The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 3

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Agility. Thinking about whether the Germans were prepared to move the centre of gravity

quickly enough from one area to another is hypothetical. Their first attempt to break through

the front at Sedan succeeded partly because of their tactical abilities (see Chapter 4).

However, such astounding success – the front line was broken within three days of the

commencement of the offensive – revealed the limitations of the Allies in moving their centre

of gravity once they had committed their resources to the northern sector. Allied fixation on

the north may explain their reluctance to direct their mobile reserves to Sedan. Their lack of

sensitivity at a strategic and tactical level (see Chapters 2 and 4) amplified this fixation.

Nevertheless, once a realisation set in that the centre of gravity pointed at the area around

Sedan, Allied leadership at tactical level (see chapter 4) was cumbersome and incredibly

slow. By the time mobile forces were (re)directed to the endangered front line, the Germans

had already established a bridgehead on the west bank of the river Meuse, and after a fierce

but brief struggle (see Chapter 5) commanded the high grounds overlooking Sedan; the

gateway to a largely undefended countryside.

Translation and Explanation: Dispersion versus Concentration

In principle, one may distinguish between the principle approach of concentration and the

dispersion of resources and capabilities. In regard to the latter, dispersion refers to scattering

of resources and capabilities for the purpose of being robust (see Chapter 2) enough to

withstand, or bounce back from any changes in the external environment. This is a rather

passive, defensive stance for an organisation, providing static efficiencies; it is the stance

adopted by the French in 1940.

In contrast, the Germans concentrated their resources and capabilities and focussed

their attention on the vulnerabilities of their enemy, as part of the Schwerpunkt principle. In a

commercial world, such concentrated activity is best known as ‘lean’ (Womack and Jones

2003). The premise of lean thinking is to recognise that total time and effort can be focussed

in a value driven manner, reducing the need for ‘wasteful’ redundancy in an organisation.

Lean thinking revolves around 4 key principles:

Value. Value is defined by the customer perspective, but created by the producer. Anything

that helps to realise the customer perspective is value-adding.

Value Stream. The value stream encapsulates all actions to produce value and realise a

value proposition; it identifies value-adding activities in an organisation.

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