informal coalitions

Social movement theory and informal coalitions

In Open by Default, Jesper Bindslev makes some interesting observations about the dynamics of organizations that resonate strongly with those in Informal Coalitions. In the post Organisations as social movements (15 November 2006), he argues that social movement theory can be seen as a useful way of looking at organizations and, in particular, at the social mechanisms that mobilize collective action in them.

Changing the conversations - Patricia Shaw

In his personal weblog (On conversations ... 4 December 2006), Johnnie Moore sets out some of his early thoughts on re-reading Patricia Shaw's book Changing Conversations in Organizations. The book is one of the series published in 2002 by members of the faculty and students on the University of Hertfordshire's Doctoral Programme in Organizational Change, which are referred to elsewhere in this blog.

I had the pleasure of participating in a workshop run by Patricia Shaw at the university in May 2002, timed to coincide with the launch of the book series. Some of Shaw's concluding remarks and my own thoughts on what she said are set out below. 

Key influence #5 - Gareth Morgan

Gareth Morgan is Distinguished Research Professor at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto. He is a writer and management consultant, who places particular emphasis on the use of metaphor and paradox to understand the dynamics of organizations and the challenges of change. I first saw Morgan in action at a full-day session of the Independent Change Management Forum in 1997, in which he explored various aspects of metaphor and paradox in relation to organizational change. This reinforced my attraction to the use of metaphor and analogy as language and thinking tools. His discussion of the paradoxical nature of organizations also re-ignited my interest in this important but under-explored and misunderstood aspect of organizational dynamics.

"Social software" and informal coalitions

In Lloyd Davis's Perfect Path blog, he argues (in It's Social Stupid, 7 December 2006) that blogs, wikis and on-line social networking tools provide an exciting new generation of "social software." He suggests that these tools offer support for the informal conversations and interactions that can add greatly to the vitaity and effectiveness of organizations. And he maintains that the question should no longer be about whether these tools should be adopted, but rather how best they might be used to get things done.

Ashley's dropped catch

Common sense suggests that when Ashley Giles dropped Ricky Ponting's skied shot to deep square leg in the 2nd Ashes Test his error cost England 107 runs. At the time, Ponting had scored only 35 but he reached 142 before he was eventually dismissed. This simple view of cause and effect, which privileges big events (such as dropped catches) and ignores the multitude of other seemingly incidental happenings, is typical of the way that we think about 'how things happen' in sport, in life and in organizations. It is, though, a case of crooked thinking.