Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Value of a nut

Any organisation is like a machine. Good organisations are like well oiled, perfectly running machines. Not so good organisations try to improve themselves sometimes by taking parts from the good machine. In a perfectly running machine, each part has great value. For example, that machine could not work for long in the same efficient manner even if one screw, bolt or nut were missing.

What the not-so-good organisation does not realise is that if that nut is removed from the well oiled machine and hired by the not-so-good organisation, he remains just that - a nut! In absence of the running machine, the nut has no value.

The good organisation however, does not feel the loss of the nut. Because it can hire another nut and put him in the same place, and the machine is running fine again.

Great organisations are not just the sum total of great individuals, its the result of how these individuals work together. I will not deign to give the oft repeated jargon of "culture, systems and processes" because its something more than that. There is an X factor which is difficult to quantify.

Its like football teams. Over 30 years all the players and coaches in Brazil have changed. There is no evidence to suggest that Brazil has a genetic pool suited better to football. Organisations are something similar - and what makes good organisations tick is equally difficult to quantify.


Comments:
Nuts are good nutrition, but you OD on them and you get an allergic reaction.
 
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