ABSTRACT
Previous chapters have highlighted some of the dimensions of individual relationships that help or hinder improvement. In essence, every author discusses how people relate to each other; however, it is usually couched in management concepts of motivation, involvement, and so on. Drawing on the analogy of manufacturing-process activity, the product (improved performance) is the target rather than the process (relationships), and perhaps addressing the relationships directly might yield more longterm, fl exible results. The nearest managers come to articulating these are through implementing ideas such as team work, fl atter organization structures, and single-status organizations that are intended to create the conditions for people to interact more directly and track relationships but not directly address how individuals relate to one another. To put it another way, improving relationships is always a means to an end rather than an end in itself. Where we think our case organizations were more successful, there was clear evidence of some kind of “‘repair” of fractured relationships, albeit indirectly.
