is to know
where you are and get around (a map of New
York won’t help in San Francisco)
Frame as window: enables you to see some
things, but not others
Frame as tool: effectiveness depends on
choosing the right tool and knowing how to
use it
11. Framing and “Blink” process
Well-learned and practiced frames facilitate
“rapid cognition” – the capacity to quickly and
accurately size up situations
Qualities of rapid cognition:
Nonconscious (you can do it without thinking
about it)
Fast
Holistic
Results in “affective judgments”
12. Structural Frame
Roots: sociology, management science
Key concepts: goals, roles (division of labor),
formal relationships
Central focus: alignment of structure with
goals and environment
13. Human Resource Frame
Roots: personality and social psychology
Key concepts: needs (motives), capacities
(skills), feelings
Central focus: fit between individual and
organization
14. Political Frame
Roots: political science
Key concepts: interests, conflict, power,
scarce resources
Central focus: getting and using power,
managing conflict to get things done
15. Symbolic Frame
Roots: social and cultural anthropology
Key concepts: culture, myth, ritual, story,
Central focus: building culture, staging
organizational drama
16. Structural and Human Resource
Frames
Frame Structural HumanResource
Metaphor for
organization
Factory or Machine Family
Central concepts Rules,roles, goals,
policies,technology,
environment
Needs, skills,
relationships
Image of
Leadership
Social architecture Empowerment
Basic leadership
challenge:
Align structureto task,
technology, environment
Align organization and
human needs
17. Political and Symbolic Frames
Frame Political Symbolic
Metaphor for
organization
Jungle Carnival,temple,theater
Central
concepts
Power,conflict,
competition,
organizational politics
Culture,meaning,
metaphor,ritual,
ceremony,stories,
heroes
Imageof
Leadership
Advocacy Inspiration
Basic leadership
challenge:
Develop agendaand
power base
Createfaith,beauty,
meaning
18. Expanding managerial thinking
Traditional management
thinking
Artistic thinking
See only one or two
frames
Holistic, multi-frame
perspective
Try to solve all problems
with logic, structure
Rich palette of options
Seek certainty, control,
avoid ambiguity, paradox
Develop creativity,
playfulness
One right answer, one best
way
Principled flexibility
19. Conclusion
Narrow thinking clueless managers
Multiple frames improve understanding,
promote versatility
Multiple frames enable reframing: viewing the
same thing from multiple perspectives
