- Michelle Gonzalez

Organizations are all around us.  They are more than the corporate entities we frequently imagine.  They are found among communities of interest, associations, non-profits, groups, employee-owned corporations, and commercial enterprises, municipal and federal government and within academia.  What ties them together is a purpose and the work.  However, more and more these organizations are not getting the results nor tapping into their full capabilities, due to structures that prevent knowledge from being constructively activated or distributed.  In fact, many organizations have structures that inhibit debate and agile decision making that allows innovative outcomes.

My capabilities range from project management of complex and distributed teams to developing process to implement strategy and meet objectives.  What most drives me are human dynamics, people, elegance, deep possibilities, and systems design.

The research I am doing is aimed at furthering the knowledge capacity around organizational structures; specifically a language and model that helps others define the “non-organization, organization.”  Theoretically, this concept is framed as a paradox to move current thinking to the possibilities.  In many shapes and forms, I suggest that this concept is a living structure that is being practiced currently in distributed teams and virtual organizations.  My research focus is about creating a framework that bridges current bias about how a non-organization, is organized to further accelerate getting the work done.

In viewing organizations from the above perspectives, I am engaging the following principles to assist a number of organizations to evolve their structure:

• Organizational Justice:  engagement of the entire workforce
• Agile teams: beyond cross-functional to entrepreneurial
• Human motives: behaviors and change development as it affects performance
• Leadership:  promoting it, finding new forms for persuasion and debate to shared accountability
• Mission accomplishment:  serving the strategy through action and reflection
• Paradox:  accepting and working through disparities to solve problems
• Balancing: multiple bottom line focus

The questions I hold are:

Is redesign (not just re-structuring) possible?

What must die and what must be a new beginning? How do you do this? 

Where is the new narrative?

And what is a living structure in organizations?

Current projects as living cases:   Providence Connects, OSHEAN Community Forum, Roger Williams University Institute for Teaching and Learning, Jewelers of America, Rhode Island Housing, Planning and Development - City of Providence.