You remind me of a friend of mine who is retired army person (Major?) from the British army. He often said that projects were impossible in organisations because the real agendas and reasons where hidden… and the ensuing witchhunt (read: “failure”) was a better way of uncovering objectives! There is another guy who is also a consultant… he is Jeff Conklin. He wrote a book on this about using information systems to structure complex decision making called: Dialogue Mapping. I found it to be very interesting. He talks about how projects often those their goals because of social complexity (hidden motives, political agendas etc etc etc). Interesting thoughts… I have come to realise that most decisions are made for reasons that beyond of level of competence/understanding!

Thanks Alan!

Thank you both for sharing your thinking.

That’s for the response. Especially what you said about being on my list. It’s so nice when people leave comments that are encouraging… especially at a time when things are down for me! Good on you you made my day. Here is a more comprehensive link on Stacey: http://www.new-paradigm.co.uk/complexity.htm

You predicted the crisis that’s interesting. I have found that I have intuitive sense of being able to predict things like that as well. I predicted the current housing and rental crisis (In Australia at least… where things are slightly different) and was lucky enough to predict downturns in various industries but HAVE NO IDEA how I did it!

I am not sure what’s happening here but my phd was basically a case study on how changing consciousness (or concept[ual] frame as my supervisor called it) leads to new ways of seeing problems. Put simply, I used a model based on synthesis that sought to understand how when new concepts come and a new consciousness emerges we can begin to frame problems differently. I called it “concept shifting” or “perspective shifting” a term my phd supervisor Mike Metcalfe applied to my work. I did two case studies (empirics being what they are in research projects) one on aid organisation and one on an organisation that was in government. In short, I found that synthesis is a requirement of concept shifting and this means that new perspectives are required in messy problems in order to progress. We knew that already courtesy of ackoff’s work but my work put it into a practical process. Which I only realised six months after I got my phd!

If you want to contact me more directly I have an email address: houghtonic[at]gmail dot com or luke[at]lukehoughton dot com I would love to help out with the project if I can or even if you want me to. It sounds very interesting.

Luke

Business Model Innovation — Idealized design as an “open innovation” process
In industry after industry, companies with superior performance are
displaying innovation in the totality of the way they are doing business. This
explains why a recent _IBM survey_
(http://www-1.ibm.com/services/us/bcs/html/bcs_ceostudy2006.html) of over 765 CEOs shows: Business Model Innovation is on the
top of their list. In the absence of a single genius entrepreneur/leader,
one of the challenges confronting the businesses today is to develop a process
of ???open innovation,??? that taps into the creativity of the stakeholders and
in particular the employees of the organization to create a successful
business model. Traditional models of innovation, which relied solely on “creative
types,” usually within R&D functions, are being replaced with “open
innovation???. One of the most potent open innovation processes, is idealized design.
Originally conceived as an internal process to facilitate corporate planning,
idealized design thinking is now being used for opportunity recognition.
Transformative Leadership
Radical transformations are seldom easy. For things to happen there is a
need to transform management from the old style, command and control, to the new
style, inspiring leadership. Leadership consists of guiding, encouraging, and
facilitating the pursuit by others of ends using means, both of which they
have personally selected or the selection of which they approve. In this
formulation, leadership requires an ability to bring the will of followers into
consonance with that of the leader so they follow him or her voluntarily, with
enthusiasm and dedication.
Development vs. Growth
Growth and development are not the same thing. Neither is necessary for the
other. Nevertheless, many managers take development to be the same as growth.
Most efforts directed at corporate development are actually directed at
corporate growth. To grow is to increase in size or number. To develop is to
increase one??™s ability and desire to satisfy one??™s own needs and legitimate
desires and those of others. A legitimate desire is one that, when satisfied,
does not impede the development of anyone else. Development of individuals and
corporations is more a matter of learning than earning. It has less to do
with how much one has than how much one can do with whatever one has.

Development is better reflected in quality of life than in standard of
living. Therefore, the level of development of a corporation is better reflected
in the quality of work life it provides its employees than in its
profit-and-loss statement. If an undeveloped country or corporation was flooded with
money it would be richer but no more developed. On the other hand, if a well
developed country or corporation was suddenly deprived of wealth, it would not
be less developed. A well-developed country or corporation can do more with
its resources than one that is less developed. This is not to say that the
amount of resources available is irrelevant. Resources can be used to accelerate
development and improve quality of life, but they can best be used for these
purposes by those who are developed.

