Inefficient by Design

<p>As the ability of organizations to process information accelerates and technological advances facilitate ever more rapid decision-making organizational leaders sacrifice the time once available for careful reflection on the nature of problems and potential resolutions. The phenomenon of globalization-the virtual constant and borderless interaction between individuals ideas institutions and governments-is reinforcing the notion that such a sacrifice of time is both necessary and unavoidable. But the very notion that the critical emphasis should be placed on the time available to reflect on an issue assumes (1) that the clock starts running at the point the issue is identified and (2) that time itself is the critical factor. These assumptions limit a leader's ability to focus his organization to accomplish its purpose. Leaders universally prize innovation because they view it as essential to achieving the best possible result most quickly. The quest for organizational efficiency invariably follows the predictable path of shortening the time required to produce creative solutions and is heavily oriented on process. This monograph seeks to provide the organizational leader with an alternative method of considering the efficiency of his organization. While theories related to leadership and organizational management abound and some are quite useful their focus tends to be narrow and often limited to a specific organizational type or circumstance. The model developed avoids dependence on theory. Inspiration instead stemmed from author's 25 years of experience in interaction with and empirical observation of military and nonmilitary organizations to include a decade on the Army Staff in the National Guard Bureau. The model uses historical examples and the author's experiences to explain concepts and explains a way of viewing efficiency broadly applicable to all types and levels of organizations derived from an American cultural context. Critical aspects of th</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>