i.e. MetaPrograms
here are some examples of metaprograms.
Understanding them can help make sense of so called personality clashes and frictions that happens for no obvious reason.
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Metaprogram Categories
The iWAM questionnaire measures an individual's attitudes and motivations within the context of
the workplace. This survey includes 48 metaprogram parameters, which are the
series of mental filters which determine how one behaves what one pays attention
to during observation. This page is an explanation of which metaprograms
the iWAM measures. Each of the 48 parameters is measured and rated separately,
but for simplicity we have grouped them here under 15 headers (some categories
have the technical name in brackets):
1. Action Level
2. Priorities and Focus [Action Direction]
3. Decision-Making [Evaluation Reference]
When Walt Disney set out to create Disney World in Florida, banks didn't like the idea. Walt wasn't
really surprised; after all, he had had enough problems financing the
first color movies and the movies that integrated sound. He didn't consider
it as his job to come with ideas that would please his bankers. After
all, what does the banker know about the entertainment industry? Often,
entrepreneurs succeed because they keep believing in their idea, and whatever
other persons do tell them, they keep going until they succeed. For other
jobs, such as customer desk at a Marriott hotel or a complaints desk at
Southwest Airlines, the opposite is true. What counts are the customer
satisfaction ratings. Again both examples show 2 extremes of a metaprogram
category: Walt Disney evaluates his plans for himself. He knows what he
wants. This is called "internal reference".
Marriot and Southwest Airlines refer to the customer's evaluation. The
customer is always right. This is known as "external refercnce".
4. Procedures and Options [Task Attitude]
5. Point of View [Task Orientation]
6. Body Language [Communication Sort]
7. Social Contact [Work Environment Type]
In the book "How to be
a Star at Work," Robert Kelly indicates that star performers don't
fight over who holds which responsibility individually, but rather take
responsibility for areas that are left unclaimed - of course while doing
the work within their own area of responsibility. When the Volvo car plant
in Ghent, Belgium started to introduce teamwork, their aim was to increase
productivity. When a group of 4 people feel collectively responsible for
assembling a section of the car (for instance, the brake system), they
won't complain when an improvement of the brakes requires that 5 screws
be fixed instead of the previous 4 screws. However, if each person only
feels responsible for one screw, the 5th screw looks like a 100% work
increase! Of course, as you can read in Jon Katzenbach's "The Wisdom
of Teams," not every task or group of activities is suited for teamwork.
For instance, sales persons are typically individually responsible for
their own sales area, and compete with other sales persons in the other
areas. Especially when they are paid on commission, or get bonuses related
to their individual sales results, it is difficult to transform their
jobs into teamwork.
9. Cycle Time [Relationship Sorting]
10. Basic Motivations
[McClelland's Motivational Types]
The metaprogram category will
help to answer the following questions: "What are the basic motivation
factors for this person? Is it Power, Popularity,
or Performance? In which hierarchical order does the
person put these 3 criteria?"
11. Work Approach
12. Time Orientation
[Temporal Processing]
13. Rules and Conformity [Norming]
This category indicates one
of the biggest differences between a large conglomerate and a small, entrepreneurial
company. Inside a large organization, it's often important to try to be
the person the company needs. Also, most large companies have quality
systems in place, with procedures one needs to follow. It's the job of
the manager to enforce these procedures. Given the size of the organization,
it becomes difficult to tolerate deviant behavior. In a small entrepreneurial
company, rules are less important, and often there are few written rules.
Sometimes the organization even appreciates that persons bend the rules
in order to get results. Rules tend to differ from person to person and
managers have less need to communicate the rules.
14. Convincing Means [Convincer Patterns - Input Representation]
15. Convincing Process [Convincer Patterns - Interpretation Process]
16. Environmental Priorities[Interest Filters]
Consider the following parties
involved in the building industry. Each one has its own interests. The
team coach concentrates on the people he is helping.
A carpenter may pay attention to the tools. The quality
engineer is thinking about the system. The manager considers
the information he has to distribute. For the bookkeeper,
money is important. For the real estate agent, location
is all that counts. For the future house owner, the timing
is important: he wants to see the building finished in time. Finally,
if you are the director that wanted to make a movie out of this, having
enough action is key. The conclusion: there are a lot
of environmental factors that motivate people at work. If all of these
people would pay attention to only their interests, the happy ending may
be difficult to find.
The previous paragraph illustrated 8 types of interest filters. We can ask these distinctions for any job
and for any individual. What does a person pay attention to in the environment?
What does this person have to be working with to feel successful? The
primary filter of interest is the filter which the person prefers the
most.
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