Magnetic receptive steel tape home depot

The Classic Leadership Resource Now In Its 4th Edition!

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1984, Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal’s best-selling book has become a classic in the fi eld. Its four-

frame model examines organizations as factories, families, jungles, and theaters or temples:

• The Structural Frame: how to organize and structure groups and teams to get results

• The Human Resource Frame: how to tailor organizations to satisfy human needs, improve human resource

management, and build positive interpersonal and group dynamics

• The Political Frame: how to cope with power and confl ict, build coalitions, hone political skills, and deal with

internal and external politics

• The Symbolic Frame: how to shape a culture that gives purpose and meaning to work, stage organizational

drama for internal and external audiences, and build team spirit through ritual, ceremony, and story

This new edition contains a wealth of new examples from both the private and the nonprofi t sectors. In addition, the book

offers updated content and expanded discussions of self-managing teams, dramaturgical and institutional theory, change

theory, the “blink” process, “black swans,” and gay rights. There is an Instructor’s Guide available online.

The Authors

Lee G. Bolman holds the Marion Bloch Missouri Chair in Leadership

at the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the

University of Missouri–Kansas City. He consults worldwide to

corporations, public agencies, universities, and schools. He lives in

Kansas City, Missouri.

Terrence E. Deal is the retired Irving R. Melbo Clinical Professor at the

University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. He now

writes and makes wine in San Luis Obispo, California. He is the coauthor

of sixteen books, including the best-selling Corporate Cultures (with

A. A. Kennedy, 1982) and Managing the Hidden Organization (with W. A.

Jenkins, 1994). He lives in San Luis Obispo, California.

Reframing Organizations

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Fourth Edition

LEE G. BOLMAN

TERRENCE E. DEAL Best-sel l ing authors of LEADING WITH SOUL

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Artistry, Choice, and Leadership Artistry, Choice, and Leadership

Fourth Edition

www.josseybass.com

MANAGEMENT/LEADERSHIP

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F O U RT H E D I T I O N

Reframing Organizations

Artistry, Choice, and Leadership

Lee G. Bolman • Terrence E. Deal

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Copyright © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass A Wiley Imprint 989 Market Street, San Francisco, CA 94103-1741—www.josseybass.com

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Credits are on page 528.

Readers should be aware that Internet Web sites offered as citations and/or sources for further information may have changed or disappeared between the time this was written and when it is read.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or com- pleteness of the contents of this book and specifi cally disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fi tness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profi t or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bolman, Lee G. Reframing organizations : artistry, choice, and leadership / Lee G. Bolman, Terrence E. Deal.—4th ed. p. cm.—(The Jossey-Bass business & management series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7879-8798-5 (cloth) ISBN 978-0-7879-8799-2 (pbk.) 1. Management. 2. Organizational behavior. 3. Leadership. I. Deal, Terrence E. II. Title. HD31.B6135 2008 658.4'063—dc22

2008022738

Printed in the United States of America fourth edition HB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 PB Printing 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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http://www.josseybass.com
http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions
The Jossey-Bass Business & Management Series

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An updated online Instructor’s Guide with test bank

is available at www.wiley.com/college/bolman

Available in spring 2009: New with this fourth edition of Reframing Organizations

is an online assessment program that runs in Blackboard, WebCT, and Vista. Each

chapter includes 15–20 multiple choice, true/false, matching, and essay questions

designed to assess understanding of the key concepts presented in the text. Multiple

choice, matching, and true/false questions will include detailed feedback for incor-

rect answers, and students will also be provided references to the text for incorrect

answers. Please consult your sales representative for further details.

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v

C O N T E N T S

Preface vii

PART ONE Making Sense of Organizations

ONE Introduction: The Power of Reframing 3

TWO Simple Ideas, Complex Organizations 23

PART TWO The Structural Frame

THREE Getting Organized 45

FOUR Structure and Restructuring 71

FIVE Organizing Groups and Teams 99

PA R T T H R E E The Human Resource Frame

SIX People and Organizations 119

SEVEN Improving Human Resource Management 139

EIGHT Interpersonal and Group Dynamics 165

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Contentsvi

PA R T F O U R The Political Frame

NINE Power, Confl ict, and Coalition 191

TEN The Manager as Politician 211

ELEVEN Organizations as Political Arenas and Political Agents 229

PA R T F I V E The Symbolic Frame

TWELVE Organizational Symbols and Culture 251

THIRTEEN Culture in Action 279

FOURTEEN Organization as Theater 293

PA R T S I X Improving Leadership Practice

FIFTEEN Integrating Frames for Effective Practice 311

SIXTEEN Reframing in Action: Opportunities and Perils 327

SEVENTEEN Reframing Leadership 341

EIGHTEEN Reframing Change in Organizations: Training, Realigning, Negotiating, and Grieving 373

NINETEEN Reframing Ethics and Spirit 397

TWENTY Bringing It All Together: Change and Leadership in Action 411

TWENTY-ONE Epilogue: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership 435

Appendix: The Best of Organizational Studies: Scholars’ Hits

and Popular Best-Sellers 439

References 445

The Authors 481

Name Index 483

Subject Index 494

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vii

P R E F A C E

This is the fi fth release of a work that began in 1984 as Modern Approaches to Understanding and Managing Organizations. We ’ re grateful to readers around the world who have told us the

book gave them ideas that make a difference — at work and else-

where in their lives.

It is time for an update, and we ’ re gratifi ed to be back by popular demand. Like

everything else, organizations and their leadership challenges have been chang-

ing rapidly in recent years, and scholars have been running hard to keep up. This

edition tries to capture the current frontiers of both knowledge and art.

The four - frame model, with its view of organizations as factories, families,

jungles, and temples, remains the book ’ s conceptual heart. But much else has

changed. We have updated our case examples extensively to keep up with the lat-

est developments in managerial practice. We have updated a feature we inaugu-

rated in the third edition, “ greatest hits in organization studies. ” These features

offer pithy summaries of key ideas from the some of the most infl uential works

in the scholarly literature (as indicated by a citation analysis, described in the

Appendix at the end of the book). As a counterpoint to the scholarly works, we

have also added occasional summaries of recent management best - sellers.

Life in organizations has also produced many new examples, and there is new

material throughout the book. At the same time, we worked zealously to mini-

mize bloat by tracking down and expunging every redundant sentence, mar-

ginal concept, or extraneous example. We are proud that, despite new material in

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viii

every chapter, this edition is actually a bit shorter than the last one. At the same

time, we ’ ve tried to keep it fun. Collective life is an endless source of examples

as entertaining as they are instructive, and we ’ ve sprinkled them throughout the

text. We apologize to anyone who fi nds that an old favorite fell to the cutting -

room fl oor, but we think most readers will fi nd the book an even clearer and

more effi cient read.

As always, our primary audience is managers and future leaders. We have

tried to answer the question, What do we know about organizations and lead-

ership that is genuinely relevant and useful to practitioners? We have worked

to present a large, complex body of theory, research, and practice as clearly and

simply as possible. We tried to avoid watering it down or presenting simplistic

views of how to solve managerial problems. Our goal is to offer not solutions but

powerful and provocative ways of thinking about opportunities and pitfalls.

