Swiss Air Show

This past week, I had the opportunity to present some ideas that I have been working with for some time now about the concept of organizational configuration as that concept applies to the church. This presentation was to a group of Hispanic pastors in the city of Memphis, TN. It was a 30-minute presentation using PowerPoint. I tried to follow Guy Kawasawki’s 10/20/30 Rule, which is to use only 10 slides, speak for only 20 minutes, and use a minimum of 30 point lettering. In fact, I used three font settings for each slide: 75 point Century Gothic, 44 point Century Gothic, and 44 Arial. Each slide illustrates one idea and serves as background for my discussion. The reason I am writing about this is that I see so many very poor PowerPoint presentations by otherwise intelligent people and there are just a few key concepts that, once you grasp them, can enhance tremendously your presentations.

Anyway, as I was saying, this presentation was an introduction to a more comprehensive 4-hour seminar that I do on organizational configuration. The basic idea is that all organizations are systems of interrelated parts that make up a unique configuration or corporate “personality.” Dess, Newport, and Rasheed (1993) said it this way:

Configurations are inherently multidimensional entities in which key attributes are tightly interrelated and mutually reinforcing (784).

Configurations have also been defined as “commonly occurring clusters of attributes of organizational strategies, structures, and processes” (Ketchen, Thompson, & Snow, 1993, 1278).

I know these quotes are a bit dated and that organizational configuration theory has been largely replaced today by theories of organizational culture and organizational systems, but I think the concept of configuration is still a valid one and very helpful for understanding organizational life. It’s a way of giving the mind some new categories into which to fit the realities of corporate or ecclesiastical life. Once you grasp the idea, you can begin to see patterns of organizational behavior, especially if you have had the “blessing” of having worked with many organizations. After awhile, with a little creativity, you can begin to give names to these patterns. Of course, so-called “experts” have already done that, but why not give it a shot yourself? Use some metaphors to describe the different configurations you see in the organizational or church world.

If you would like to see this presentation, click here. Remember, however that it’s in Spanish. I will try to translate it into English soon.

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Works Cited

Dess, G. G., Newport, S., & Rasheed, A. M. A. (1993). Configuration research in strategic management: Key issues & suggestions. Journal of Management, 19(4), 775-795.

Ketchen, D. J., Jr., Thomas, J. B., & Snow, C. C. (1993). Organizational configurations and performance: A comparison of theoretical approaches. Academy of Management Journal, 36(6), 1278-1313.

Photo by Matt Teague (July 18, 2004). Available at www.morguefile.com/archive/?display=24018&