Reinvent Your Enterprise
Encyclopedia
Reinvent Your Enterprise (ISBN 1-4392-1985-0) is a business book by Jack Bergstrand
, CEO of Brand Velocity
. The book was first published by BookSurge in 2009
and endorsed by The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University.
Following five years of dedicated research, the book integrates insights and examples from more than 200 business executives and scholars to provide a systematic approach to improve sustainable corporate performance in today’s globally competitive environment. Reinvent Your Enterprise is also the basis for a six-part eBook series, the first being How to Make Knowledge Work Work for You.
Bergstrand’s book describes Manual Work as work that uses the human body and physical tools to achieve tasks. It includes factory work, construction work, and the physical movement of goods. He goes on to define Knowledge Work as work that uses ideas, expertise, information, and relationships to achieve tasks. It includes brainstorming, analysis, project management, and personal coaching.
Examples of manual workers includes those who earn a living through manual work, including assembly line and warehouse employees, truck drivers, and others who use physical abilities to achieve tasks. Knowledge workers include those who earn a living through knowledge work, including researchers, analysts, managers, consultants, and others who use knowledge to achieve tasks.
Experts have struggled to explain this productivity paradox
for decades. Organizational change in the 21st century cannot be engineered like assembly lines. The scientific management
approach that worked so well for manual work in the 20th century has consistently been unsuccessful in the 21st century with knowledge work.
To address this management challenge, in Reinvent Your Enterprise, a new management system—framework and process—was developed based on the work of Peter F. Drucker, Gareth Burrell, Garth Morgan, Talcott Parsons
, and Norbert Wiener
. In addition, the first knowledge work productivity prototype is described, core adaptation principles are identified, and Strategic Profiling
, an instrument to help knowledge workers improve knowledge work in the form of accelerated enterprise projects, is described in detail.
This framework can be applied to knowledge work through a specific cybernetic
flow:
1) Envision: Asks and answers where you intend to go and Why based on subjective knowledge.
2) Design: Then asks and answers What needs to happen and When based on objective knowledge.
3) Build: Then asks and answers How to do this best based on objective work.
4) Operate: Then asks and answers Who is responsible for which activities based on subjective work.
These principles were prototyped for the work in this book and include seven recommended reconstructions under the headlines:
tool and process to help groups manage knowledge work better in enterprise projects – to help knowledge workers identify, analyze and implement their most productive path to success.
While other tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
help individuals identify their personality type, the Strategic Profiling tool was developed to help the individual, project team, and company improve knowledge work productivity. It uses a survey-based tool to make one of 15 distinct knowledge work productivity profiles visible, which connects the dots between the preferences, abilities, and priorities at the individual, function, and organizational levels. Each knowledge work profile has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses that can be managed more productively by being made visible and integrated into a specific action plan.
Jack Bergstrand
Jack Bergstrand is an American business consultant, author of a book endorsed by The Drucker Institute on enterprise reinvention, and founder of Brand Velocity, Inc....
, CEO of Brand Velocity
Brand Velocity
Brand Velocity is a management consulting firm that helps Fortune 500 companies implement large organizational projects. It is said to be founded on Peter Drucker's knowledge work productivity principles as well as the work of more than 200 other business experts and social scientists...
. The book was first published by BookSurge in 2009
2009 in literature
The year 2009 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*8 October - Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature....
and endorsed by The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University.
Overview
Reinvent Your Enterprise builds upon the “knowledge work” insights from Peter F. Drucker, among others, to help improve business results better and faster. After a 20-year career in large organizations, including the roles of CIO of The Coca-Cola Company and CFO of Coca-Cola Beverages, Jack Bergstrand wrote Reinvent Your Enterprise to improve the knowledge work productivity of enterprise projects.Following five years of dedicated research, the book integrates insights and examples from more than 200 business executives and scholars to provide a systematic approach to improve sustainable corporate performance in today’s globally competitive environment. Reinvent Your Enterprise is also the basis for a six-part eBook series, the first being How to Make Knowledge Work Work for You.
The shift from manual work to knowledge work
In this book, Bergstrand describes the shift from manual work to knowledge work, which Peter Drucker demonstrated was the driver for needing a new management system in the 21st century. This shift from manual work to knowledge work is evident in practice and validated by the work of Peter Drucker and Frederick Taylor .| Manual Work Productivity | Knowledge Work Productivity |
|---|---|
| Work is visible | Work is invisible |
| Work is specialized | Work is holistic |
| Work is stable | Work is changing |
| Emphasizes running things | Emphasizes changing things |
| More structure with fewer decisions | Less structure with more decisions |
| Focus on the right answers | Focus on the right questions |
Bergstrand’s book describes Manual Work as work that uses the human body and physical tools to achieve tasks. It includes factory work, construction work, and the physical movement of goods. He goes on to define Knowledge Work as work that uses ideas, expertise, information, and relationships to achieve tasks. It includes brainstorming, analysis, project management, and personal coaching.
Examples of manual workers includes those who earn a living through manual work, including assembly line and warehouse employees, truck drivers, and others who use physical abilities to achieve tasks. Knowledge workers include those who earn a living through knowledge work, including researchers, analysts, managers, consultants, and others who use knowledge to achieve tasks.
