management gurus

Box 11.5 in your text asks the question, What role do management gurus play in promoting organizational change? The author, Brad Jackson, “viewed the gurus as part of a whole management fashion industry” (p. 325).

Change in organizations necessarily involves both organization managers and leaders. While this "Voices from the Field" could have been included in Chapter 7, the focus here is more specifically on organizational change. This example provides a nice bridge between the two chapters.

In my experience at SJSU, major organizational changes have stemmed from those in the upper levels seeking to fill out their résumés, rather than following a reasoned, planned approach to change. SJSU is near the end of another overhaul based on a new vision. By my count this is the fourth "new" vision for SJSU since I arrived in 1990. This latest reinventing of SJSU, called Vision 2010, is based on an education guru book, Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter, that identifies 20 highly successful universities and colleges. At least one review suggests universities and colleges can apply different aspects of the authors' findings to each institution's unique situation. However, another review suggests that the authors ignored the featured institutions' shortcomings--which may be instructive as well. As one step toward applying the suggestions in the book, SJSU has formed an Achieving Greater Expectations Institute designed to "bring faculty, staff, students, and administrators together to focus on enhancing student learning and developing a sense of belonging to SJSU to foster student success." I wonder how many students know about it.

Gurus can bring in new ideas and fresh ways of thinking. However, they can also apply a one-size-fits-nobody approach to organizational change that hurts more than helps the organization. Ultimately, if the management guru does a poor job assessing the organization's current state, needs, culture, climate, etc., then change likely will not go well. So the guru has to work closely with organization members at all levels to implement planned change effectively.

~ Professor Cyborg