Balancing Differentiation with Integration

Given the four basic organizational design challenges, choose one and look for a quote from a management or leadership guru -preferably one you have been introduced to through your

readings and class content (such as Drucker, Deming, or Senge)– that you believe sums up the conflict implicit to the design challenge you chose and/or the opportunities that you recognize as being an integral part of it from your perspective as leader. In what ways does your organization manage this balance?

Present the quote, attribute it, and then give an explanation as to how this quote addresses in

some way the dilemma confronting your organization and your professional context.

Management or Leadership Guru:

1. Edward Deming wrote, “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets.”

Peter Drucker noted that, “A man should never be appointed to a managerial position if his vision

focuses on people’s weaknesses rather than on their strengths. The man who always knows what

people cannot do, but never sees what they can do, will undermine the spirit of the organization.”

Peter Senge proposed that, “When people in organizations focus only on their position, they have

little sense of responsibility for the results produced when all positions interact.”

These are four basic organizational design challenges according to Gareth Morgan

1. Determining the Level of Vertical and Horizontal Differentiation
2. Balancing Differentiation with Integration
3. Balancing Centralization with Decentralization
4. Balancing Standardization with Mutual Adjustment