My take on the problem with force management is that it has been treated as a complicated problem, suitable for central planning (PPBES) and not as a complex problem, rife with social & political context, in a dynamic state where the variables change parameters far faster than the planned decision cycles. Consequently, we never get […]
Tag: action research
How important is contextual knowledge for process consultants in business settings?
Image via Wikipedia am interested in knowing in what two or three adjectives you would use to describe the essential nature of the environment that you operate in for your business. What do you consider to be the most important environmental influences on the system that is your business? Is your environment something that your […]
A reflection on charismatic leadership
Image via Wikipedia I am naturally skeptical about charismatic leaders, but I have seen its power in action. Just before GEN Petraeus left our college to take command in Iraq he gathered faculty and students in our large auditorium, which seats 2500. He spoke in a very relaxed manner, hardly the tone you might expect […]
Reflecting on self-directed leadership in a military college environment (an action research approach)
Image via Wikipedia The purpose of this assignment is reflect upon my learning through this course and to describe what I am doing to provide for the development of leadership capabilities in those who look to me for direction and guidance. My professional work centers on preparing Army organizational leaders for a world of complexity […]
A reflection on Hunt’s “Leadership: A new synthesis” (1996)
Image via Wikipedia remember that Hunt is writing his synthesis in 1996, and he comes from the leadership discipline, not education or cognitive neuroscience. He is good when it comes to synthesizing existing literature, but his excursions into the future of “what-if” are not very convincing. There has been a lot of important work done […]
education, leadership, biodiversity and the limits of reason
Image via Wikipedia at the other end of the time scale from the doctoral programs, i think the right model to use is that of bio-diversity. It’s not “survival of the fittest” in the wild, it is extinction of the unfit & toleration of the “good enough” which promotes a broad gene pool. A broad […]
A reflection on leading and managing a complex Participatory Action Research curriculum project
Image via Wikipedia 1. Introduction The purpose of this paper is to examine my current leadership skills. I will describe and reflect upon a recent curriculum project that I was in charge of at the US Army command and Gen. staff College. I will use a lens of the Bolman and Deal four Frameworks to evaluate […]
A reflection on action research “storytelling”
What follows is a 1st person, stream of consciousness reflection written to my mentor & committee chair. I describe what it was like to record a 10 min video “telling the story” of some preliminary findings emerging from my action research cycles into curriculum and adult learning. The video is hosted at YouTube. It […]
Reflections on myself as an adult learner
Who am I as an adult learner: I am framing the answer within the context of my “Big 5” (Strelecky, 2007). The “Big 5” focus my thoughts about self, purpose, mission and values. In Strelecky’s work, the Big 5 are 5 things you want to accomplish in your life. My “Big 5” are all states […]
Management games for deep insight
Peter Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) describes the use of models to help us frame questions to ask of the world, and which help us become explicit about our world views, assumptions, frames of reference, theories of cause and effect, values, and desired outcomes. Checkland, P. (2006) Learning for action: A short definitive account of […]