Moving from Scientific to Knowledge Management
The scientific management approach of the 20th century worked well for manual work but has struggled to help make knowledge work more productive on a sustainable basis despite major improvements and investments in information technology. According to The Standish Group, 70 percent of enterprise projects are considered failures, and nearly one in five projects will be cancelled entirely. As Reinvent Your Enterprise explains, enterprise project failure is often the result over engineered decision-making processes from using scientific management techniques.Experts have struggled to explain this productivity paradox
Productivity paradox
The productivity paradox was analyzed and popularized in a widely-cited article by Erik Brynjolfsson, which noted the apparent contradiction between the remarkable advances in computer power and the relatively slow growth of productivity at the level of the whole economy, individual firms and many...
for decades. Organizational change in the 21st century cannot be engineered like assembly lines. The scientific management
Scientific management
Scientific management, also called Taylorism, was a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. Its main objective was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management...
approach that worked so well for manual work in the 20th century has consistently been unsuccessful in the 21st century with knowledge work.
To address this management challenge, in Reinvent Your Enterprise, a new management system—framework and process—was developed based on the work of Peter F. Drucker, Gareth Burrell, Garth Morgan, Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons
Talcott Parsons was an American sociologist who served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973....
, and Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener
Norbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
. In addition, the first knowledge work productivity prototype is described, core adaptation principles are identified, and Strategic Profiling
Strategic Profiling
Strategic Profiling is a knowledge work productivity and enterprise reinvention improvement tool, used in conjunction with the Action Planning workshop, and is a registered trademark of Brand Velocity, Inc. The survey-based tool was designed based on the work of Peter F...
, an instrument to help knowledge workers improve knowledge work in the form of accelerated enterprise projects, is described in detail.
This framework can be applied to knowledge work through a specific cybernetic
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
flow:
1) Envision: Asks and answers where you intend to go and Why based on subjective knowledge.
2) Design: Then asks and answers What needs to happen and When based on objective knowledge.
3) Build: Then asks and answers How to do this best based on objective work.
4) Operate: Then asks and answers Who is responsible for which activities based on subjective work.
Moving from a traditional to traditionally virtual world
To improve knowledge work productivity on a sustainable basis in the 21st century, Bergstrand has prototyped key knowledge work productivity management principles, described in the book, that traditional enterprises will need to systematically improve:- Vertical and horizontal organizational productivity
- Enterprise meetings and enterprise projects
- Socialized costs and free riders
- Enterprise property rights
- Asset redeployment
These principles were prototyped for the work in this book and include seven recommended reconstructions under the headlines:
- Help your customers be more productive
- Turn your enterprise into an economic pass through
- Decouple status and rank from total compensation
- Move from merit to contribution based rewards
- Redesign your corporate and personal infrastructure
- Reduce enterprise transactions and other moving parts
- Replace performance judgments with personal coaching
Applying a knowledge work productivity tool
Reinvent Your Enterprise concludes that where manual work can be managed productively through physical mechanisms such as assembly lines and objective command-and-control management techniques, knowledge work needs a productivity management tool as well. Linked to this need, the book describes the Strategic ProfilingStrategic Profiling
Strategic Profiling is a knowledge work productivity and enterprise reinvention improvement tool, used in conjunction with the Action Planning workshop, and is a registered trademark of Brand Velocity, Inc. The survey-based tool was designed based on the work of Peter F...
tool and process to help groups manage knowledge work better in enterprise projects – to help knowledge workers identify, analyze and implement their most productive path to success.
While other tools like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment is a psychometric questionnaire designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions...
help individuals identify their personality type, the Strategic Profiling tool was developed to help the individual, project team, and company improve knowledge work productivity. It uses a survey-based tool to make one of 15 distinct knowledge work productivity profiles visible, which connects the dots between the preferences, abilities, and priorities at the individual, function, and organizational levels. Each knowledge work profile has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses that can be managed more productively by being made visible and integrated into a specific action plan.
See also
- Peter F. Drucker
- Frederick Winslow TaylorFrederick Winslow TaylorFrederick Winslow Taylor was an American mechanical engineer who sought to improve industrial efficiency. He is regarded as the father of scientific management and was one of the first management consultants...
- Talcott ParsonsTalcott ParsonsTalcott Parsons was an American sociologist who served on the faculty of Harvard University from 1927 to 1973....
- Norbert WienerNorbert WienerNorbert Wiener was an American mathematician.A famous child prodigy, Wiener later became an early researcher in stochastic and noise processes, contributing work relevant to electronic engineering, electronic communication, and control systems.Wiener is regarded as the originator of cybernetics, a...
- Jack BergstrandJack BergstrandJack Bergstrand is an American business consultant, author of a book endorsed by The Drucker Institute on enterprise reinvention, and founder of Brand Velocity, Inc....
- Productivity paradoxProductivity paradoxThe productivity paradox was analyzed and popularized in a widely-cited article by Erik Brynjolfsson, which noted the apparent contradiction between the remarkable advances in computer power and the relatively slow growth of productivity at the level of the whole economy, individual firms and many...
- Knowledge work productivityKnowledge work productivityright|200px|Knowledge work productivity is the measure of the efficiency and effectiveness of the output generated by workers who mainly rely on knowledge, rather than labor, during the production process...
- Sociological paradigms
- CyberneticsCyberneticsCybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
- Strategic ProfilingStrategic ProfilingStrategic Profiling is a knowledge work productivity and enterprise reinvention improvement tool, used in conjunction with the Action Planning workshop, and is a registered trademark of Brand Velocity, Inc. The survey-based tool was designed based on the work of Peter F...
Reviews
- CIO Magazine, "What We're Reading," October 15, 2009
- Directors & Boards, “A wall that must be broken through,” December 2009