Christopher G. Worley

Becoming Agile: How the SEAM Approach to Management Builds Adaptability - J-B Short Format Series Christopher G. Worley

Marc Notes: This case study of the French company Brioche Pasquier highlights how one organisation successfully implemented the principles of agility using the socio-economic approach to management, detailing each step of the process and describing how every decision brought the goal closer within reach. Table of Contents: Foreword vii Preface xiii Acknowledgments xv 1 One Vision, Two Perspectives: Agility and the Socio-Economic Organization 1 Purpose of the Book 4 Agility and Performance 8 A Socio ]Economic Theory of Organizations 23 Overview of the Book 32 2 The Beginnings of Agility at Brioche Pasquier 37 BPG and the SEAM Methodology 40 The Initial Improvement Process at BPG 44 BPG's Agility 66 3 The Brioche Pasquier Group Goes Global 75 Chapter Overview 77 Act 1: Internationalizing the Sales Function 80 Act 2: From International Sales to International Production 82 Act 3: From International to Global 89 Assessing BPG's Agility 96 Summary 112 4 Implementing Agility and SEAM: Recommendations and Implications 113 A Comparison and Integration of Agility and SEAM 113 An Agility Implementation Framework 117 Reflections on Becoming Agile 134 Conclusion 141 About the Authors 145 The Research Sponsor Organizations 149 The Center for Effective Organizations (CEO) 149 The Institute for Socio-Economic Organization Research (ISEOR) 150 The Center for Leadership and Effective Organizations (CLEO) 151 Index 153Biographical Note: CHRISTOPHER G. WORLEY is Professor of Strategy at the NEOMA Business School in France and the Strategy Director for the Center for Leadership and Organization Effectiveness. He is also a Senior Research Scientist at USC's Center for Effective Organizations. VERONIQUE ZARDET is Professor of Management at IAE Lyon, University Jean Moulin, France and Director of the ISEOR Research Center at University of Lyon. MARC BONNET is Professor of Management at IAE Lyon, University Jean Moulin, France and Deputy Director of the ISEOR Research Center. AMANDINE SAVALL is a PhD researcher at ISEOR, Lyon, France and examines management of international practices in family-owned businesses. Jacket Description/Flap: To achieve long-term success, organizations must balance two sets of capabilities -- one that delivers on the well-known demands for success today, and a second that insures success in an uncertain future. It requires that executives create strategies and routines that can translate the organization's basic management principles into concrete activities. Once this formal approach is in place, the organization possesses a strategic, long-run view and avoids unwarranted turnarounds from unstable, turbulent, and short-term business pressures. Written by Christopher G. Worley, Veronique Zardet, Marc Bonnet, and Amandine Savall, "Becoming Agile" outlines a proven approach for developing and sustaining organization agility. Using the SEAM methodology, the successful European company, Brioche Pasquier, built a cross-cultural and international perspective on agility. Step by step, the case study offers insight into how to integrate clear objectives, operational approaches, and implementation activities that best address a change management strategy, contribute to agility, and result in a genuine company identity. The SEAM approach demands that leaders build an integrated management system that goes beyond the usual quantitative objectives, such as meeting budgets, raising market share, reducing waste, or increasing productivity. Together, managers and workers propose tangible and intangible objectives, such as reducing delivery cycles times and clarifying dysfunctions observed by teams in the factories, to improve their professional skills, teamwork, and organization performance. Since independent, stand-alone management tools have proven to be inefficient, the SEAM approach connects and integrates them. As the example of the Brioche Pasquier Group clearly demonstrates, articulating business plans and involving people at work creates lasting value. Long-term business plans, human resource development strategies, product improvement processes, and technical three-year projections are fully integrated with the six-month operating processes that generate actions to be achieved. Teamwork is the key to enabling this holistic and balanced approach. It preserves everyone's functional skills and areas of expertise. For any company that wants to achieve long-term effectiveness, "Becoming Agile" not only shows how to cope with immediate and exogenous disruptions from the external environment but offers a proven strategy for long-term sustainability. Publisher Marketing: An in-depth example of "The Agility Factor" in action "Becoming Agile: How the SEAM Approach to Management Builds Adaptability" illustrates the process of becoming an agile organization. Reflecting the principles presented in "The Agility Factor," readers are taken on a real-world journey of transformation and change. This short-format case study of the French company Brioche Pasquier highlights how one organization successfully implemented the principles of agility using the socio-economic approach to management, detailing each step of the process and describing how every decision brought the goal closer within reach. Readers get inside the heads of decision makers to gain insight into how tough decisions were made, how new, important, and flexible management tools were implemented, and how the necessary changes ultimately benefitted both the organization and the people who made it work. From overarching policy to day-to-day procedure, the story provides a clear example of how an agile organization is developed, giving readers a foundation upon which to implement similar changes in their own organization. Smart companies understand the importance of agility, but identifying where and how to initiate those first steps often leads to paralysis by analysis. This case study allows readers to learn from an organization that got through the inertia and put the principles of agility into action, with incredible results. Understand how the principles of agility can be implemented using a specific intervention strategy Tailor those principles to suit any organization Calculate and convert the "hidden costs" of traditional organizational design into flexible, value added activities Formulate and execute an actionable agility strategy Big changes require a deep understanding of the problem at hand, and a viable plan for steering the organization in a better direction. By seeing how it's been done before, organizations can take a proven approach and tailor it to their specific needs. For those tasked with formulating the agility strategy, "Becoming Agile: How the SEAM Approach to Management Builds Adaptability" provides invaluable insight.

Contributor Bio:  Worley, Christopher G Christopher G. Worley is a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Effective Organizations (USC's Marshall School of Business) and professor of management in Pepperdine University's Master of Science in Organization (MSOD) program. He received B. S. from Westminster College, master's degrees from Colorado State University and Pepperdine University, and his doctorate from the University of Southern California. He served as Chair of the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management, received the Luckman Teaching Fellowship at Pepperdine University, and the Douglas McGregor Award for best paper in the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. His most recent books are Management Reset and Built to Change, and he is completing a book on organization agility. His articles on agility and strategic organization design have appeared in the JOURNAL OF APPLIED BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE, JOURNAL OF ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR, SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW, STRATEGY+BUSINESS, and ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS. He and his family live in San Juan Capistrano, CA. Contributor Bio:  Zardet, Veronique Diplomee de l EM Lyon, docteur en sciences de gestion, elle est professeur a IAE, Universite Jean Moulin Lyon 3 et directrice generale de l Iseor. Elle dirige le programme de Master recherche en Gestion socio-economique.