The Elephant in the Room

By hrs-admin / March 13, 2013 / Uncategorized No Comments

The story of the six blind men and the elephant has been a popular Indian parable for many years and was brought into the mainstream in the 19th century by poet John Godfrey Saxe.  As the story goes, a group of blind men are asked to touch an elephant and describe what he is like.  The first man touches only the side of the elephant and reports back that the elephant is “very like a wall.”  The second man, touching only the tusk, disagrees, saying “the wonder of the elephant is very like a spear.”  The third man, holding the elephant’s squirming trunk, boldly proclaims the elephant is no wall or spear, but rather like a snake.  This goes on, with the next three men touching the elephant’s leg, ear, and tail and responding that he is like a tree, fan, and rope, respectively.  And so these six blind men “disputed loud and long…though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!”

Great story, but what does it have to do with HR?  Geary Rummler and Alan Brache, leading experts in the field of performance improvement, view organizational performance from three interrelated levels:  organization, process, and job/performer.  Organizations are open systems.  Whether they are serving customers or improving technology, they are constantly affecting and are affected by their environment.  This interaction occurs at the organization level of performance, but it has far reaching implications on processes within the organization as well as the employees who carry out those processes.  And it’s not a one-way street.  Low employee morale or outdated processes can have a drastic impact on an organization’s ability to serve its customers or stay competitive in an ever-changing market.

As open systems, organizations are like machines.  They have a number of moving parts that work together to achieve a common goal.  What happens in one department may directly or indirectly affect what happens in another.  In turn, this may improve or impede the organization’s ability to accomplish that goal.  Picture if you will a hospital that hires five new doctors but does not consider purchasing a new x-ray machine.  Or a pizza restaurant that buys a fast new oven, but doesn’t hire enough delivery drivers to deliver them while they’re still hot.

According to Rummler and Brache, organizations that lose sight of the big picture are likely to wind up with a “six blind men and an elephant” situation on their hands.  In order for organizations to be successful, they must expand their view in order to see each of the moving parts.  Furthermore, they need to understand how these parts interact and how a change in one might affect an outcome in another.  Otherwise, someone is going to end up stuck at the elephant’s tail!

Has your company ever ended up with a “six blind men and an elephant” situation?  If so, what was the outcome?

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