informal coalitions

The time machine of organizational decision making

In Technology, Management and Society*, Peter Drucker describes decision making as

“… essentially a time machine which synchronizes into one present a great number of divergent time-spans.” 

“Our approach today,” he goes on, “still tends towards the making of plans for something we will decide to do in the future. This may be a very entertaining exercise, but it is a futile one.”

Incredibly, Drucker first made this statement to a management conference in 1957!  And yet, 50 years on, the notion that present and future decision making are separated in time still dominates management thinking; the former focusing on current operations and the latter on the visions, strategies and plans intended to realise the desired future.

So how do Drucker’s insights on the time dimension of decision making and the need to focus on the present play into current thinking about the dynamics of organizations?

Orange's "I am Everyone" advert and an informal coalitions view of identity

Travelling on the London Underground yesterday, I caught sight of an ad by international communications company, Orange. 

Its message was both straightforward and profound:

"I am who I am because of Everyone."

"Google 'I am'", said the advert.  So, at the first opportunity, I did.  And a sponsored link took me to Orange's website. There I found a one-minute clip of the company's I am Everyone tv advert, based on the same theme.

It struck me how well this captures the informal coalitions view on the nature of 'who we are' and how our identities are formed.

The limits of rationality and the illusion of management control in organizational change

Stories abound of change efforts that have petered out, failed to deliver the expected benefits or disappointed those who were once their most enthusiastic supporters. All too often, the initial enthusiasm, intense activity and (frequently) large-scale investment are followed by disillusionment, cynicism and a feeling of wasted effort.

Can we escape from this pattern into something more useful or is it inevitable that events will take this course?

London's secret river

I run an OD network which meets regularly in London.  Today's session was led by a former Director of Arts Council England, Dawn Langley. In it, she introduced some of the arts-based practices that she uses to engage people in organizations through words and pictures.  One of these involves translating matter-of-fact articles, reports and so on into what Dawn calls "found poems".

Inspired by the creativity that network members had shown in using this technique, I thought I would while away the time on the train journey home by giving it another go.  As source, I used a fascinating article written by Valentine Low in tonight's London Evening Standard, entitled "West End's secret river".

The resulting poem uses words solely from the article itself. And, apart from some minor changes for effect, the words appear in their original order.  These were self-imposed constraints.  Dawn is much more accommodating! Her approach allows as much 'poetic licence' as needed to 'find the poem within'.

As light relief from my more serious musings on informal coalitions and all things organizational dynamics, I thought I would add the poem to the blog.  So here goes!