In the following, there are some conditions that can influence or guide us in shaping our company structure. They are:
1. A Common Enemy. A well-known leadership technique is to find a rally point or common enemy for the company to rally against. Steven Jobs knew this when he walked out on the stage at meetings with a sweatshirt that read, “Beat Big Blue.” A common enemy is what forms the challenge. The enemy doesn’t have to be a person. It can be overwhelming conditions, difficult situations, or impossible odds. A common enemy eliminates petty issues between and among structural elements and causes them to work together.
2. A Dangerous Situation. Complacency is fatal. Lethargy sets in to create bad management habits. Perhaps a little tension is needed to rally the organization. In stress management, we know that some stress is good. It is called eustress as opposed to the bad stresses—hypostress and distress. Perhaps we need a little eustress superimposed over our structure to make it function more cohesively. When a company faces an outside threat that could be dangerous to it as a whole, the tendency is for the structure to become more cohesive. Teamwork becomes the norm as long as there is danger from outside.
3. A Trained Workforce. A deteriorating structure requires a group of well-trained people. In times of reengineering, downsizing, and cutbacks, intellectual capital is lost. This is not good for the long term because certain institutional memories and requisite skill sets are lost to the organization. Time needed to reacquire those basic functions is costly in terms of immediate expenditures and potential dollars lost. A trained and skilled workforce is necessary to maintain fiscal health in times of an organization’s structural fluctuation.