Jody Hoffer Gittell - Transforming Relationships for High Performance

Presented by the Center for Positive Organizations at the Michigan Ross School of Business. Learn more about the center: myumi.ch/LzK3q
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Organizations are fundamentally interrelating patterns, reinforced by structures and work processes. It’s no wonder they are hard to change. In this presentation, Brandeis University Professor Jody Hoffer Gittell will introduce relational coordination as a tool for both research and practice. She will share live case studies illustrating how organizations use relational coordination principles and measures as tools for change, and then conclude with a Relational Model for Organizational Change.
Jody Hoffer Gittell, PhD, is a professor at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management, and a leading expert on relational coordination and organizational performance. She founded the Relational Coordination Research Collaborative, bringing scholars and practitioners together to help organizations build relational coordination for high performance. She co-founded a university spinoff called Relational Coordination Analytics Inc., offering measurement and intervention support to organizations seeking to improve their performance, and serves as its Chief Scientific Officer.
Gittell’s research explores how workers, leaders, and customers contribute to quality and efficiency outcomes through their coordination with each other. She has developed a theory of relational coordination, proposing that highly interdependent work is most effectively coordinated through relationships of shared goals, shared knowledge, and mutual respect supported by frequent, timely, accurate, and problem-solving rather than blaming communication. Research demonstrates that relational coordination is associated with a wide range of performance outcomes, and that organizations can support it through the design of their work systems. The RC survey, a validated instrument that is widely used for research as well as practice, assesses dynamics among participants and opens up dialogues to foster fundamental organizational change.