Integrative (Synthetic) Project Management (for complex project managers)
Despite significant progress in the development of computer-aided project
management tools to help plan and manage projects, “more often than not capital
projects overrun their budgets, fall behind schedule, and fail to meet their
business objectives.” This apparent paradox stems from the nature of the
“traditional paradigm applied to project management, which relies on existing
knowledge – knowledge gained from studying traditional approaches.”
The current approach has limitations. Generally, it is good for doing
projects in a stable environment. The problem with project performance is
paradigmatic, i.e. using a wrong mindset. The new approach requires the project
managers to mange the interaction of the parts of the project rather than managing
each part separately.
Recreating Capital Projects
Effective capital project management is an important discipline for
international bodies, governments, and corporations because capital projects
typically require large investments and involve significant potential benefits and
risks. A large number of project management techniques and tools have been
developed but this proliferation has not led to great project success. In fact,
the governmental project that meets or exceeds expectations seems almost the
exception rather than the rule. Large corporations do not seem to be doing much
better. Using systems thinking to show how the capital project can be
re-created and improved through integrating successful aspects of various
real-world projects within a systemic framework to develop an improved project
system.
Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management (including the use of
channels and platforms To tap into the rich tacit knowledge (knowledge that
resides in people??™s heads)
Why do corporations, on average, have shorter life spans than the people who
populate them? Because, say the theorists, people are more capable of
learning from experience than are corporations.
With change the only constant in today’s economy, the key to competitiveness
is the ability to adapt to changes we can’t control and to learn about the
ones we can control. The decline of some well-established firms and the
diminishing competitive power of others have made learning an essential competence
for organizational success.
Organizational learning (OL) is the set of processes and structures that
help people create new knowledge, share their understanding, and continuously
improve themselves and the results of the enterprise. OL builds competencies
for supporting transformation throughout the organizational system. Most
important, it considers human, operational, and technical issues at work,
including ways to build processes and structures that deal with philosophical,
psychological, and sociological forces at play in every organization.
???Building Corporate ???Black Boxes??™: A Different Perspective on.
Organizational
Learning.???
Most of us are familiar with the role of ???black boxes??? as they exist in
aircraft. We know that they are there to help us learn from mistakes and
thereby improve the performance of aircraft and the aviation system as a whole.
Imagine what would happen if the aviation system did not learn and adapt to
changes quickly and efficiently. Unfortunately, this is the case with most
organizations. Nevertheless, a number of corporations have successfully built
learning and adaptive systems.
Unlearning/Learning Organizations ??“ The Role of Mindset
Most learning by adults and organizations occurs when something new replaces
in the
mind that which was previously thought to be known, that is, unlearning.
Unlearning
must frequently precede or at least occur simultaneously with learning.
Nevertheless, the
literature on organizational learning has virtually ignored the unlearning
process until
recently when few authors have given it some attention. Research in the
field of
organizational learning and knowledge management shows that learning and
adaptation
takes place much more easily within the prevailing mindset (view of the
world) than
outside of it.
Unlearning is a challenge because the human tendency to preserve a
particular view of
the world is very strong and the change to a new paradigm not only requires
an ultimate
act of learning but also of unlearning.
Our assumptions about the nature of reality can impose the most severe
restrictions on
our ability to learn. Unlearning these assumptions requires raising them to
consciousness
and this can occur only when we confront the dilemmas that they create.
Therefore,
raising our worldview to consciousness is among the most important things we
can do to
enhance our learning and unlearning. It is possible to design systems that
not only facilitate learning and unlearning within the prevailing worldview
but it can generate questions about the adequacy of the assumptions that make
up that concept of reality.

Luke

Thanks for the comment… I hope this helps!

Luke

I am a big fan of Ackoff… but I am also a big fan of the complexity guys. I was introduced to Stacey recently (well three years ago) and I really like that idea of complex adaptive processes… especially when it comes to learning… I think he makes an important point. I guess in that sense I am more familiar with the European complexity “strategy” people than the Americans. Though, after what you have written I now have more to look up! I have followed the debate surrounding Ackoff and complexity… I need to look it up to respond with more intelligence!

Thanks for your comment,

Luke

Best
Gamy