We continue to focus on both management and leadership. Leading and man-

aging are different, but they ’ re equally important. If an organization is overman-

aged but underled, it eventually loses any sense of spirit or purpose. A poorly

managed organization with a strong, charismatic leader may soar briefl y — only

to crash shortly thereafter. Malpractice can be as damaging and unethical for

managers and leaders as for physicians. Myopic managers or overzealous lead-

ers usually harm more than just themselves. The challenges of modern organiza-

tions require the objective perspective of managers as well as the brilliant fl ashes

of vision that wise leadership provides. We need more people in managerial roles

who can fi nd simplicity and order amid organizational confusion and chaos.

We need versatile and fl exible leaders who are artists as well as analysts, who can

reframe experience to discover new issues and possibilities. We need managers

who love their work, their organizations, and the people whose lives they affect.

We need leaders and managers who appreciate management as a moral and ethi-

cal undertaking. We need leaders who combine hard - headed realism with pas-

sionate commitment to larger values and purposes. We hope to encourage and

nurture such qualities and possibilities.

As in the past, we have tried to produce a clear and readable synthesis and

integration of the fi eld ’ s major theoretical traditions. We concentrate mainly on

organization theory ’ s implications for practice. We draw on examples from every

sector and around the globe. Historically, organization studies have been divided

into several intellectual camps, often isolated from one another. Works that seek

Preface

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ix

to give a comprehensive overview of organization theory and research often

drown in social science jargon and abstraction and have little to say to practitio-

ners. We try to fi nd a balance between misleading oversimplifi cation and mind -

boggling complexity.

The bulk of work in organization theory has focused almost exclusively on

either the private or the public sector, but not both. We think this is a mistake.

Managers need to understand similarities and differences among all types of

organizations. The public and private sectors increasingly interpenetrate one

another. Public administrators who regulate airlines, nuclear power plants, or

pharmaceutical companies face the problem of “ indirect management ” every day.

They struggle to infl uence the behavior of organizations over which they have

very limited authority. Private fi rms need to manage relationships with multiple

levels of government. The situation is even more complicated for managers in

multinational companies coping with the subtleties of governments with very

different systems and traditions. Across sectors and cultures, managers often har-

bor narrow, stereotypic conceptions of one another that impede effectiveness on

both sides. We need common ground and a shared understanding that can help

strengthen public and private organizations in the United States and throughout

the world. The dialogue between public and private, domestic and multinational

organizations has become increasingly important. Because of their generic appli-

cation, the frames offer an ecumenical language for the exchange. Our work with

a variety of organizations around the world has continually reinforced our con-

fi dence that the frames are relevant everywhere. Political issues, for example, are

universally important, even though the specifi cs vary greatly from one country

or culture to another.

The idea of reframing continues to be a central theme. Throughout the book,

we show how the same situation can be viewed in at least four ways. In Part Six ,

we include a series of chapters on reframing critical organizational issues such as

leadership, change, and ethics. Two chapters are specifi cally devoted to reframing

real - life situations.

We also continue to emphasize artistry. Overemphasizing the rational and

technical side of an organization often contributes to its decline or demise. Our

counterbalance emphasizes the importance of art in both management and

leadership. Artistry is neither exact nor precise; the artist interprets experience,

expressing it in forms that can be felt, understood, and appreciated. Art fosters

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x

emotion, subtlety, and ambiguity. An artist represents the world to give us a

deeper understanding of what is and what might be. In modern organizations,

quality, commitment, and creativity are highly valued but often hard to fi nd.

They can be developed and encouraged by leaders or managers who embrace the

expressive side of their work.

OUTLINE OF THE BOOK The fi rst part of the book, “ Making Sense of Organizations, ” tackles a perplex-

ing question about management: Why is it that smart people so often do dumb

things? Chapter One , “ The Power of Reframing, ” explains why: Managers

often misread situations. They have not learned how to use multiple lenses to

get a better sense of what they ’ re up against and what they might do. Chapter

Two , “ Simple Ideas, Complex Organizations, ” uses several famous cases (9/11,

Hurricane Katrina, and a friendly - fi re tragedy in the skies over Iraq in 1994) to

show how managers ’ everyday thinking and theories can lead to catastrophe. We

explain basic factors that make organizational life complicated, ambiguous, and

unpredictable; discuss common fallacies in managerial thinking; and spell out

criteria for more effective approaches to diagnosis and action.

Part Two , “ The Structural Frame, ” explores the key role that social architecture

plays in the functioning of organizations. Chapter Three , “ Getting Organized, ”

describes basic issues managers must consider in designing structure to fi t an

organization ’ s goals, tasks, and context. It demonstrates why organizations —

from Harvard University to McDonald ’ s — need different structures in order

to be effective in their unique environments. Chapter Four , “ Structure and

Restructuring, ” explains major structural pathologies and pitfalls. It presents

guidelines for aligning structures to situations, along with several cases illustrat-

ing successful structural change. Chapter Five , “ Organizing Groups and Teams, ”

shows that structure is a key to high - performing teams.

Part Three , “ The Human Resource Frame, ” explores the properties of both

people and organizations, and what happens when the two intersect. Chapter

Six , “ People and Organizations, ” focuses on the relationship between organiza-

tions and human nature. It shows how a manager ’ s practices and assumptions

about people can lead either to alienation and hostility or to commitment and

high motivation. It contrasts two strategies for achieving effectiveness: “ lean

and mean, ” or investing in people. Chapter Seven , “ Improving Human Resource

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xi

Management, ” is an overview of practices that build a more motivated and

committed workforce — including participative management, job enrichment,

self - managing workgroups, management of diversity, and organization develop-

ment. Chapter Eight , “ Interpersonal and Group Dynamics, ” presents an example

of interpersonal confl ict to illustrate how managers can enhance or undermine

relationships. It also discusses how group members can increase their effective-

ness by attending to group process, including informal norms and roles, inter-

personal confl ict, leadership, and decision making.

Part Four , “ The Political Frame, ” views organizations as arenas. Individuals

and groups compete to achieve their parochial interests in a world of confl ict-

ing viewpoints, scarce resources, and struggles for power. Chapter Nine , “ Power,

Confl ict, and Coalition, ” analyzes the tragic loss of the space shuttles Columbia

and Challenger, illustrating the infl uence of political dynamics in decision mak-

ing. It shows how scarcity and diversity lead to confl ict, bargaining, and games

of power; the chapter also distinguishes constructive and destructive political

dynamics. Chapter Ten , “ The Manager as Politician, ” illustrates basic skills of

the constructive politician: diagnosing political realities, setting agendas, build-

ing networks, negotiating, and making choices that are both effective and ethi-

cal. Chapter Eleven , “ Organizations as Political Arenas and Political Agents, ”

highlights organizations as both arenas for political contests and political actors

infl uencing broader social, political, and economic trends. Case examples such as

Wal - Mart and Ross Johnson explore political dynamics both inside and outside

organizations.

Part Five explores the symbolic frame. Chapter Twelve , “ Organizational

Symbols and Culture, ” spells out basic symbolic elements in organizations:

myths, heroes, metaphors, stories, humor, play, rituals, and ceremonies. It

defi nes organizational culture and shows its central role in shaping performance.

