The New Leadership Construct: What Happens When A Flat Organization Builds A Tall Tower?

Abstract

When the Block Tower Building Game surfaced some 25 years ago, itwas designed toillustrate the managerial skill of directing subordinates in exactly how to “stack up” the results required by management. However, in today's more horizontal organizations with a premium placed on nonhierarchical leadership of a diverse workforce, teams are achieving “toweringly” higher results. This article discusses aspects of the new organizational realities and presents a tower building exercise redesigned for the 1990s. Modification reflects new thinking about effective organizations and new ways of interpreting the emergent organizational dynamics. The exercise examines the issue of who really leads in nonhierarchical, self-managed team settings.

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