Prototypes Fall 2010. 2 Contents Recitation Chapter 13 –Openness Chapter 14 –Localness Chapter...

Prototypes

Fall 2010

2

Contents Recitation Chapter 13 –Openness Chapter 14 –Localness Chapter 15 –A Manager’s Time Chapter 16 –Ending the war between

work and family Chapter 17 –Microworlds: Technology

for the Learning Organization Chapter 18 –The Leader’s New Work

February 19, 2004 3

Recitation What is the role of the

subconscious in personal mastery?

February 19, 2004 4

Recitation Mental Models are important

because… Shared vision has the effect of….. Team learning is supported by what

other disciplines? Inquiry and reflection are used by

what discipline? What two conversational techniques

does Team Learning use?

Part IV: Prototypes

Senge, Chapter 13--OPENNESS

THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

6

Prototypes Are essential to discovering and

solving key problems We are in the prototyping stage Significant innovation requires

prototyping

7

Where are we (in the Rawls COBA)? Somewhere between invention and

innovation To what extent are we open to

innovation? To what extent are we willing to

address new curricula new organizational structures

Prepared by James R. Burns

February 19, 2004 8

What explicit innovations would we like to see prototyped?

Many of these will fail Out of these failures workable structures will

evolve Sometimes this is the only way to learn and

advance the state of practice For some firms a culture that encourages

trying new things even though they will fail fosters learning

To what extent do we provide a “laboratory” for research in organizational learning?


9

Another Reality: Business Integration Integrating themes

Information technology Quality Entrepreneurship Leadership Systems thinking/System dynamics Projects and processes

February 19, 2004 10

Business Integration

ACC FIN IS MAN MAR

Information Technology

Quality

Leadership/Entrepreneurship

Systems Thinking/System Dynamics


11

Back to prototyping

How to encourage openness the elimination of politics and game playing

How to discourage localness (Ch 14) the distribution of responsibility widely, while

retaining coordination/control How do managers create the time for

learning (Ch 15) How can the war between work and family be

ended (Ch 16) How can we learn from Microworlds (Ch17)



Openness--Chapter 13--Outline How to eliminate politics and game

playing Building an environment where self

interest is not paramount Participative Openness and Reflective

Openness Openness & Complexity The Spirit of Openness Freedom



How to eliminate politics and game playing A political environment is one in which

“WHO” is more important than “WHAT” Who proposes the idea is more important

than the idea itself Some individuals lose political power

at the expense of others The wielding of arbitrary power over

others is the essence of authoritarianism



Is there anything that can be done about org. politics?? In most orgs, no, Senge says, so

don’t even dwell on it Yet very few people want to live in

organizations corrupted by internal politics and game playing

Challenging the grip of politics and game playing starts with building shared vision



Shared vision Galvanizes people beyond their

personal agendas and self interest We want an organizational climate

dominated by merit rather than politics, where doing what is right predominates over who wants what done.



Openness The norm of speaking openly --

participative openness The capacity to continually

challenge one’s own thinking -- reflective openness

Openness is needed to break down the game playing that is deeply embedded in most organizations



Building an environment where self interest is not paramount

Badaracco and Ellsworth in Leadership and the Quest for Integrity assume that practitioners believe that people are motivated by self-interest and by a search for power and wealth

The assumption can be self-fulfilling; assume this and you will have a very political org.

Really, people want to be part of something larger than themselves

Personal Mastery encourages people to look beyond themselves for personal vision



Shared Visions Draw forth this broader commitment

and concern Begins to establish a sense of trust that

comes naturally Start by getting people to talk about

what is really important to them When people hear each other’s visions,

the political environment begins to crumble



Honesty begins to Prevail Honesty and forthrightness must

pervade every relationship Cannot sanction lying to anyone,

administrators, students



Unlearning the habits of politics and game playing Shared vision, once it takes root,

does not completely dissolve game playing



Participative Openness and Reflective Openness Most Common, Part. Openness-the

freedom to speak one’s mind Because participative

management is widely espoused. But total honesty does not prevail There is little real learning



Reflective Openness

While Part. Openness gets people speaking out, reflective openness gets people looking inward

Starts with the willingness to challenge our own thinking


Reflective Openness, Continued Requires that we test our views,

assumptions against other peoples views, assumptions and revise them as necessary

Requires inquiry and reflection discussed in the mental models chapter


Localness

Senge: Chapter 14THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE


How to achieve control without controlling

LOCALNESS--extending authority and power as far from the top or corporate center as possible

More akin to the word EMPOWERMENT Learning organizations are ones in

which thinking and acting are merged for every participant

Localness is especially needed in times of rapid change


Two new challenges emerge How to get senior managers to

give up control to local managers How to make local control work


Giving up control:

Will this make senior managers dispensable?

