Mission & Vision
Dr. Adizes speaks about his life mission and how the Adizes Institute helps organizations around the world.
The Core Values That Guide Our Work
Adizes enables ordinary people to transform the management of their organizations and produce extraordinary, sustainable results. Our work with all clients is guided by a strong belief in these values:
- Mutual Trust & Respect
- Collaborative Change
- Constructive Conflict
- Being Customer Driven
- Complementary Teams
- Decisive Leadership
- Simplicity
- Shared Rewards
We believe that a strong and pervasive culture of mutual trust and mutal respect is what makes a business strong and allows it to become a dominant competitor over the long term. This kind of culture is what underlies the ability to consistently WOW customers, attract and retain exceptional talent, and generate superior financial returns. The reason is simple; when employees really know how to work well together and harness their conflicts constructively, minimal energy is wasted on infighting and internal politics, which allows them to devote maximum energy to competing in the marketplace. This kind of culture is an organization’s greatest asset. It is what customers are really buying, and the competitive advantage that is the most difficult to copy.
We believe that in every organization, in every market, in every country of the world, coping with a high rate of change in a complex and uncertain world is leadership’s #1 challenge. The ability to change faster, better and more economically than competitors is therefore the leading predictor of any organization’s long term success. Developing this capability to change is something best done “with” not “to” an organization. Trying to change people is hard. Instead, we focus on changing the environment; which unleashes the talents and productivity of people.
We believe that meaningful change necessarily creates conflict. Harnessing conflict constructively creates the nuclear energy that drives superior performance.
We believe that the primary purpose of every organization is to WOW customers profitably and deliver compelling value to them. Some organizations believe that making money is their primary purpose, which is a confusion of ends and means.
We believe that none of us is as smart as all of us. Close-knit complementary teams who work well together are the ultimate competitive weapon.
We believe that the purpose of teamwork is to help leaders make better decisions than they would on their own. Management-by-committee or consensus decision making is not how decisions are made in high-performing organizations.
Transformation may not be easy, but we believe it must be simple. If people don’t understand something, they can’t implement it.
We believe that superior long term performance is realized by tying the achievement of results to shared monetary and non-monetary rewards.
By practicing these values, Adizes enables ordinary people to change the culture of their organization and produce extraordinary and sustainable results.
History
The history of Adizes dates back to the spring of 1966, when a young Ichak Adizes, as part of his doctoral dissertation, studied the Yugoslav industrial democracy-management system. This democratic approach to management stood in stark contrast to the top down management approach used in the United States, and it was by studying these two approaches and evaluating their relative strengths and weaknesses that the Adizes® Methodology was first conceived.
In 1971, the book Industrial Democracy: Yugoslav Style was published to much acclaim. The book was immediately translated into many languages establishing Dr. Adizes as an expert on the subject of the democratization of organizations, a subject he was invited to speak on at events around the world. That same year Dr. Adizes established the MDOR (Management Development and Organizational Research) Institute where he worked with clients as a consultant. It was at this stage that the application of the Adizes® Methodology was first tested and refined.
By 1979, the name MDOR Institute had been changed to the Adizes Institute and Dr. Adizes had already published his second and third books, Self Management – New Dimensions to Democracy and How to Solve the Mismanagement Crisis, respectively. With increased demands for Dr. Adizes’ consulting services, he resigned his tenure at UCLA Graduate School of Management so that he could dedicate more of his time to developing and documenting the Adizes® Methodology.
Dr. Adizes first started training and certifying others in the Adizes® Methodology as far back as 1977. Since then hundreds of individuals have been trained and certified in the Adizes® Methodology establishing thriving offices around the world.
Over the past few decades the Adizes Institute has emerged from a one-man operation into a multinational service organization. Dr. Adizes has written 20 books that have been translated into 26 languages, and he has been awarded 17 honorary doctorates.
Events about Adizes Methodology
Associates
Adizes Professionals are trained in various applications of the Adizes Methodology. Below you can find a list of different levels of qualifications and certifications.
Certified Adizes Organizational Symbergists™
Certified Adizes Organizational Symbergists™ are trained and certified to deliver Adizes change management services in specific areas for which they have been certified as manifested by their rank/title: Associate, Senior Associate, Principal Associate and Senior Principal Associate. Associates are able to both provide training in Adizes, as well as knowledgeably apply the methodology for organizational transformation, in relevant and meaningful ways that reflect the best practices of Adizes as developed and continuously updated since 1977. All Certified Adizes Organizational Symbergists™ are subject to the ethical codes of the Association of Certified Adizes Practitioners International, (ACAPI).
Our Customers
Unlike traditional management consultants who provide answers, Adizes provides powerful concepts, methods and tools so that CEOs and their management teams can figure things out for themselves. We know from over 40 years working with clients in 73 countries, that range from the Global 100 to middle market companies, start-ups, and governments, that the solutions our clients develop with Adizes get implemented, while the brilliant insights from traditional consultants often sit on shelves and gather dust.
The Adizes Institute respects the privacy of our customers. Among the clients who gave their permission to publish their names.
