The Adizes methodology
Company profits and revenues can rise handsomely when human nature, and the way it affects managers’ administrative style and their ways of cooperation, are understood. This theory is the basis on which the Adizes methodology is built: a complete system of resolving company problems under circumstances of change, bearing the name of the founder and CEO of Adizes Institute, Dr Ichak Adizes. This methodology will be presented on June 1-3 in Athens at the Management and Change Management (MCM) Conference, themed «The successful transition of Greek enterprises from entrepreneurial to professional management» and organized by Business Mind, an executive officers’ and management practitioners’ company. The conference is addressed to entrepreneurs, CEOs, managing directors and top officials in companies, banks, and state companies who perform responsible administrative duties. Keynote speakers will be Adizes himself, who will address the event’s main issue via videoconference from California, Dan Axelrod, principal consultant of Adizes Institute, who will speak on «Problem solving in a changing environment, and corporate life cycle,» and well-known Greek entrepreneurs, who will discuss the application of the Adizes methodology in their companies. According to Giorgos Papadopoulos, strategy execution consultant of Business Mind and an Adizes Certified Associate & Practitioner, this is a procedure tested in practice for the development of efficient work groups, aimed at resolving corporate problems, managing changes, and eventually, at maximizing profits. The methodology relies on grasping the workings of human nature as well as the impact of transitions on management models of any corporation as it develops, matures and ages, based on an organizational life cycle which Adizes has developed over 35 years. The methodology is holistic, first at top-level management and then spread down the whole corporate pyramid. It focuses on the dominant nature of human behavior in any group of people working together to produce results, and then helps the group overcome natural differences in views and interests of its members, making it complementary, efficient and productive, both at the decision-making level and primarily in decision implementation. The Adizes methodology has been successfully applied to thousands of enterprises, organizations and state agencies in 40 countries, including Greece. Its application begins with an in-depth diagnostic analysis of the problems, opportunities and challenges the company is facing. This analysis is made by company officials during a three-day diagnostic workshop called Synergetic Diagnosis. During this workshop, using the methodologies and guidance of «empowered consultants,» company officials will record, analyze, systematize and prioritize all problems they agree the company is facing. Company officials then determine its point in corporate life cycle, that is a basic instrument of the Adizes methodology, through which problems are defined as «regular» or «pathological,» depending on the specific point they have reached at the time of their self-diagnosis. «Regular» describes those problems to be solved by themselves when the company enters the next stage of its life cycle, while «pathological» are those which should not exist at that point of the life cycle and for which immediate corrective decisions must be made. Based on the analysis and findings relevant to that point in the life cycle, the nature of problems the company will face in the future can be successfully predicted and action taken before the problems emerge. In this way, the company is trained to have groups for resolving specific problems, taking into account the development or stage of its life cycle, which in turn determines the appropriate management style required for the firm to pass on to its next stage of development.
