One of the useful aspects of a “machine” is that it usually has a way to turn it on or off, and some more or less relatively easy controls to make it behave. When we think about an organization as a machine, it’s not so easy to visualize what the “switches” might be.

1. If you’re thinking about your organization — or any organization — as a machine, what features of it might be considered as the equivalent of the control switches?

2. In other words, how do its managers “tune its performance” to make it behave like a good smoothly-functioning machine?

3. What are the “levers” that get pulled to keep the components working together?

4. And does thinking about such organizational controls as “switches” or “levers” help you understand how they’re being used, or does it just confuse the issue?