Article Excerpts and chapter

This piece touches upon Dr. Oliveira's personal and professional explorations and ultimately how Requisite Organization was introduced into his career.

A Theory Based Approach

(An Executive's Guide to RO-based Organizational Design)

by Maurice Dutrisac, Herb Kopolowitz, and Kenneth O. Shepard
Translated by: Decio Fabio de Oliveira Jr. & Wilma C.G. Oliveira

The original…

Beginning of Theoretical Foundations

This research investigates the phenomenon of universal effective management (including information technology teams and organizations) as explained by the Requisite Organization theory.

The concept of effective management is…

Teams, Software, Databases, Telecommunications and Innovations

The Gap at The Top: The Middle-Management Void as a Limit to The Growth of Small Entrepreneurial Organizations

A paper presented at the IX Congress of Small and Medium Enterprises, sponsored by the Professional Council of Economic Sciences of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 2006.

This paper deals with the…

Exploring Levels of Work in organizations From The Advocates' Quarterly - A Canadian Journal for Practitioners of Civil Litigation, Vol 4 No 3, Oct/1983

Assessing loss of future earnings in a personal injury action has been called an exercise in "crystal-ball gazing."

The attempt to read the future of an individual is necessarily speculative and, for this reason, has…

Boards should focus on maximizing long-term strategies

This article orginally appeared in the National Post.

Most thoughtful participants in today's evolving corporate governance process would agree that the rapid proliferation of regulatory requirements, zealous enforcement…

Requisite Organization theory claims that it can bring about profound organizational change, with substantial increases both in productivity and in well-being at the workplace, within a short time and at very low cost.

On the…

This 1994 article published in The Toronto Star offers a lite overview of Elliott Jaques and the resurgence of interest in his work in Canada.

Judy Steed's piece briefly covers the broad impacts made across many…

“The Long View of Leadership” was written in l992 by Alexander Ross for Canadian Business magazine, the premier business publication in Canada. Those who know the literature say Ross’s article is one of the best short pieces to introduce the…

(Development and implementation of remuneration systems based on Elliott Jaques's theory)

Language: Espagñol/Spanish

Summary (in English):

The introductory part of the article provides a…

(Fraud and Incentives in Corporations)

Language: Espagñol/Spanish

Summary (in English):

This article addresses the causes that led to fraud in multinational corporations and how companies, as well as…

This paper argues that frequently, ornery employees with "attitudes" don't need coaching or counseling, they need a higher level job.

Instead of trying figure out how to fire employees who are delivering on their…

With Janet Langford Kelly - This Article (Corporate Governance Advisor - May-June/2005) is the first article in a 3 part series in the Corporate Governance Advisor.

This article challenges much of current thinking and models about executive compensation. Over 50 % of enterprise value of publicly listed companies is based on an expectation of future value to be created. Yet most executive compensation and…

With Janet Langford Kelly From Directorship magazine - March 2005

Corporate governance is about long-term wealth creation for shareholders and broader society, not statutory compliance.

This article outlines the 5 Levels of CEO Work and accountability and the implications for Board Directors…

Given the 20 year or longer liabilities of pension funds, Liability Driven Investments ( LDI ) are playing an increasing role with long term investors.

This article by Standard Life describes the drivers of LDI and links the time…

From Organisations & People, Vol 12 No 1, February 2005

The relationship between trust, the quality of managerial leadership, and organization structure is not well understood.

Trust requires a structure that supports accountable managerial leadership: a three-level unit comprising an…

Trust, that most essential ingredient for transacting business, has been broken. Functioning without it is difficult and costly. Accountability based management is key to restoring trust.

There are five essential managerial…

Book Chapter (Handbook of Management Consulting Services, 2nd Ed.)

Beiles, Brian, 1995, Team Building Chapter 26 in Barcus, Sam W., III, and Joseph W. Wilkinson, eds., 1995, Handbook of Management Consulting Services, 2nd Ed., McGraw-Hill Trade, New York, NY, 768 pages.

