A Two-Day Workshop on Achieving Corporate Transformation

by Ralph H. Kilmann

Workshop Endorsements
Participating Companies

Table of Contents

Day One

• Painting the Big Picture
• Eight Tracks for Achieving Transformation
• Learning Problem Management
• Learning Assumptional Analysis

Day Two

• Gradual Process Improvement
• Radical Process Improvement
• Organizational Learning
• The Problem Management Organization

Day One

Painting the Big Picture

• yesterday's quick fix: total quality management
• today's quick fix: business process reengineering
• tomorrow's quick fix: learning organizations
• why the quick fix fails—again and again
• a holistic approach to transformation in today's quantum world
• interacting with quantum realities via the mind/brain
• defining the essence of a quantum organization
• identifying systemic barriers to quantum change
• learning group process to foster effective dialogue (without which, we cannot change anything complex—and important)
• group discussions and community presentations: appreciating barriers to quantum change in your own organizations

Eight Tracks for Achieving Transformation

• removing systemic barriers to quantum change: the system tracks and the process tracks
• the informal system tracks: cultures, skills, and teams
• the formal system tracks: strategy-structures and reward systems
• the three process tracks: gradual process (TQM), radical process (reengineering), and learning process (organizational learning)
• the stages of organizational transformation
• the stages of personal transformation

Learning Problem Management

• the steps of problem management: sensing problems, defining problems, deriving solutions, implementing solutions, evaluating outcomes
• the five errors of problem management: why we keep revisiting the same problems again and again (and keep falling into the quick-fix trap)
• group discussions and community presentations: practicing problem management on a complex business case

Learning Assumptional Analysis

• the nature of problems: simple vs. complex
• learning to identify—and appreciate—different decision trees (problem definitions) in a quantum forest
• the two most damaging errors in a quantum forest: solving the wrong problem and failing to implement derived solutions
• the path through the quantum forest: surfacing assumptions, classifying assumptions, and synthesizing assumptions
• descriptive assumptional analysis: clarifying a current reality
• normative assumptional analysis: creating a new—quantum—reality
• group discussions and community presentations: practicing assumptional analysis on a complex problem

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Day Two

Gradual Process Improvement

• a process cell: inputs, process, outputs
• a process chain: value-added processes across all boundaries
• the key steps of process management
• describing processes
• controlling processes
• improving processes
• removing description, control, and improvement barriers

Radical Process Improvement

• the transition from managing order to managing chaos
• what falls between the cracks (on the organization chart)?
• defining task flow: pooled, sequential, and reciprocal
• designing work units to contain task flow within boundaries
• business process reengineering and organizational structure, information technology, and mental models
• managing residual task flow across strategic business units: identifying and enhancing core competencies

Organizational Learning

• managing knowledge across and within all work units
• learning processes: describing, controlling, and improving how individuals and organizations learn
• examples of learning processes that foster radical improvement
• becoming a global learning organization
• group discussions and community presentations: analyzing a case on corporate transformation

The Problem Management Organization

• creating a problem management organization (PMO)
• representing a vertical organization
• designing a horizontal organization
• developing a learning organization
• establishing multiple PMOs for managing radical change
• group discussions and community presentations: reviewing what we have learned

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