The power of symbol and culture is illustrated in cases as diverse as Harley -

Davidson, the U.S. Congress, Nordstrom department stores, the Air Force, and

an odd horse race in Italy. Chapter Thirteen , “ Culture in Action, ” uses the case of

a computer development team to show what leaders and group members can do

collectively to build a culture that bonds people in pursuit of a shared mission.

Initiation rituals, specialized language, group stories, humor and play, and cer-

emonies all combine to transform diverse individuals into a cohesive team with

purpose, spirit, and soul. Chapter Fourteen , “ Organization as Theater, ” draws on

dramaturgical and institutional theory to reveal how organizational structures,

Preface

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xii

activities, and events serve as secular dramas, expressing our fears and joys,

arousing our emotions, and kindling our spirit. It also shows how organizational

structures and processes, such as planning, evaluation, and decision making, are

often more important for what they express than for what they accomplish.

Part Six , “ Improving Leadership Practice, ” focuses on the implications of the

frames for central issues in managerial practice, including leadership, change,

and ethics. Chapter Fifteen , “ Integrating Frames for Effective Practice, ” shows

how managers can blend the frames to improve their effectiveness. It looks at

organizations as multiple realities and gives guidelines for aligning frames with

situations. Chapter Sixteen , “ Reframing in Action, ” presents four scenarios,

or scripts, derived from the frames. It applies the scenarios to the harrowing

experience of a young manager whose fi rst day in a new job turns out to be far

more challenging than she expected. The discussion illustrates how leaders can

expand their options and enhance their effectiveness by considering alternative

approaches. Chapter Seventeen , “ Reframing Leadership, ” discusses limitations in

traditional views of leadership and proposes a more comprehensive view of how

leadership works in organizations. It summarizes and critiques current knowl-

edge on the characteristics of leaders, including the relationship of leadership

and gender. It shows how frames generate distinctive images of effective leaders

as architects, servants, advocates, and prophets.

Chapter Eighteen , “ Reframing Change in Organizations, ” describes four fun-

damental issues that arise in any change effort: individual needs, structural

alignment, political confl ict, and existential loss. It uses cases of successful and

unsuccessful change to document key strategies, such as training, realigning, creat-

ing arenas, and using symbol and ceremony. Chapter Nineteen , “ Reframing Ethics

and Spirit, ” discusses four ethical mandates that emerge from the frames: excel-

lence, caring, justice, and faith. It argues that leaders can build more ethical organi-

zations through gifts of authorship, love, power, and signifi cance. Chapter Twenty ,

“ Bringing It All Together, ” is an integrative treatment of the reframing process. It

takes a troubled school administrator through a weekend of refl ection on critical

diffi culties he faces. The chapter shows how reframing can help managers move

from feeling confused and stuck to discovering a renewed sense of clarity and con-

fi dence. The Epilogue (Chapter Twenty - One ) describes strategies and characteris-

tics needed in future leaders. It explains why they will need an artistic combination

of conceptual fl exibility and commitment to core values. Efforts to prepare future

leaders have to focus as much on spiritual as on intellectual development.

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xiii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As we noted in our fi rst edition, “Book writing often feels like a lonely process,

even when an odd couple is doing the writing.” This odd couple keeps getting

older (both closing in on seventy)—and, some would say, even odder and more

grumpy. Yet the process seems less lonely because of our close friendship and our

contact with many other colleagues and friends. The best thing about teaching is

that you learn so much from your students. Students at Harvard, Vanderbilt, the

University of Missouri–Kansas City, and the University of Southern California

have given us invaluable criticism, challenge, and support over the years. We’re

grateful to the many readers who have responded to our invitation to write and

ask questions or share comments. Their input has made the book better in many

ways. (The invitation is still open—our contact information is in “The Authors”

section.) We wish we could personally thank all of the leaders and managers from

whose experience we have profi ted in seminars, workshops, and consultations.

Their knowledge and wisdom are the foundation and touchstone for our work.

As in the past, we owe much to our colleagues. Thanks again to all who helped

us in the prior editions; your contribution still lingers in this work. But we par-

ticularly want to mention those who have made more recent contributions.

We have learned much from collaboration with a number of teaching fellows

and graduate assistants at the University of Missouri–Kansas City; in particular,

we are very grateful for the help of Mary Yung, Hooilin Chan, Vera Stoykova,

and Zhou Yongjie. They all did an outstanding job helping us develop the cita-

tion analysis that appears in the Appendix, and Vera did excellent work on devel-

oping a test bank.

We wish we could thank all the colleagues and readers in the United States

and around the world who have offered valuable comments and suggestions, but

the list is long and our memories keep getting shorter. Elena Granell de Aldaz of

the Institute for Advanced Study of Management in Caracas collaborated with

us on developing a Spanish-language adaptation of Reframing Organizations as

well as on a more recent project that studied frame orientations among manag-

ers in Venezuela. We are proud to consider her a valued colleague and wonderful

friend. Bob Marx, of the University of Massachusetts, deserves special mention as

a charter member of the frames family. Bob’s interest in the frames, creativity in

developing teaching designs, and eye for video material have aided our thinking

and teaching immensely. Cdr. Gary Deal, USN; Maj. Kevin Reed, USAF; Dr. Peter

Minich, a transplant surgeon; and Jan and Ron Haynes of FzioMed all provided

Preface

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xiv

valuable case material. The late Peter Frost of the University of British Columbia

continues to inspire our work. Peter Vaill of the Antioch Graduate School has

been a continuing source of ideas, support, and inspiration. Kent Peterson,

University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Sharon Conley, University of California

at Santa Barbara, are continuing sources of ideas and support. A number of indi-

viduals, including many friends and colleagues at the Organizational Behavior

Teaching Conference, have given us helpful ideas and suggestions. We apolo-

gize for any omissions, but we want to thank Anke Arnaud, Carole K. Barnett,

Max Elden, Kent Fairfi eld, Olivier Hermanus, Jim Hodge, Earlene Holland, Scott

Johnson, Mark Kriger, Larry Levine, Hyoungbae Lee, Mark Maier, Magid Mazen,

Thomas P. Nydegger, Dave O’Connell, Lynda St. Clair, Susan Twombly, and Pat

Villeneuve. We only wish we had succeeded in implementing all the wonderful

ideas we received from these and other colleagues.

Bill Eddy, dean emeritus of the Bloch School at the University of Missouri–

Kansas City, gets special thanks for nurturing an environment that helps scholar-

ship fl ourish. His successors on the leadership team at the Bloch School, including

Al Page, Homer Erekson, Karyl Leggio and Lanny Solomon, have kept that tra-

dition alive. Other current or former Bloch School colleagues who have helped

more than they know are Dave Bodde, Nancy Day, Dick Heimovics, Bob Herman,

Doranne Hudson, Deborah Noble, Stephen Pruitt, David Renz, Beth Smith, and

Marilyn Taylor. Lee’s colleagues in the Department of Organization, Leadership,

and Marketing at the Bloch School have done their part, and he is grateful to Raj

Arora, Gene Brown, Rita Cain, Pam Dobies, Mark Parry, Michael Song, and Rob

Waris. Colleagues Carl Cohn, Stu Gothald, and Gib Hentschke of the University

of Southern California offer both intellectual stimulation and moral support.