Senior managers must assume responsibility for continually enhancing the organization’s capacity for learning--THEIR NEW ROLE


Other questions about localness: How can locally controlled

organizations achieve coordination? Synergy between business units? Collaborative efforts toward common

corporate-wide objectives? How can the local organization be

something other than just a holding company


What experience has shown: Rigid authoritarian hierarchies thwart

learning Hierarchies fail to harness the spirit,

enthusiasm, and knowledge of people throughout the organization and to be responsible for shifting business conditions

Failure has sprung up from not being able to relinquish control


Learning organizations:

do less controlling of people’s behavior

invest in improving the quality of people’s thinking

invest in improving the capacity for reflection and learning

develop shared visions develop shared understandings


The illusion of being in control Most senior managers would rather

give up anything than control Senge illustrates the illusion of

control from the top with roller skates connected by springs

Even though senior managers think they are in control, they are not


Vacillation

When business is going well, localness prevails

When business is not going well, control gets returned to central management

Such vacillation is a testament to a deep lack of confidence

Is an example of a “shifting the burden” archetype


Beliefs

Unless senior management believes: that the quality of learning the ability to adapt the excitement and enthusiasm the human growth ARE WORTH THE RISK, they will never

choose to build a locally controlled organization


Today: Expediency

Many organizations are cutting management levels

Becoming more locally controlled, to cut costs

But these arrangements do not last a business downturn, usually


Control without controlling

Local decision making may not be wise Local decisions can be myopic, failing to

appreciate the impacts of decisions Just because no one is in control does

not mean that there is no control Central control is too slow and too

unaware of what is happening locally


The Tragedy of the Commons Archetype What is right for each part is wrong

for the whole This is also called

“suboptimization” in the context of quality management

Each individual focuses only on his own needs, not on the needs of the whole


Tragedy of the Commons Archetype, Continued Occur frequently in businesses

where localness is valued When several divisions share a

common support group



Corporations’ Depletable Commons financial capital, productive capital,

technology community reputation, good-will of

customers and suppliers, morale of employees

When a company decentralizes, local divisions compete with each other for those limited resources

Andersen…


The experience

Breaking business into smaller pieces is supposed to encourage local initiative and risk taking

IN FACT, IT DOES JUST THE OPPOSITE


The experience, Continued Divisionalization and autonomy

has created more short-term oriented managers, managers who are more driven by the bottom line

These aggressive division managers are driven by short-term profits only



Managing COMMONS structures Who will manage the commons? Depletion of the commons will work

to everyone’s disadvantage Establish signals that will alert local

actors that a commons is in danger Do not take “below the waterline

risks” as was the case for the Titanic


The new role of central management Identifying and managing the

COMMONS Become a researcher and designer

Test new structures in a simulative environment, and recommend those that succeed

Encourage organizational learning Encourage risk-taking


Forgiveness

Localness must encourage risk taking

To do so is to practice forgiveness “If you are making mistakes, that

means you are making decisions and taking risks--and we won’t grow unless you take risks

“Making the mistake is punishment enough”

A Manager’s Time

Senge: Chapter 15THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE


How do manager’s create the time for learning? How do we expect people to learn

when they have little time to think and reflect, individually and collaboratively?

Even when there is time to reflect,…... Most managers do not consider the impact

their actions have had carefully Managers are too busy contemplating their

next move to consider why their previous policy did not pan out


What do American Managers do?

