A Road map to a relevant and performing organization.

Introduction

When organisations begin with a clear picture of their contribution to the world and why it matters, they establish a destination. The purpose of this essay is to outline some elements required to aid in achieving a relevant and performing organisation which will eventually define its processes.

This roadmap to a relevant and performing organisation will entail the importance of strategic thinking, the practical application, leadership and management, output and outcomes, and finally the change in an organisation. Creating a roadmap is an important step in building a successful organisation. This includes visualisation of your organisation's major objectives and strategies. It will give a long view of where your organisation is going and how it will finally reach there. Also, it will serve as a communication tool and a high-level document that will help in the articulation of strategic thinking.

Abstract

A relevant and performing organisation (RPO) shows how an organisation must relate its intent, resources, and intelligence to its purpose to create a RPO (Hendrikz 2019).

An organised group of individuals with a specific purpose, and who co-ordinates their activity from within an organisation (Market Business News nd). In short, they work together towards a common goal or purpose. Therefore, organisational performance will relate to how successful this group of people is with a particular purpose perform a task or function.

Planning ahead as an organisation and utilising technology properly helps increase efficiency. Successful organisations with high profits and good reputations are as a result of sharing common characteristics that almost guarantee a certain level of achievement (Windermere 2022). Such traits typically involve the efficiency level of the processes, the people who run the organisation, the business plans they follow and how well they interact with their customer base. These traits of efficiency lead to being able to maintain a high level of productivity with positive outcomes whilst reducing costs.

According to Cornett (2019) organisational success is dependent on a numerous internal and external factor. This is achieved by optimizing three components, including structure, talent, and behaviour. It does not matter how much talent one may have in an organisation, as long as the right people don't have the authority to execute their roles properly, they will not be able to fulfil their potential. Thus, structure will crop in with its two criteria including aligning with the strategy and providing the appropriate authority. As a result, a clear structure will allow organisations to work more effectively towards a common goal. Most importantly an organisation relies on unlocking the capacity of its people (Continual Impact 2022).

Background

Hypothesis 2x is the basis of Orgtology – the science of organisation. It states that an organisation can only exist if activity interacts through relations and relationships (Hendrikz 2020). Furthermore, this interaction is a cycle of projecting and receiving, thus leading to activity becoming reciprocal. Through hypothesis 2x we can study the dual nature of an organisation. This study is called orgamatics. We can also study the abstract part of an organisation, which we call the X-factor. This study is called organamics. Through the theories of orgamatics (see table) and organamics together with their constructs and dynamics we can understand the relevance and performance of an organisation.

Orgamatics Theories

An organisation is referred to as being effective when it achieves the desired output as by the management, earns profit for investors, offers satisfactory service to clients and has a growth potential and development (MBA Knowledge Base 2021).

Although organisations undergo change regularly as technologies advance and businesses grow and develop, they are able to survive chaotic times due to their adaptability to change (Kelchner 2018). However, employee involvement in the change process is an effective management technique which provides a sense of control over the process which can help allay employee fears. 

The X-Factor

According to Hendrikz (2020), the X refers to humans who are unpredictable, and thus make the organisation unique. Two different organisations can have the same operations, strategy, resources, and run within the same context and still produce different results. This is due to the humans behind it being unpredictable, diverse, and abstract. Low risk employees mostly do repetitive work since they run on process intelligence. It is therefore safe for organisations to have long term contracts with such low-risk employees.

Even if technology can do some of the repetitive work done by the employees, the organisation will still have a legal obligation to its employees and that's a risk to the organisation. It is therefore easy to replace such employees. On the other hand, those employees who hold the power to change an organisation, like the executives and senior managers are high risk employees as their work is project based, and their relevance thus dependent on the change they bring. Therefore, it is advisable that these employees hold short term employment contracts that run with the strategic period of the organisation.

Hypothesis

The basic assumption behind a relevant and performing organisation (RPO) according to Hendrikz, (2019) is, if two organisations with the same purpose yield different results, then it is its intent, resources, and intelligence that distinct them, because these are the only elements that can make the purpose of an organisation unique.

If working in a culture of high performing continual improvement, then this will result in an effective, efficient, and a relevant organisation, because efficiency measures performance whilst effectiveness measures relevance (Continual Impact 2022).

Importance of Strategic Thinking of an Organnisation

Strategic thinking in an organization involves making a series of decisions about what actions need to be taken to become more successful (Hill 2022). Therefore, it is important for an organisation to go through a strategic planning process once a year. This will enable an organisation to focus on finding and developing unique opportunities to create value by enabling a provocative and creative dialogue among people who can affect an organisation's direction (Garratt 2003).