Others to whom our debt is particularly clear are Chris Argyris, Sam

Bacharach, Cliff Baden, Estella Bensimon, Margaret Benefi el, Bob Birnbaum,

Barbara Bunker, Tom Burks, Ellen Castro, Norma Saba Corey, Carlos Cortés,

Linton Deck, Jim Honan, Tom Johnson (always a source of creative ideas), Bob

Kegan, Grady McGonagill, Judy McLaughlin, John Meyer, Harrison Owen,

Michael Sales, Dick Scott, Joan Vydra, Roy Williams, and Karl Weick. Thanks

again to Dave Brown, Phil Mirvis, Barry Oshry, Tim Hall, Bill Kahn, and Todd

Jick of the Brookline Circle, now in its third decade of searching for joy and

meaning in lives devoted to the study of organizations.

Outside the United States, we are grateful to Poul Erik Mouritzen in

Denmark; Rolf Kaelin, Cüno Pumpin, and Peter Weisman in Switzerland;

Preface

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xv

Ilpo Linko in Finland; Tom Case in Brazil; Einar Plyhn and Haakon Gran in

Norway; Peter Normark and Dag Bjorkegren in Sweden; Ching-Shiun Chung

in Taiwan; Anastasia Vitkovskaya in Russia; and H.R.H. Prince Philipp von und

zu Lichtenstein.

Closer to home, Lee is very grateful to physical therapist Scott Knoche, whose

intervention in a debilitating case of cervical radiculopathy produced near-

miraculous results. Lee also owes more than he can say to Bruce Kay, whose

genial and unfl appable approach to work, coupled with high levels of organi-

zation and follow-through, have all had a wonderfully positive impact since he

took on the challenge of bringing a modicum of order and sanity to Lee’s pro-

fessional functioning. We also continue to be grateful for the long-term support

and friendship of Linda Corey, who still serves as our resident representative at

Harvard, and Homa Aminmadani, who now lives part-time in Teheran.

Couples of the Edna Ranch Vintners Guild—the Schnackenbergs, Pescatores,

Hayneses, and Beadles—link efforts with Terry in exploring the ups, downs, and

mysteries of the art and science of wine making. Three professional wine makers,

Bob Schiebelhut of Tolosa, Romeo “Meo” Zuech of Piedra Creek Winery, and

Brett Escalera of Consilience and TresAnelli, offer advice that applies to leader-

ship as well as wine making. Meo reminds us, “Never overmanage your grapes,”

and Brett prefaces answers to all questions with “It all depends.”

We’re delighted to be well into the third decade of our partnership with

Jossey-Bass. We’re grateful to the many friends who have helped us over the

years, including Bill Henry, Steve Piersanti, Lynn Lychow, Bill Hicks, Debra

Hunter, Cedric Crocker, Byron Schneider, and many others. In recent years,

Kathe Sweeney has been a wonderful editor and even better friend, and we’re

delighted to be working with her again. Rob Brandt has done superb work keep-

ing us organized enough for the editorial process to move forward. Beverly

Peavler’s keen eye, editorial judgment, and willingness to crack the whip gently

have made for a much stronger manuscript.

We received many valuable suggestions from a diverse, knowledgeable, and

talented team of outside reviewers: Hannah Carter (University of Florida),

Matthew Eriksen (University of Tampa), James “Jae” Espey (Clemson), Chris Foley

(University of Pennsylvania), Frank Hamilton (Eckerd College), Robert “Bob” Innes

(Vanderbilt), and Kristi Loescher (University of Texas, Austin). We did not succeed

in implementing all of their many excellent ideas, and they did not always agree

among themselves, but the manuscript benefi ted in many ways from their input.

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xvi

Lee’s six children—Edward, Shelley, Lori, Scott, Christopher, and Bradley—all

continue to enrich his life and contribute to his growth. He still wishes he could

give them as much as they have given him. Brad has become a creative source

of new ways to think about reframing, and Chris served as our consultant on

contemporary music. Janie Deal Rice has delighted her father in becoming a fas-

cinating and independent entrepreneur, running (with husband Jake, also mayor

of Hagerman, Idaho) a catering business and bed and breakfast, Ein Tisch Inn.

Janie has a rare talent of almost magically transforming simple ingredients into

fi ne cuisine. Special mention also goes to Terry’s parents, Bob and Dorothy Deal.

His father is deceased and his mother is now in her nineties, but both lived long

enough to be pleasantly surprised that their oft-wayward son could write a book.

We dedicate the book to our wives, who have more than earned all the credit

and appreciation that we can give them. Joan Gallos, Lee’s spouse and closest

colleague, combines intellectual challenge and critique with support and love.

She has been an active collaborator in developing our ideas, and her teaching

manual for previous editions was a frame-breaking model for the genre. Her

contributions have become so integrated into our own thinking that we are no

longer able to thank her for all the ways that the book has gained from her wis-

dom and insights.

Sandy Deal’s psychological training enables her to approach the fi eld of orga-

nizations with a distinctive and illuminating slant. Her successful practice pro-

duces examples that have helped us make some even stronger connections to the

concepts of clinical psychology. She is one of the most gifted diagnosticians in

the fi eld, as well as a delightful partner whose love and support over the long run

have made all the difference. She is a rare combination of courage and caring,

intimacy and independence, responsibility and playfulness.

To Joan and Sandy, thanks again. As the years accumulate, we love you even

more.

June 2008 Lee G. Bolman

Kansas City, Missouri

Terrence E. Deal

San Luis Obispo, California

Preface

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PA RT O N E

Making Sense of Organizations

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3

Introduction The Power of Reframing

Bob Nardelli expected to win the three - way competition to succeed management legend Jack Welch as CEO of General Electric. He was stunned when Welch told him late in 2000 that he ’ d

never run GE. The next day, though, he found out that he ’ d won the

consolation prize. A director of Home Depot called to tell him, “ You

probably could not feel worse right now, but you ’ ve just been hit in

the ass with a golden horseshoe ” (Sellers, 2002, p. 1).

Within a week, Nardelli hired on as Home Depot ’ s new CEO. He was a big

change from the free - spirited founders, who had built the wildly successful

retailer on the foundation of an uninhibited, entrepreneurial “ orange ” culture.

Managers ran their stores using “ tribal knowledge, ” and customers counted

on friendly, knowledgeable staff for helpful advice. Nardelli revamped Home

Depot with a heavy dose of command - and - control management, discipline,

and metrics. Almost all the top executives and many of the frontline managers

were replaced, often by ex - military hires. At fi rst, it seemed to work — profi ts

improved, and management experts hailed the “ remarkable set of tools ” Nardelli

used to produce “ deep, lasting culture change ” (Charan, 2006, p. 1). But the last-

ing change included a steady decline in employee morale and customer service.

Where the founders had successfully promoted “ make love to the customers, ”

Nardelli ’ s toe - the - line stance pummeled Home Depot to last place in its industry

for customer satisfaction.