Chapter was 20 pages long…

A New Test for Director Liability From The Corporate Governance Advisor - Nov/2004

Most boards are still asking the wrong question about executive compensation. They are asking "How Much" rather than the more appropriate "For What". Thus the basis for determining equitable versus excessive executive pay…

Published in the Ivey Business Journal

This article first appeared in the journal Organisations & People Vol 12 No 3, Aug. 2005, published by the Association for Management Education & Development (AMED), Cambridge, UK. AMED offers a website of development information, and…

A Jaquesian Analysis

Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and micro credit is a Visionary. In 2006 he was awarded the Noble Prize for his work in empowering people through micro credit. Muhammad Yunus stood banking on its head by choosing a model that was in…

The rigor of Requisite Organization

Go Conference - 2005 Proceeding

It has been said that poets and artists sense more about human nature than the rest of us. If requisite organization theory is valid, then we should be able to find references to these concepts in artistic works. Have the poets and artists…

según la teoría de Elliott Jaques

Exploring Levels of Work in organisations

This article originally appeared in the University of Auckland Business Review - Vol. 7 N. 2, 2005, and is reprinted here with their kind permission.

Related website: www.business.auckland.ac.nz

The Jaques’ Levels…

From Ivey Business Journal - May/2004

Too many CEO's are overpaid not because their company underperforms but because they are being held accountable for work that is operational versus strategic, but paid as if they were doing this strategic work.

This article…

Contributed by Alexander Ross

This 1992 article published in Canadian Business Magazine gives an overview on Elliott Jaques and Stratified Systems Theory (SST).

As well, Alexander Ross presents a brief case on the successful implementation of SST at Canadian…

We conclude this part with Jerry B. Harvey’s very readable classic article, “Musings about the Elephant in the Parlor, or Who the Hell is Elliott Jaques?” A Professor Emeritus at George Washington University, author of The Abilene Paradox and…

Gerald A. Kraines, M.D., president and CEO of The Levinson Institute, writes about Denis Turcotte and his being named “CEO of the Year” in 2006 by Canadian Business magazine. Turcotte’s story is one of inspiration and achievement. Kraines, who…

Published in the GO Society's book, Organization Design, Levels of Work Compeixity and Human Capability 2007

Mark Van Clieaf, a consultant for many years in the area of CEO performance/accountability and corporate governance, and Janet Langford Kelly have used requisite theory in their analysis of CEO performance and board governance processes. The…

The unique characteristics of a small enterprise entrepreneurial CEO is the subject of Atilio A. Penna’s article “A Method for Training CEOs of Small, Growing Entrepreneurial Organizations.” Penna has consulted for many years with small…

Jack Fallow, a long-time HR professional as well as CEO, was exposed to levels of work and human capability through his association with bioss. In his article, Fallow describes learning to communicate across the levels in his role as CEO,…

Business unit senior executives are always challenged in negotiating for corporate resource allocation. One business unit president sought to maximize productivity and profitability by using requisite principles and practices. Nancy Lee, a…

Although this book is assembled primarily for the private sector executive, it is important to note that the initial 35 years of work to develop these concepts included extensive applied clinical consulting with governmental, notfor- profit,…

Redesigning a Global Organization to Deal with Increasing Complexity

The second non-profit application relates to a recent case of a major requisitebased organizational redesign in a high-profile, global, not-for-profit humanitarian agency to demonstrate the universal applicability of these beneficial concepts.…

Elliott Jaques advised us that his concepts were appropriate for managerial employment hierarchies and cautioned against their use in associations or other forms of membership organizations except in those parts of the organization that had…

We begin this part with an article based upon one of Elliott Jaques’s most notable applications of requisite organization. After writing General Theory of Bureaucracy, Elliott Jaques worked with Sir Roderick Carnegie in a ten-year effort to…

The levels of work literature often describes implementing requisite organization as a major systematic change in structure and complementary management system components planned and led by the top. Sheila Deane, an Australian consultant who…

How Roche Canada Created High Performing Cross-Functional Product Launch Teams

One of the strengths of the requisite organization concepts is their ability to make “competing theories” more effective. Consider, for example, the popularity of the team approach that was proposed as an alternative to hierarchical…

Organizations require many types of cross-functional teams that operate within project management structures. Often these teams are staffed by highly specialized and technically trained individuals who may not have been trained in managerial…

Many of us can identify with the “black hole” label for information technology, i.e., the continual and escalating costs of IT, often times with no discernable benefit. With IT an increasingly critical part of an organization’s competitive…

Paul McDowell, a senior IT executive with years of experience in a variety of major corporations, shows how a lack of appreciation for levels of work and levels of complexity can cause serious long-term consequences for the IT function in an…