Moreover, strategic thinking gives awareness of what has not yet taken shape. According to Bowman, (2022) to be viewed as a strategic thinker, one must also demonstrate that they can use their knowledge to put new ideas into action. This can be demonstrated by executing an innovative project that shows that your understanding extends beyond your current function. Finally, strategic thinking leads to a clear set of goals, plans and new ideas required to survive and thrive in a competitive and changing environment (Centre for Management and Organization for Effectiveness 2022).

A Relevant and Preforming Organisation

A Relevant Organisation

According to Caffaro (2021), a relevant organisation refers to its pertinence, its meaningfulness, its importance to employees, customers and all stakeholders. It must be renewed continually due to the dynamic nature of business, as it tends to have a finite shelf life. Failure of organisations to renew, allow relevance to deplete. However, for an organisation to remain relevant, the people must be given a job worth doing, the tools to do it and recognition of a job well done. In addition, leadership must drive a continual evolution of the organisation towards a well-defined future state, which is their greatest responsibility.

Stark (2013) states that it must be everyone's job description to provide constructive feedback and participation in brainstorming. Furthermore, for an organisation to prosper, innovation, and continuous improvement need to be everyone's responsibility. Therefore, to stay relevant, one must focus on innovation first and then growth will come later. According to Hendrikz (2019), relevance is projective and creates an unknown future and also turns intent into effective strategy. On the other hand, for an organisation to stay relevant it must use projective forces that will drive its intelligence. Thus, intent will secure relevance. One can refer to something to be relevant if it is meaningful to those who use it. Thus, producing a product or service that no one wants, has no point. Organisations use desire and abstract thought to negotiate relevance. As a result, abstract thought creates tacit intellect whereas intent defines desire. Excelling in service delivery will ensure that citizens and investors willingly invest. For an organisation to stay relevant it must conceptualise a future which is the crux of relevance. Therefore, to survive today, one must perform, thus today's performance will lead to tomorrow's relevance, which will make today's work meaningful. Moreover, an organisation becomes relevant, where intent and tacit intellect outweighs purpose.

A relevant organization gains momentum in effectivity, quality, productivity and engagement through the power of conversation (Ginkel 2022).

A Preforming Organisation

Organisational performance comprises of real results or outputs compared with intended outputs (Market Business News nd). It is involved in the analysing of a company's performance against its objectives and goals. On the other hand, performance on its own is the process or action of performing a task and it is perceived regarding how successful a person carries out that task. The meaning of organisational performance is the actual output or results of an organisation as measured against its intended outputs (iEduNote 2022).

Managers are the ones performing their assigned works and this performed work is referred to as organisational performance. Each and every organisation is a separate entity with distinct values and ideas, but some common elements have a significant impact on its development and growth (Bhasin 2020).

It is important for organizations to understand networks, manage for complexity, and work on building trust (Jarche 2012). Whenever the organisation deals with an exception using a standard method and fails to account for the unique situation of the employee or customer, it erodes the trust. Hendrikz, (2019) states that, the organisation must enable its energy through receptive forces, in order to perform. Unlike relevance, a known past is perfected by performance which is receptive and turns its purpose into efficient processes. As a result, purpose enables performance.

Furthermore, an organisation becomes a high performing organisation when purpose begins to serve an organisation. This means that an entity can deliver more outputs than its peers. As a consequence, when an organisation outperforms its competitors, it owns its industry. An ability to perform is created by resources and systems intelligence. The energy of an organisation is created by its people, money, and assets, since it feeds the systems and processes of an organisation, thus delivering outputs. However, the main aim of performance is to be efficient. Thus an organisation becomes high performing where energy and implied intelligence outweighs purpose. For example, many banks can exist, but each bank has its own marketing skills and so forth, and this can lead to different performance against the purpose of banking. Although the ultimate objective of performance management implies increased performance, the researchers argue that performance can be considered as a distal outcome of the process (Stankeviciute and Savaneviciene nd)

The following equation shows an ability to be both relevant and performing.

TEI must be greater than P, for an organisation to survive (Hendrikz 2019).

Ability to be a RPO = TEI / P

To simplify the above used acronyms.

T=Intent

E=Energy (Resources)

I=Intelligence

P=Purpose

RPO stands for a relevant and performing organisation.