O N E

c h a p t e r

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Reframing Organizations4

A growing chorus of critics harped about everything from the declining

stock price to Nardelli ’ s extraordinary $245 million in compensation. At Home

Depot ’ s 2006 shareholders ’ meeting, Nardelli hoped to keep naysayers at bay by

giving them little time to say anything and refusing to respond to anything they

did say: “ It was, as even Home Depot executives will concede, a 37 - minute fi asco.

In a basement hotel ballroom in Delaware, with the board nowhere in sight and

huge time displays on stage to cut off angry investors, Home Depot held a hasty

annual meeting last year that attendees alternately described as ‘ appalling ’ and

‘ arrogant ’ ” (Barbaro, 2007, p. C1). The outcry from shareholders and the busi-

ness press was scathing. Nardelli countered with metrics to show that all was well.

He seemed unaware or unconcerned that he had embarrassed his board, enraged

his shareholders, turned off his customers, and reinforced his reputation for arro-

gance and a tin ear. Nardelli abruptly left Home Depot at the beginning of 2007

(Grow, 2007).

Nardelli ’ s old boss, Jack Welch, called him the best operations manager he ’ d

ever seen. Yet, as talented and successful as he was, Nardelli fl amed out at Home

Depot because he was only seeing part of the picture. He was a victim of one

of the most common affl ictions of leaders: seeing an incomplete or distorted

picture as a result of overlooking or misinterpreting important signals. An exten-

sive literature on business blunders attests to the pervasiveness of this lost - at - sea

state (see, for example, Adler and Houghton, 1997; Feinberg and Tarrant, 1995;

Ricks, 1999; Sobel, 1999).

Enron ’ s demise provides another example of fl oundering in a fog. In its hey-

day, Enron proclaimed itself the “ World ’ s Leading Company ” — with some justi-

fi cation. Enron had been a perennial honoree on Fortune ’ s list of “ America ’ s Most

Admired Companies ” and was ranked as the “ most innovative ” six years in a row

(McLean, 2001, p. 60). Small wonder that CEO Kenneth W. Lay was among the

nation ’ s most admired and powerful business leaders. Lay and Enron were on a

roll. What could be wrong with such a big, profi table, innovative, fast - growing

company?

The trouble was that the books had been cooked, and the outside auditors

were asleep at the switch. In December 2001, Enron collapsed in history ’ s then -

largest corporate bankruptcy. In the space of a year, its stock plunged from

eighty dollars to eighty cents a share. Tens of billions of dollars in shareholder

wealth evaporated. More than four thousand people lost their jobs and, in many

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Introduction 5

cases, their savings and retirement funds. 1 The auditors also paid a steep price.

Andersen Worldwide, a hundred - year - old fi rm with a once - sterling reputation,

folded along with Enron.

What went wrong? After the cave - in, critics offered a profusion of plausible

explanations. Yet Enron ’ s leaders seemed shocked and baffl ed by the abrupt

free fall. Former CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling, regarded as the primary architect of

Enron ’ s high - fl ying culture, was described by associates as “ the ultimate con-

trol freak. The sort of hands - on corporate leader who kept his fi ngers on all the

pieces of the puzzle ” (Schwartz, 2002, p. C 1). Skilling resigned for unexplained

“ personal reasons ” only three months before Enron imploded. Many wondered

if he had jumped ship because he foresaw the iceberg looming dead ahead. But

after Enron ’ s crash, he claimed, “ I had no idea the company was in anything

but excellent shape ” (p. C 1). Ultimately, in October 2006, both he and Lay

were convicted of multiple counts of fraud for their role in Enron ’ s disintegra-

tion. During their trials both steadfastly contended that they had done nothing

wrong. Enron, they insisted, had been a sound and successful company brought

down by forces they either weren ’ t aware of or couldn ’ t control. Despite public

opinion to the contrary, both seemed to genuinely believe that they were victims

rather than villains.

Skilling and Lay were both viewed as brilliant men, yet both sought refuge in

cluelessness. It is easy to argue they claimed ignorance only because they had no

better defense. Even so, they were out of touch at a deeper level. Lay and Skilling

were passionate about building Enron into the “ World ’ s Leading Company. ”

They staunchly believed that they had created a mold - breaking company with

a revolutionary business model. They knew risks were involved, but you have

to bend or break old rules when you ’ re exploring uncharted territory. Investors

bought the stock, and business professors wrote articles about the management

lessons behind Enron ’ s success. The snare was that Lay and Skilling had misread

their world and had no clue that they were destroying the company they loved.

The curse of cluelessness is not limited to corporations — government pro-

vides its share of examples. In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated New

Orleans. Levees failed, and much of the city was underwater. Tens of thousands

of people, many poor and black, found themselves stranded for days in desperate

circumstances. Government agencies bumbled aimlessly, and help was slow to

arrive. As Americans watched television footage of the chaos, they were stunned

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Reframing Organizations6

to hear the nation ’ s top disaster offi cial, the secretary of Homeland Security, tell

reporters that he “ had no reports ” of things viewers had seen with their own

eyes. It seemed he might have been better informed if he had relied on CNN

rather than his own agency.

Homeland Security, Enron, and Home Depot represent only a few examples

of an endemic challenge: how to know if you ’ re getting the right picture or

tuning in to the wrong channel. Managers often fail this test. Cluelessness is a

fact of life, even for very smart people. Sometimes, the information they need

is fuzzy or hard to get. Other times, they ignore or misinterpret information at

hand. Decision makers too often lock themselves into fl awed ways of making

sense of their circumstances. For Lay and Skilling, it was a mistaken view that

“ we ’ re different from everyone else — we ’ re smarter. ” For Nardelli, it was his con-

viction that his metrics gave him the full picture.

In the discussion that follows, we explore the origins and symptoms of clue-

lessness. We introduce reframing — the conceptual core of the book and our basic

prescription for sizing things up. Reframing requires an ability to think about

situations in more than one way. We then introduce four distinct frames —

structural, human resource, political, and symbolic — each logical and powerful

in its own right. Together, they help us decipher the full array of signifi cant clues,

capturing a more comprehensive picture of what ’ s going on and what to do.

VIRTUES AND DRAWBACKS OF ORGANIZED ACTIVITY Before the emergence of the railroad and the telegraph in the mid - nineteenth

century, individuals managed their own affairs — America had no multiunit

businesses and no need for professional managers (Chandler, 1977). Explosive

technological and social changes have produced a world that is far more inter-

connected, frantic, and complicated than it was in those days. Humans struggle

to catch up, at continual risk of drowning in complexity that puts us “ in over our

heads ” (Kegan, 1998). Forms of management and organization effective a few

years ago are now obsolete. S é rieyx (1993) calls it the organizational big bang:

“ The information revolution, the globalization of economies, the proliferation

of events that undermine all our certainties, the collapse of the grand ideologies,

the arrival of the CNN society which transforms us into an immense, planetary

village — all these shocks have overturned the rules of the game and suddenly

turned yesterday ’ s organizations into antiques ” (pp. 14 – 15).

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Introduction 7

The proliferation of complex organizations has made most human activities

collective endeavors. We grow up in families and then start our own families.

