HomeVolume 7September 2022 What makes an organization healthy?

DR. ICHAK ADIZES addresses organizational health, effectiveness, and efficiency, using the idea of systems and subsystems. He then explores how the various subsystems can work together to fulfill the purpose of the organization.


JUST THINKING AND FEELING


What makes an organization healthy? What is a healthy organization, a healthy system? It has to be effective and efficient, in the short and the long run. Like a human body, every part of the body has to be effective. The kidneys have to do their job, the blood has to do its job, the brain has to do its job, the heart has to do its job, and the lungs have to do their job. It’s the same thing for a company.

All functions must be effective to produce the results for which they exist. The system in its totality, with all its subsystems, has to be effective and efficient. No waste of energy, because if you waste energy internally, since energy is fixed, there will be less energy to deal with external purposes for which you exist. If you are sick, what happens? You have no energy. You have no energy to deal with the world, that is why you tell people, “Please leave me alone. Come tomorrow. I am too exhausted today. I am sick today.” When you are sick all the energy is dedicated to dealing with the inefficiency of the system. So, the organization has to be effective and efficient in the short and in the long run.

I discovered many years ago that there are four roles, or you can call them vitamins, organizational vitamins, that are necessary for the system to be effective and efficient in the short and in the long run, and in order to be healthy. And those roles have to work in unison.

Every system is a subsystem of a larger system. Everything is a subsystem of everything else. There’s a grand subsystem, the universe, and we are all subsystems of that, and everything is a subsystem of something else until you get to the human being, and the human being is also a system. You have kidneys, and a bladder, and lungs, and a brain, and a heart as well, I hope. Each has a purpose to fulfill for the whole system.

In an organization, each subsystem has its clients that the teams dedicate themselves to in order for the total system to be effective.



Every system is a subsystem of a larger system.
Everything is a subsystem of everything else.
There’s a grand subsystem, the universe, and
we are all subsystems of that,
and everything is a subsystem of something else
until you get to the human being,
and the human being is also a system.


So, for whom do you exist? For whom does the subsystem exist? To satisfy its client needs. Many people ask: Who am I? The question has been addressed in philosophy, psychology, and even religion. Don’t ask: Who am I? Ask: For whom am I?

Tell me what you are dedicated to and I will tell you who you are.

If I fulfilled the purpose of being a father, I’m a father. If I fulfill the purpose of being a teacher, I’m a teacher. Tell me the purpose for which you exist and if you satisfy that need I will tell you who you are. But in order to do that, you have to identify the clients. “For whom am I?” has to be answered before you can answer, “Who am I?” For whom do you exist? Who are those clients? If your kids need you, and you fulfill the needs of parenting, you are a parent.

Look at a hammer. Why is it a hammer? Because you use it to bang nails. But if you use it to hurt someone it is not a hammer; it becomes a weapon. So tell me what your client needs are, and what you satisfy, and I will tell you who you are. That’s where we start, and from there on we look at efficiency and all the other variables.

Just thinking and feeling,

Dr. Ichak Kalderon Adizes



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Dr. Ichak Adizes

Dr. Ichak Adizes

Dr. Ichak Adizes is widely acknowledged as one of the world’s leading management experts. He has received 21 honorary doctorates and is the author of 27 books that have been translated into 36 languages. Dr. Adizes is recognized by Leade... Read More

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