Elliott Jaques wrote that non-requisite organizations were often paranoiagenic in that role structures and practices created conditions that stress employees unnecessarily. The resulting personal and emotional problems often result in great…

One of the responsibilities of an HR function is to identify individuals with high potential capability and subsequently provide the proper development environment to achieve the high potential. In “From Potential to Performance,” Judith…

Andrew Olivier’s article “Individual Capability and Our Working Journey” paper is an excellent article for those not familiar with how requisite concepts apply to talent pool management. Olivier describes the “working journey” that…

Managing large talent pools in a requisite system can be extremely time-consuming. To assist in what could be a monumental task in a large organization, Donald V. Fowke, a former CEO turned consultant, has developed a web-based talent pool…

Extracted from the book, Organization Design, Levels of Work & Human Capability: Executive Guide; Editors: Ken Shepard, Jerry L. Gray, James G. Hunt, and Sarah McArthur, 2007 - pp. 379 - 390

Many are curious about the CEOs and organizations that elect to use part or all of requisite organization theory. Some have speculated that organizations where managers have technical training such as engineering or medicine are more attracted…

Chapter excerpt from Organization Design, Levels of Complexity and Human Capability.

Many executives take action on strategy, organizational design, staffing, and management system issues by following a colleague’s success, a bench marking activity of best practices, an article or book they have read or perhaps take the…

In his 2002 Keynote address to the Midwinter Conference of the Society of Consulting Psychology, Elliott Jaques first used the term “organizational engineering” to designate the field of organization and human resources management. This new…

Extracted from the book, Organization Design, Levels of Work & Human Capability

This article demonstrates the unique partnership and commonalities of Wilfred Brown and Elliott Jaques
It gives an inside perspective on their roots, development, personalities, and work.
It discusses their mutual belief in…

Many executives are diligent in their search for best practices to use in improving their organization’s performance and are frustrated as they encounter the endless management fads in business magazines and bookstores, thousands of often…

The epilogue provides direction on how to learn more about this approach and how to proceed to learn and to work in your organization. It also describes the role of the Global Organization Design Society in supporting your learning and the…

A white paper for CEO's who are considering use of Requisite Organization Design

One of the biggest challenges facing an RO consultant is to explain over 30 books and thousands of research articles to a client in the brief meeting time that consultants often have with their clients. Three experienced RO consultants, Maurice…

The Role of the Board of Directors

Language: Español/Spanish

Summary (in English):

This article describes the nature of the composition of the Board of Directors in local companies and how its functions differ from those of both shareholders and…

Research into this understanding of capability has shown that people on Mode V and above are high potential individuals who represent the first of the growth curves to reach a capability equivalent to an executive level of work complexity. Mode…

A paper by Don Fowke in 2005

My grandson, Joshua Fowke, is a 16 year old entrepreneur with a start up business: New Lawn Care Toronto. He defines his core purpose “to provide students with work that gives them real life skills and work experience to enhance their future”.…

The importance of understanding complexity and how it relates to corporate strategy and growth is the focus of Julian Fairfield’s article, “Profit by raising a Key Function to the Next level: tools to Build a Work levels Shifting Strategy”. An…

When Ron Harding joined a specialty chemical company, a division of Conglomerate, Inc., the group had netted merely 0.2% growth over the last seven years. After one year, Harding reached double-digit growth that continues today.

…

Go Conference - 2005 Proceeding

Summary:

It has been said that poets and artists sense more about human nature than the rest of us. If requisite organization theory is valid, then we should be able to find references to these concepts in artistic works. Have…

Long version

History is predominantly shaped by genius, whether in politics, music, or science. However, the assumption that all genius is immortalized in history may be false. Numerous geniuses might have existed but remain unknown due to various…

An article in World Futures, 64: 513–523, 2008

An article published in the INTEGRAL REVIEW 4, 2007

Published in Directorship - 2005

Published in Corporate Board Member 2009

Paying the CEO a set multiple of what the next layer of executives collect goes down well with shareholders. Internal pay equity, as it’s called, also demonstrates that the board is serious about finding the next CEO inside the company.

Published in the Handbook of Board Governance - 2nd Edition - 2020

How should performance and success be measured in public companies? Why are total shareholder return and earnings per share not the optimal performance metrics for management incentives to align with long-term shareholder value?

…