We work for business or government. We learn in schools and universities. We

worship in synagogues, churches, and mosques. We play sports in teams, fran-

chises, and leagues. We join clubs and associations. Many of us will grow old and

die in hospitals or nursing homes. We build these human enterprises because of

what they can do for us. They offer goods, entertainment, social services, health

care, and almost everything else that we use, consume, or enjoy.

All too often, however, we experience a darker side. Organizations can

frustrate and exploit people. Too often, products are fl awed, families are dysfunc-

tional, students fail to learn, patients get worse, and policies backfi re. Work often

has so little meaning that jobs offer nothing beyond a paycheck. If we can believe

mission statements and public pronouncements, every company these days aims

to nurture its employees and delight its customers. But many miss the mark.

Schools are blamed for social ills, universities are said to close more minds than

they open, and government is criticized for red tape and rigidity. The private

sector has its own problems. Automakers drag their feet about recalling faulty

cars. Producers of food and pharmaceuticals make people sick with tainted

products. Software companies deliver bugs and “ vaporware. ” Industrial accidents

dump chemicals, oil, toxic gas, and radioactive materials into the air and water.

Too often, corporate greed and insensitivity create havoc for individual lives and

communities. The bottom line: we seem hard - pressed to manage organizations

so that their virtues exceed their vices. The big question: Why?

The Curse of Cluelessness Year after year, the best and brightest managers maneuver or meander their way

to the apex of enterprises great and small. Then they do really dumb things.

How do bright people turn out so dim? One theory is that they ’ re too smart for

their own good. Feinberg and Tarrant (1995) label it the “ self - destructive intelli-

gence syndrome. ” They argue that smart people act stupid because of personality

fl aws — things like pride, arrogance, and unconscious desires to fail. It ’ s true that

psychological fl aws have been apparent in such brilliant, self - destructive individ-

uals as Adolph Hitler, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. But on the whole, intel-

lectually challenged people have as many psychological problems as the best and

brightest. The primary source of cluelessness is not personality or IQ. We ’ re at sea

whenever our sense - making efforts fail us. If our image of a situation is wrong,

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Reframing Organizations8

our actions will be wide of the mark as well. But if we don ’ t realize our image is

incorrect, we won ’ t understand why we don ’ t get what we hoped for. So, like Bob

Nardelli, we insist we ’ re right even when we ’ re off track.

Vaughan (1995), in trying to unravel the causes of the 1986 disaster that destroyed

the Challenger space shuttle and killed its crew, underscored how hard it is for peo-

ple to surrender their entrenched mental models: “ They puzzle over contradictory

evidence, but usually succeed in pushing it aside — until they come across a piece

of evidence too fascinating to ignore, too clear to misperceive, too painful to deny,

which makes vivid still other signals they do not want to see, forcing them to alter

and surrender the world - view they have so meticulously constructed ” (p. 235).

All of us sometimes construct our own psychic prisons, and then lock our-

selves in. When we don ’ t know what to do, we do more of what we know. This

helps explain a number of unsettling reports from the managerial front lines:

Hogan, Curphy, and Hogan (1994) estimate that the skills of one - half to

three - quarters of American managers are inadequate for the demands of their

jobs. But most probably don ’ t realize it: Kruger and Dunning (1999) found

that the more incompetent people are, the more they overestimate their per-

formance, partly because they don ’ t know what good performance looks like.

About half of the high - profi le senior executives companies hire fail within

two years, according to a 2006 study (Burns and Kiley, 2007).

In 2003, the United States was again the world ’ s strongest economy, yet cor-

porate America set a new record for failure with two of history ’ s top three

bankruptcies — WorldCom at $104 billion and Conseco at $61 billion. Charan

and Useem (2002) trace such failures to a single source: “ managerial error ” (p. 52).

Small wonder that so many organizational veterans nod assent to Scott

Adams ’ s admittedly unscientifi c “ Dilbert principle ” : “ the most ineffective work-

ers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage —

management ” (1996, p. 14).

Strategies for Improving Organizations: The Track Record We have certainly made an effort to improve organizations. Legions of managers

report to work each day with that hope in mind. Authors and consultants spin

out a fl ood of new answers and promising solutions. Policymakers develop laws

and regulations to guide organizations on the right path.

•

•

•

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Introduction 9

The most common improvement strategy is upgrading management. Modern

mythology promises that organizations will work splendidly if well managed.

Managers are supposed to have the big picture and look out for their organiza-

tion ’ s overall health and productivity. Unfortunately, they have not always been

equal to the task, even when armed with computers, information systems, fl ow-

charts, quality programs, and a panoply of other tools and techniques. They go

forth with this rational arsenal to try to tame our wild and primitive workplaces.

Yet in the end, irrational forces too often prevail.

When managers cannot solve problems, they hire consultants. Today, the

number and variety of advice givers is overwhelming. Most have a specialty:

strategy, technology, quality, fi nance, marketing, mergers, human resource man-

agement, executive search, outplacement, coaching, organization development,

and many more. For every managerial challenge, there is a consultant willing to

offer assistance — at a price.

For all their sage advice and remarkable fees, consultants have yet to make

a signifi cant dent in problems plaguing organizations — businesses, public agen-

cies, military services, hospitals, and schools. Sometimes the consultants are

more hindrance than help, though they often lament clients ’ failure to imple-

ment their profound insights. McKinsey & Co., “ the high priest of high - level

consulting ” (Byrne, 2002a, p. 66), worked so closely with Enron that managing

partner Rajat Gupta sent his chief lawyer to Houston after Enron ’ s collapse to see

if his fi rm might be in legal trouble. The lawyer reported that McKinsey was safe,

and a relieved Gupta insisted bravely, “ We stand by all the work we did. Beyond

that, we can only empathize with the trouble they are going through. It ’ s a sad

thing to see ” (p. 68).

When managers and consultants fail, government frequently responds with

legislation, policies, and regulations. Constituents badger elected offi cials to

“ do something ” about a variety of ills: pollution, dangerous products, hazard-

ous working conditions, and chaotic schools, to name a few. Governing bod-

ies respond by making “ policy. ” A sizable body of research records a continuing

saga of perverse ways in which the implementation process distorts policymak-

ers ’ intentions (Bardach, 1977; Elmore, 1978; Freudenberg and Gramling, 1994;

Peters, 1999; Pressman and Wildavsky, 1973). Policymakers, for example, have

been trying for decades to reform U.S. public schools. Billions of taxpayer dol-

lars have been spent. The result? About the same as America ’ s switch to the

metric system. In the 1950s Congress passed legislation mandating adoption

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Reframing Organizations10

of the metric standards and measures. To date, progress has been minimal (see

Chapter Eighteen ). If you know what a hectare is, or can visualize the size of

a three - hundred - gram package of crackers, you ’ re ahead of most Americans.

Legislators did not factor into their solution what it would take to get their deci-

sion implemented.

In short, diffi culties surrounding improvement strategies are well docu-

mented. Exemplary intentions produce more costs than benefi ts. Problems

outlast solutions. It is as if tens of thousands of hard - working, highly moti-

vated pioneers keep hacking at a swamp that persistently produces new growth

faster than the old can be cleared. To be sure, there are reasons for optimism.