They adopt a strategy When it runs into problems, they switch

to another strategy Then to another and another Possibly to 4 or 6 different strategies,

without once examining why a strategy seems to be failing

Senge calls this the READY, FIRE, AIM atmosphere of American Corporations


Learning takes time When managing mental models, it

takes considerable time to surface assumptions, examine their consistency, their accuracy, and see how different models can be knit together into more systemic perspectives


The example of Hanover’s O’Brien Doesn’t schedule short meetings Only considers complex, dilemma-

like “divergent” issues Only makes 12 decisions a year


Hanover’s O’Brien, Continued If a manager is making 20 decisions a

day, the manager is looking at convergent issues that should be dealt with more locally or is giving insufficient time to complex problems

Either way its a sign that management work is being handled poorly



For top level managers Their job should be consumed with

identifying important issues the organization must address and helping others sort through decisions they must make


In the future, Senge suggests High-level managers will spend

more time reflecting, modeling and designing learner processes

Because reflection and inquiry are integral to the development of valid mental models


Managers must set aside time for thinking The way each of us go about

managing our time will say a good deal about our commitment to learning

Ending the War Between Work and Family

Senge, Chapter 16THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE


Introduction Finding a balance between work and

family--number one issue Learning organizations will, Senge

believes, end the imbalance between work and family

Personal visions are multifaceted--personal, professional and family lives

The boundary between work and family is anathema to system thinkers

Prepared by James R. BurnsPrepared by James R. Burns


The Structure of Work/Family Imbalance Success to the Successful

Archetype, page 308



Success to the Successful

Success in workDesire for work time

Time in work

Time in family

Success in familyDesire for family time



This is very unstable

Once it starts to drift one way or another, it will tend to continue to drift

There are several reasons why it tends to drift toward more and more time at work Income pushing ahead at work becomes a convenient

excuse for avoiding the anguish of going home to an unhappy spouse

The imbalance is not self-correcting--it gets worse over time



The Futility of Managing your Life Within this Structure One-time improvements in family

tend to get overwhelmed by escalating pressures at work

Eventually, people realize that the structure itself must get changed



The Individual’s Role in changing the structure Is it really your vision to have a balance

between work and family? Making a conscious choice will entail

setting clear personal goals for time at home. being home for dinner, giving up weekends for

family, reduce evening business meetings Be willing to pay a price for taking a stand

for a vision of balance between work and family



The Organization’s Role By fostering such conflict, orgs. distract

and un-empower their members By fostering such conflict, orgs. fail to

exploit a potential synergy that can exist between learning orgs, learning individuals, learning families

Bill O’Brien says the skills of leadership in a learning organization are the skills of effective parenting.



What does Leading involve in a Learning Organization? Supporting people in clarifying and

pursuing their own visions Helping people discover underlying

causes of problems, and empowering them to make choices

Looking for synergy between productive family and productive work life



Senge believes these changes will lead more

organizations to undo divisive pressures and demands that create family/work imbalances

orgs will acknowledge that strong companies cannot be built on a foundation of broken homes and strained personal relationships



Steps Orgs. can Take Provide day care for single parents Support personal mastery as a part

of the org’s philosophy and strategy Make it acceptable for people to

acknowledge family issues Where needed, help people obtain

counseling and guidance for how to make effective use of their family time



The conflict of work and home is ... a conflict of time a conflict of values but can be perceived as something

else entirely



What the parent learns at home…. can be used at work how to build self-esteem works in

both contexts, for example



Let’s take a break Stand up Walk around the room—in single file

Bet its been a few years since you’ve been asked to do that

Now return to your chair Now, touch the top of your head

with your left hand Now sit down

Microworlds: The Technology of the Learning

Organization

Microworlds: The Technology of the Learning

Organization

Senge, Chapter 17THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE


How can we rediscover the child learner within us?How can we rediscover the child learner within us?

Human beings learn best through firsthand experience.

Learning by doing only works so long as the feedback from our actions is rapid and unambiguous

But learning from experience is neither rapid nor unambiguous because the consequences of our actions are separated from us in time and space


How then can we learn? Microworlds (MW)How then can we learn? Microworlds (MW)

MWs enable managers and management teams to begin “learning by doing”

MWs are nothing more or less than interactive simulations

MWs compress time and space so that it becomes possible to experiment and to learn when the consequences are in the distant future and in distant parts of the organization


Transitional objects: the way children learnTransitional objects: the way children learn

Children have a rate of learning that is truly astounding

They rehearse with transitional objects: dolls, blocks, play-houses, etc..

Managers too have their transitional objects: MWs

When teams go white-water rafting, participate in a role playing exercise, participate in a dialogue practice session, they are engaging in a microworld.


