Organization 21C: Someday All Organizations Will Lead This Way

What Will Not Change About Power and Influence

Many attempts like those at GE described earlier have been rightly made to mitigate the distancing and arbitrary effects of hierarchy, and there are organizational mechanisms such as open forums, (à la GE's Work-Out), electronic access (such as e-mail and Web sites), cross-cutting task forces, or 360-degree feedback that can help, but they are only ways of pushing against the hierarchical tide, not of permanently stopping it.

Similarly, there have been many training programs—some created by the authors of this chapter—aimed at reducing distance by teaching individual skills such as assertiveness, feedback, listening, confrontation, influencing, and “empowerment.” No matter how good such programs ...