Organizations have changed about as much in the past few decades as in the

preceding century. To survive, they had to. Revolutionary changes in tech-

nology, the rise of the global economy, and shortened product life cycles have

spawned a fl urry of activity to design faster, more fl exible organizational forms.

New organizational models fl ourish in companies such as Pret à Manger (the

socially conscious U.K. sandwich shops), Google (a hot American company), and

Novo - Nordisk (a Danish pharmaceutical company that includes environmen-

tal and social metrics in its bottom line). The dispersed collection of enthusiasts

and volunteers who provide content for Wikipedia and the far - fl ung network of

software engineers who have developed the Linux operating system provide dra-

matic examples of possibilities in the digital world. But despite such successes,

failures are still too common. The nagging key question: How can leaders and

managers improve the odds for themselves as well for their organizations?

FRAMING Goran Carstedt, the talented executive who led the turnaround of Volvo ’ s French

division in the 1980s, got to the heart of a challenge managers face every day:

“ The world simply can ’ t be made sense of, facts can ’ t be organized, unless you

have a mental model to begin with. That theory does not have to be the right

one, because you can alter it along the way as information comes in. But you

can ’ t begin to learn without some concept that gives you expectations or

hypotheses ” (Hampden - Turner, 1992, p. 167). Such mental models have many

labels — maps, mind - sets, schema, and cognitive lenses, to name a few. 2 Following

the work of Goffman, Dewey, and others, we have chosen the label frames. In

describing frames, we deliberately mix metaphors, referring to them as windows,

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Introduction 11

maps, tools, lenses, orientations, fi lters, prisms, and perspectives, because all

these images capture part of the idea we want to convey.

A frame is a mental model — a set of ideas and assumptions — that you carry in

your head to help you understand and negotiate a particular “ territory. ” A good

frame makes it easier to know what you are up against and, ultimately, what you

can do about it. Frames are vital because organizations don ’ t come with comput-

erized navigation systems to guide you turn - by - turn to your destination. Instead,

managers need to develop and carry accurate maps in their heads.

Such maps make it possible to register and assemble key bits of perceptual

data into a coherent pattern — a picture of what ’ s happening. When it works fl u-

idly, the process takes the form of “ rapid cognition, ” the process that Gladwell

(2005) examines in his best - seller Blink. He describes it as a gift that makes it

possible to read “ deeply into the narrowest slivers of experience. In basketball,

the player who can take in and comprehend all that is happening around him or

her is said to have ‘ court sense ’ ” (p. 44).

Dane and Pratt (2007) describe four key characteristics of this intuitive

“ blink ” process:

It is nonconscious — you can do it without thinking about it and without

knowing how you did it.

It is very fast — the process often occurs almost instantly.

It is holistic — you see a coherent, meaningful pattern.

It results in “ affective judgments ” — thought and feeling work together so you

feel confi dent that you know what is going on and what needs to be done.

The essence of this process is matching situational clues with a well - learned

mental framework — a “ deeply - held, nonconscious category or pattern ” (Dane

and Pratt, 2007, p. 37). This is the key skill that Simon and Chase (1973) found

in chess masters — they could instantly recognize more than fi fty thousand con-

fi gurations of a chessboard. This ability enables grand masters to play twenty -

fi ve lesser opponents simultaneously, beating all of them while spending only

seconds on each move.

The same process of rapid cognition is at work in the diagnostic categories

physicians rely on to evaluate patients ’ symptoms. The Hippocratic Oath —

“ Above all else, do no harm ” — requires physicians to be confi dent that they know

what they ’ re up against before prescribing a remedy. Their skilled judgment

•

•

•

•

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Reframing Organizations12

draws on a repertoire of categories and clues, honed by training and experience.

But sometimes they get it wrong. One source of error is anchoring: doctors, like

leaders, sometimes lock on to the fi rst answer that seems right, even if a few

messy facts don ’ t quite fi t. “ Your mind plays tricks on you because you see only

the landmarks you expect to see and neglect those that should tell you that in

fact you ’ re still at sea ” (Groopman, 2007, p. 65).

Treating individual patients is hard, but managers have an even tougher chal-

lenge because organizations are more complex and the diagnostic categories

less well defi ned. That means that the quality of your judgments depends on

the information you have at hand, your mental maps, and how well you have

learned to use them. Good maps align with the terrain and provide enough

detail to keep you on course. If you ’ re trying to fi nd your way around downtown

San Francisco, a map of Chicago won ’ t help, nor one of California ’ s freeways. In

the same way, different circumstances require different approaches.

Even with the right map, getting around will be slow and awkward if you have

to stop and study at every intersection. The ultimate goal is fl uid expertise, the

sort of know - how that lets you think on the fl y and navigate organizations as

easily as you drive home on a familiar route. You can make decisions quickly and

automatically because you know at a glance where you are and what you need to

do next.

There is no shortcut to developing this kind of expertise. It takes effort, time,

practice, and feedback. Some of the effort has to go into learning frames and

the ideas behind them. Equally important is putting the ideas to use. Experience,

one often hears, is the best teacher, but that is only true if you refl ect on it and

extract its lessons. McCall, Lombardo, and Morrison (1988, p. 122) found that

a key quality among successful executives was an “ extraordinary tenacity in

extracting something worthwhile from their experience and in seeking experi-

ences rich in opportunities for growth. ”

Frame Breaking Framing involves matching mental maps to circumstances. Reframing requires

another skill — the ability to break frames. Why do that? A news story from the

summer of 2007 illustrates. Imagine yourself among a group of friends enjoying

dinner on the patio of a Washington, D.C., home. An armed, hooded intruder

suddenly appears and points a gun at the head of a fourteen - year - old guest.

“ Give me your money, ” he says, “ or I ’ ll start shooting. ” If you ’ re at that table,

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Introduction 13

what do you do? You could try to break frame. That ’ s exactly what Cristina “ Cha

Cha ” Rowan did.

“ We were just fi nishing dinner, ” [she] told the man. “ Why don ’ t you

have a glass of wine with us? ”

The intruder had a sip of their Chateau Malescot St - Exup é ry and

said, “ Damn, that ’ s good wine. ”

The girl ’ s father . . . told the intruder to take the whole glass, and

Rowan offered him the bottle.

The robber, with his hood down, took another sip and a bite of

Camembert cheese. He put the gun in his sweatpants . . . .

“ I think I may have come to the wrong house, ” the intruder said

before apologizing. “ Can I get a hug? ”

Rowan . . . stood up and wrapped her arms around the would - be

robber. The other guests followed.

“ Can we have a group hug? ” the man asked. The fi ve adults

complied.

The man walked away a few moments later with a fi lled crystal

wine glass, but nothing was stolen, and no one was hurt. Police were

called to the scene and found the empty wine glass unbroken on the

ground in an alley behind the house [Associated Press, 2007].

In one stroke, Cha Cha Rowan redefi ned the situation from “ we might all

be killed ” to “ let ’ s offer our guest some wine. ” Like her, artistic managers

frame and reframe experience fl uidly, sometimes with extraordinary results.