Transitional objects: Are they the best?Transitional objects: Are they the best? A white-water rafting trip doesn’t

produce powerful insights into strategic business issues

Role-playing exercises do not show us whether our personnel policies are aligned with our manufacturing and marketing policies


What about computer simulations?What about computer simulations? PC is ubiquitous and getting more

powerful every month These simulations will prove to be

a critical technology for implementing the disciplines of the learning organization


How Does Organizational Learning Occur?How Does Organizational Learning Occur? According to Shell’s Arie de Geus,

by Changing the rules of the game

(through openness and localness) Through play Microworlds are places for relevant

play


MWs allow for….MWs allow for….

issues and dynamics of complex business situations to be explored through trying out new strategies and policies and seeing what might happen

Costs of failed experiments disappear Organizational sanctions against

experimentation are nonexistent


MWs are being used today by managers….MWs are being used today by managers…. for managing growth for product development for improving quality in both

service and manufacturing business

and they build upon the system archetypes


MW1: Future Learning: Discovering Internal Contradictions in a Strategy

MW1: Future Learning: Discovering Internal Contradictions in a Strategy

Lying behind all strategies are assumptions, which remain implicit and untested

These assumptions have internal contradictions

Such internal contradictions cause the strategy to also have internal contradictions

Such internal contradictions make the strategy difficult to implement


The Business Plan of Index Computer CompanyThe Business Plan of Index Computer Company GOAL: reach 2 billion in sales in four

years Reqd. James Sawyer, vice pres. of sales,

to double his sales force Other top managers were

unsympathetic saying “you will work it out”

While uncomfortable, Mr. Sawyer did not want to become a “nay sayer.”


Executives split into 3-person microworld teams to play out the consequences of the sales plan

Executives split into 3-person microworld teams to play out the consequences of the sales plan They constructed an explicit model of

the assumptions behind the plan 20% annual sales growth Hire 20% more salespeople and you

make 20% more sales Sawyer says “wait a minute...not all

salespeople are equal…there is much they have to learn…before they can sell a single system


Sawyer continues...Sawyer continues...

we got most of our sales people originally by hiring away from competitors

today 20% is so many people that we cannot possibly get experienced people from our competitors

assumptions were changed to show inexperienced sales people to be only 1/3 to 1/4 as productive as experienced salespeople


ConsequencesConsequences

could not reach goal of $2 billion in sales in four years

could only get to $1.5 billion Attempts to get to $2 billion

resulted in having to double the sales force in the fourth year alone

This would wreak havoc on the sales organization and the personnel budget


Sawyer’s assessmentSawyer’s assessment

There would be a lot of pressure on our veterans

And, our veterans would have to train the new salespeople

This wold result in more veterans leaving This would create a vicious cycle Many of our veterans came to us to escape

this kind of situation somewhere else


Then Susan Willis, Director of Human Resources had her say

Then Susan Willis, Director of Human Resources had her say sales people resist any call to

invest their time in training and developing new salespeople


Further, Susan Willis said: Sawyer said this was because of

hiring the most aggressive salespeople who get their kicks and their commissions from closing a sale in the field There are no incentives or commissions

for helping newcomers The proposed strategic plan would

simply reinforce this problem


Conclusions of the MW session at IndexConclusions of the MW session at Index Train new sales people more quickly Establish new rewards for sales

managers to develop their staffs Get more support to help senior

sales people mentor and train new sales people

Create a MW for training new sales people


MW2: Seeing Hidden Strategic Opportunities: How our Beliefs Influence our Customer’s Preferences

MW2: Seeing Hidden Strategic Opportunities: How our Beliefs Influence our Customer’s Preferences

Here again MWs are helpful in surfacing different assumptions and discovering how they can be related in a larger understanding

Bill Seaver and John Henry are president and VP for Meadowlands Shelving Company

They have reached an impasse in the way they saw their customers and their market


Seaver believes...Seaver believes...

That the key to success in the market place lays in having good products priced competitively


Henry agrees but...Henry agrees but...

Also felt service quality could play a big part in whether or not customers chose Meadowlands

Believed the company should invest in upgrading its service through training Meadowlands dealers in performing a wide range of services from better account management to office design and troubleshooting customers problems


Seaver’s response was...Seaver’s response was...

These are good ideas but he didn’t support spending significantly more on dealer support because he was convinced that it would not have significant impact on Meadowlands’ sales.


Sales people said...Sales people said...

“Our competitors are discounting like mad and we can only hold our own if we match or better them”

When Henry himself talked with customers, frequently they said they would rather have 5% off on their sales order than have better service after the sale

Still he held onto his belief that there must be a way to gain competitive advantage through better service


What the MW showed...What the MW showed...

