WEISBORD’S SIX BOX MODEL

INTRODUCTION

• Introduced by Marvin Weisbord in 1976.• Focus is on organization as a whole.• Advocates viewing an organization from both formal and informal

perspectives.• Identifies six interrelated processes inherent in all organizations.• Weisbord notes that process issues usually are systemic (part of the

organization's management culture), and that this culture can be described in two ways:– The "fit" between organization and environment :- The extent to which

purposes and structure support high performance and ability to change with conditions; and/or

– The "fit" between individual and organization :- The extent to which people support or subvert formal mechanisms intended to carry out an organization's purposes.

• The circle encompassing the boxes represents the external environment.

• The bi-directional arrows depict the input and output representations.

• It is important to understand the formal systems (the structure) and the informal systems (the culture) of an organization.

• Weisbord emphasized the importance of gaps between the formal and the informal aspect of structure and called for action to reduce the gap (this action represents the process side), so as to function effectively.

PUPROSES

• When we examine an organization's purposes, we must be concerned with both the formal goal clarity and the informal commitment to those goals.

• Goal clarity must exist before goal agreement is possible.• People's purposes are some balance between "what we have to

do" and "what we want to do" (for growth, self-expression, idealism, and so on). The result is priorities.

• Ill-defined or overly broad purposes create anxiety. When people disagree on priorities, conflict exists.

• The questions to be asked are:– What is the degree of clarity in the organizational members’ minds

regarding the organization’s mission?– What is the extent of support by them for the organization’s mission?

STRUCTURE

• This deals with the adequacy and fitment of the internal structure with the organization’s mission.

• When we study structure, we need to be aware of the formal organizational chart and the informal ways in which work actually is accomplished (or not accomplished).

• A consultant must look for the fit between the goal (output) and the structure producing it (formal system), then notice how the work actually is assigned and performed and how people use or subvert the organizational chart.

RELATIONSHIPS

• The formal aspects of relationships involve who deals, with whom on what issues; the informal aspects involve the quality of those relationships.

• Weisbord discussed relationship in three fold:– Between individuals;– Between and among departments, units and groups;– Between the person vis a vis his job.

• He stressed on the quality of relationships, which are essential before the model is applied for managing and dealing with conflicts.

REWARDS

• When examining an organization's rewards or incentives system, one must consider both – The explicit system of salaries, wages, bonuses, and the like, and – The more implicit rewards of how members of the organization respond

emotionally to successful task accomplishment and how much support for achievement there is in the system.

• Having a formal reward system does not guarantee that people will feel or act as if they are rewarded.

• Studies of motivation indicate that a reward system that pays only salary and fringe benefits is inadequate unless people value their work and perceive in it a chance to grow.

• The fit between person and organization improves when there is a chance for growth, responsibility, and achievement.

HELPFUL MECHANISMS

• Mechanisms are the procedures, policies, meetings, systems, committees, bulletin boards, memos, reports, spaces, information, and so on, that facilitate efforts related to the contents of all the other boxes.

• Mechanisms typically facilitate problem solving, planning, budgeting, control, and measurement (information).

• An effective organization continually revises its mechanisms as the need arises.

• The formal aspects of helpful mechanisms involve the establishment and management of these functions (for example, rational planning, and budgeting, control, and measurement systems).

• The informal aspects involve how well, if at all, these mechanisms are used. This aspect includes corrective feedback.

LEADERSHIP

• The leader’s main responsibility is to overlook and supervise the effective functioning of all the boxes and maintain a balance among them.

• In the area of leadership, one needs to note both what the management responsibilities of the leaders are and how effectively they carry out these responsibilities.

• The four essential leadership tasks seem to be – defining purposes, – embodying purposes in programs, – defending institutional integrity, and – managing internal conflict.

STRENGHTS AND CRITICISM

STRENGHTS• The model gives due importance to leadership, which represents

the coordinating function.• Useful for organizations with less sophistication with respect to

their systemic thinking and the larger complexities of organizational dynamics.

CRITICISMS• Oversimplification: In real life situations, organizations are too

complex to be represented by only six categories.• Insufficiency: Deeper and more complicated diagnoses requires

more detailed model.• Inadequacy: The relationship between ‘purposes’ and other boxes

(with exceptions to relationships and structure) are inadequately explained.