A critic once commented to C é zanne, “ That doesn ’ t look anything like a sunset. ”

Pondering his painting, C é zanne responded, “ Then you don ’ t see sunsets the way

I do. ” Like C é zanne and Rowan, leaders have to fi nd new ways to shift points of

view when needed.

Like maps, frames are both windows on a territory and tools for navigation.

Every tool has distinctive strengths and limitations. The right tool makes a job

easier, but the wrong one gets in the way. Tools thus become useful only when

a situation is sized up accurately. Furthermore, one or two tools may suffi ce for

simple jobs, but not for more complex undertakings. Managers who master the

hammer and expect all problems to behave like nails fi nd life at work confus-

ing and frustrating. The wise manager, like a skilled carpenter, wants at hand

a diverse collection of high - quality implements. Experienced managers also

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Reframing Organizations14

understand the difference between possessing a tool and knowing when and how

to use it. Only experience and practice bring the skill and wisdom to take stock

of a situation and use suitable tools with confi dence and skill.

The Four Frames Only in the last half century have social scientists devoted much time or atten-

tion to developing ideas about how organizations work, how they should work,

or why they often fail. In the social sciences, several major schools of thought

have evolved. Each has its own concepts and assumptions, espousing a particu-

lar view of how to bring social collectives under control. Each tradition claims a

scientifi c foundation. But a theory can easily become a theology that preaches

a single, parochial scripture. Modern managers must sort through a cacophony

of voices and visions for help.

Sifting through competing voices is one of our goals in writing this book. We

are not searching for the one best way. Rather, we consolidate major schools of

organizational thought into a comprehensive framework encompassing four per-

spectives. Our goal is usable knowledge. We have sought ideas powerful enough to

capture the subtlety and complexity of life in organizations yet simple enough

to be useful. Our distillation has drawn much from the social sciences — particularly

sociology, psychology, political science, and anthropology. Thousands of managers

and scores of organizations have helped us sift through social science research to

identify ideas that work in practice. We have sorted insights from both research and

practice into four major frames — structural, human resource, political, and sym-

bolic (Bolman and Deal, 1984). Each is used by academics and practitioners alike

and found on the shelves of libraries and bookstores.

Four Frames: As Near as Your Local Bookstore Imagine a harried exec- utive browsing in the management section of her local bookseller on a brisk

winter day in 2008. She worries about her company ’ s fl agging performance and

fears that her job might soon disappear. She spots the black - on - white spine of

The Last Link: Closing the Gap That Is Sabotaging Your Business (Crawford, 2007).

Flipping through the pages, she notices chapter titles like “ Data, ” “ Discipline, ”

and “ Linking It Together. ” She is drawn to phrases such as “ It all comes down to

one thing, doesn ’ t it. Are you making your numbers? ” and “ a new formula for

21st - century business success. ” “ This stuff may be good, ” the executive tells her-

self, “ but it seems a little stiff. ”

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Introduction 15

Next, she fi nds The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything

(Covey and Merrill, 2006). Glancing inside, she reads, “ Take communication. In

a high - trust relationship, you can say the wrong thing and people will still get

your meaning. In a low - trust relationship, you can be very measured, even pre-

cise, and they ’ ll still misinterpret you. ” “ Sounds nice, ” she mumbles, “ but a little

touchy - feely. Let ’ s look for something more down to earth. ”

Continuing her search, she picks up Secrets to Winning at Offi ce Politics: How

to Achieve Your Goals and Increase Your Infl uence at Work (McIntyre, 2005).

She scans chapter titles: “ Forget Fairness, Look for Leverage, ” “ Political Games:

Moves and Countermoves, ” “ Power, Power, Who Has the Power? ” She chews over

the book ’ s key message — that we all engage in politics every day at work, even

though we don ’ t like to admit it. “ Does it really all come down to politics? ” she

wonders. “ It seems too cynical. Isn ’ t there something more uplifting? ”

She spots The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into

Extraordinary (Michelli, 2006). She ponders the fi ve basic principles the

book credits for the success of Starbucks: Make it your own. Everything mat-

ters. Surprise and delight. Embrace resistance. Leave your mark. She reads that

these principles “ remind all of us — you, me, the janitor, and the CEO — that we

are responsible for unleashing a passion that ripples outward from behind the

scenes, through the customer experience, and ultimately out into our communi-

ties ” (p. 1). She wonders if such fervor can be sustained for long.

In her local bookstore, our worried executive has rediscovered the four

perspectives at the heart of this book. Four distinct metaphors capture the

essence of each of the books she examined: organizations as factories, families,

jungles, and temples or carnivals.

Factories The fi rst book she stumbled on, The Last Link, provides counsel on how to think clearly and get organized, extending a long tradition that treats

an organization as a factory. Drawing from sociology, economics, and man-

agement science, the structural frame depicts a rational world and emphasizes

organizational architecture, including goals, structure, technology, specialized

roles, coordination, and formal relationships. Structures — commonly depicted

by organization charts — are designed to fi t an organization ’ s environment and

technology. Organizations allocate responsibilities ( “ division of labor ” ). They

then create rules, policies, procedures, systems, and hierarchies to coordinate

diverse activities into a unifi ed effort. Problems arise when structure doesn ’ t line

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Reframing Organizations16

up well with current circumstances. At that point, some form of reorganization

or redesign is needed to remedy the mismatch.

Families Our executive next encountered The SPEED of Trust, with its focus on interpersonal relationships. The human resource perspective, rooted in psy-

chology, sees an organization as an extended family, made up of individuals with

needs, feelings, prejudices, skills, and limitations. From a human resource view,

the key challenge is to tailor organizations to individuals — fi nding ways for peo-

ple to get the job done while feeling good about themselves and their work.

Jungles Secrets to Winning at Offi ce Politics is a contemporary application of the political frame, rooted in the work of political scientists. It sees organizations

as arenas, contests, or jungles. Parochial interests compete for power and scarce

resources. Confl ict is rampant because of enduring differences in needs, perspec-

tives, and lifestyles among contending individuals and groups. Bargaining, nego-

tiation, coercion, and compromise are a normal part of everyday life. Coalitions

form around specifi c interests and change as issues come and go. Problems

arise when power is concentrated in the wrong places or is so broadly dispersed

that nothing gets done. Solutions arise from political skill and acumen — as

Machiavelli suggested centuries ago in The Prince ([1514] 1961).

Temples and Carnivals Finally, our executive encountered The Starbucks Experience, with its emphasis on culture, symbols, and spirit as keys to organi-

zational success. The symbolic lens, drawing on social and cultural anthropol-

ogy, treats organizations as temples, tribes, theaters, or carnivals. It abandons

assumptions of rationality prominent in other frames and depicts organizations

as cultures, propelled by rituals, ceremonies, stories, heroes, and myths rather

than rules, policies, and managerial authority. Organization is also theater:

actors play their roles in the drama while audiences form impressions from what

they see on stage. Problems arise when actors don ’ t play their parts appropri-

ately, symbols lose their meaning, or ceremonies and rituals lose their potency.

We rekindle the expressive or spiritual side of organizations through the use of

symbol, myth, and magic.