Continual discounts in the face of poor service quality became a vicious circle

Efforts to maintain customers with better service quality lacked credibility because they had experienced poor service for so long


Further, the MW showed… Investing in service quality took a

long time to exhibit its effects because customers have to experience

improved service before they take it seriously

the repurchasing delay in the shelving industry took two-to-four years


Both Seaver and Henry were right….Both Seaver and Henry were right….

Seaver was right in the short run Henry, in the long Both learned a lot about the way the

company interacted with its customers and within itself.MW3: Discovering Untapped Leverage: The Drift to Low Quality in Service Businesses

The Leader’s New Work

Peter Senge, THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE, Chapter 18


Self-directed teams require a new leadership style The traditional style of clear directions

and well-intentioned manipulation doesn’t work

People with a sense of their own vision and commitment would naturally reject efforts of a leader to get them committed.

One leader did not know what to do, now that he had a self-directed team


Our view of leaders….

Is wrong Especially in the West, leaders are

heros--great men who rise to the occasion

This view reinforces a focus on events and charismatic control of those events rather than on systemic forces and collective learning


Our view of leaders, continued At its heart, the traditional view of

leadership is based on assumptions of people’s powerlessness, their lack of personal vision and inability to master the forces of change


The new view of leadership in learning organizations Leaders are designers, stewards, and

teachers Leaders build organizations where

people continually expand their capacity to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental models

That is, leaders are responsible for creating a culture where learning is rewarded


Leader as …..

Suppose your org is an ocean liner and you are the leader. What is your role? The commonest answer, not

surprisingly, is “the captain.” Other less common answers include the

helmsman, the navigator, the social director (making sure everybody is involved, and communicating)


The neglected leadership role is … the designer of the ship. No one has a more sweeping influence

than the designer. It does no good for the captain of the ship

to say turn starboard 30 deg. when the designer only allowed for 15 deg.

Yet NO ONE thinks of the designer when they think of the leader’s new role!!

February 19, 2004 100

Why did no one think of the designer Lao-tzu: little credit goes to the

designer The functions of design are rarely

visible Consequences today are the result

of work done long ago in the past Design work today will show its

consequences long in the future

February 19, 2004 101

What must leaders design?

Policies, strategies, “systems,” organizations, specifically

Selection policies Vision strategies Value systems Culture systems Measurement systems Rewards systems Criteria by which excellence will be

determined

February 19, 2004 102

And what of Design? It is an integrative initiative

All of the parts must fit together and work well together as a whole under a variety of circumstances

The leader must view the firm as a “system” -- Ray Strata

Corporate executives must become organizational architects -- Ed Simon

February 19, 2004 103

Gives rise to a new discipline: Business Design

Must loose focus on the P&L statement Look at the long term, instead Have to get away from piecemeal

reactions to problems Have to integrate the five component

technologies Must integrate vision, values, purpose,

systems thinking, and mental models The synergy of the disciplines can propel

an organization to major breakthroughs

February 19, 2004 104

First tasks of Business Design

Design the governing ideas--purpose, vision, and core values

Building shared vision is important because it fosters a longer-term orientation and an imperative for learning

Get the systems thinking going early on Get the concept of mental models and

surfacing underlying assumptions going early as well

February 19, 2004 105

Subsequent tasks of Business Design Design the learning processes Get personal mastery going

February 19, 2004 106

The Leader as Steward Leaders have a purpose story

This is an overarching explanation of why they do what they do

how their organizations need to evolve how that evolution is part of

something larger Most gifted leaders have a “larger

story”

February 19, 2004 107

The Leader as Teacher First job of leader is to define

reality Leader must help people achieve

more accurate, more insightful and more empowering views of reality

Must view reality at four levels: events, patterns, structures and ultimately a “purpose story”

February 19, 2004 108

Creative Tension What role does it play in

leadership?

February 19, 2004 109

How can such Leaders be Developed??

February 19, 2004 110

Time to Choose Learning or not Systems thinking or not PM or not MM or not SV or not TL or not

THE END

That is all, FolksSee you tomorrow

February 19, 2004 112

February 19, 2004 113

Prototypes Fall 2010. 2 Contents Recitation Chapter 13 –Openness Chapter 14 –Localness Chapter...

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Transcript of Prototypes Fall 2010. 2 Contents Recitation Chapter 13 –Openness Chapter 14 –Localness Chapter...