Practical Application of Relevance and a Performing Organsation

For an organisation to have its existence sponsored, it must function within an environment (Hendrikz 2019). An entity will not be sponsored by an environment that does not perform in a relevant way. Therefore, organisational performance will weaken when it loses its relevance, thus resulting in disorder setting in and sponsorship decreasing even more. However, the more sponsored an entity is, the more it will focus on its performance. On the other hand, the more disruptive an environment is the more an entity will focus on relevance.

This will create a strategy driven organisation. As a result, an increase in disorder needs an increase in strategy. That's why a competitive strategy is required in a competitive environment. Since an environment creates competition, poverty, politics etc, it causes disruption which creates a disorder. Entropy and sponsorship relationship is inverse. As a result, entropy is used to measure the disorder within a system, thus the Force of Entropy (FOE) threatens the existence of an organisation. In organisational science, entropy is created through competition, since an increase in competition implies an increase in disorder for your organisation. However, an organisation needs intent, energy, intelligence and purpose (TEIP) to combat a force of entropy (FOE). The combination of these two will keep the activity within an organisation meaningful.

Leadership and Management

For performance to take place one must manage, whilst to be relevant one must lead (Hendrikz 2020). A relevant and a performing individual (RPI) is one who can manage and lead. Management and leadership roles are mostly invested in the same person, as a result must be both relevant and performing. Whilst managers govern the receptive or performance part of an organisation, leaders drive its projective or relevance part. Moreover, managers in orgtology run things whilst leaders influence. On the other hand, managers empower processes whilst leaders have the task to keep the organisation relevant. As a result, performance is the most important part for managers, whereas relevance is the essential element for leadership. Performance and relevance ensure an organisation does its work, whilst the other ensure that there is a demand for such work. This shows dependence of their existence towards each other. Leaders engage in non-repetitive work, and it projects work with a clear goal, and therefore must only last for a certain time required to solve a problem or exploit an opportunity. Leaders are not meant to last within an organisation, they are meant to fertilize performance with relevance and then once that is achieved, they must phase out or redefine their vision i.e., they must find and drive a new relevance goal. On the other hand, managers do repetitive work, and ensure performance without an end. This makes a manager's role to be continuous without an end. To conclude, for urgent and important work, a leader is required, whereas for something important but not urgent, a manager is required.

Outputs and Outcomes

According to Hendrikz (2019), the result of a process is called an output. These are created when an organisation defines its activity, sequence and rules. On the other hand, an outcome is an assessment of how an environment responds to an output by showing an effect of the output. As a result, efficiency measures outputs and performance, whereas effectiveness ensures outcomes and measures relevance.

Therefore, the outputs that we create must be relevant to an environment, as relevance must be greater than the cost of an output. Efficiency is used to rate the performance of an input. Through efficiency, an organisation will get meaningful outputs, and meaningful outcomes through effectiveness. Efficiency is said to be zero when an organisation puts in a lot of effort and produce no results. However, outputs drive performance and outcomes ensure relevance, thus a relevant and performing organisation must have both, efficient outputs and effective outcomes.

Change in an Organisation

Change is both an idea and an end result, the first and final creation (Hendrik 2020). It is the revolutionary rethinking of a construct.

Stark, (2013), states that the more innovative an organisation is the more change it creates. It creates the need for people to learn as well as to create new relationships, principles, policies, programs, processes, practices and services. Therefore, employees must be provided with the necessary training and resources to cultivate innovation. In addition, without organisational development, a company would have a difficult time developing effective change management programs (Quain 2018).

Furthermore, an effective organisation can also boost employee morale, because workers can feel more empowered and valued when your company is well structured. A person cannot be changed, but you can influence that person in such a way that he/she makes the decision to change him or herself (Hendrikz 2020). Whoever changes something without knowing is showing irresponsibility. Whereas, when you touch a heart you change a mind and behaviour will have no choice but to follow suit.

Conclusion

A high performing organisation does not exist without people who make the difference (People: The most important element in a high-performing organisation). Performance will show how useful a person is in helping an organisation produce its outputs, whereas relevance will show how a person can help an organisation respond to complexity. Staying relevant is not that easy. Without relevance, a person will lose his/her ability to perform, because performance that is not relevant will self-destruct.

To keep an organisation relevant, one must understand people dynamics, whilst efficient algorithm will induce high performance. It is important for an organisation to choose its people well, so that what is relevant to a person will become performance to the organisation. By lacking relevance, it will result in difficulty to perform.

"Don't be left in the dust. Be a leader who promotes continuous change and evolve to stay relevant" (Stark, 2013).