http://theburningplatform.com/blog/2010/08/29/the-age-of-mammon-featured-article/ a very important read about crony capitalism by an acquaintance; i think the co-opting of politicians by business interests is a stain on our former republic. Finance has joined what was once an exclusive club of the military indutrial complex, which was joined by energy consortiums, exemplified by halliburton which was a combination of […]
Tag: design
how OD interventions need to be adapted to fit different cultural contexts.
Image by Okinawa Soba (In Asia and Africa until August) via Flickr Cummings and Worley acknowledge the importance of appreciating, if not understanding, the cultural context when considering an OD interventions. This includes culture on a national, regional, tribal, religious and ethnic dimension as well as the traditional social norms. They remind us that interventions […]
Reflecting on surveys for organizational feedback
Image via Wikipedia Discuss the usefulness and limitations of survey feedback. What are the key issues/problems the OD practitioner has to be aware of while feeding back data? Usefulness of survey feedback (when it is effective) (Cummings & Worley, 2009, pp141-2): Motivation to work with the data: organization members have to believe in the purpose […]
10 sigma in the news again
Image via Wikipedia Risks are magnified after a historically volatile event like Thursday. The 11.3% intraday move was a 10 sigma event (if you treat the daily range of SPY as a normal Gaussian distribution). Per the excellent blog at http://www.aleph.se/andart/archives/2009/09/ten_sigma_numerics_and_finance.html, a 10 sigma event can be expected to occur in 1x 10^23 days or […]
Complexity in process consulting: a good thing?
Image via Wikipedia A colleague used the word “simplistic” in describing the 10 principles of process consulting offered by Ed Schein. I interpreted his use of the word simplistic in describing shines 10 principles as a negative thing. There’s a part of me that remembers the 10 Commandments are simplistic too. In my studies of […]
Learning from the process consultant
Image via Wikipedia Think about the last time you worked with a consultant in your organization: looking back at what the consultant did and said, were there any specific behaviors that surprised you? Did she do something that you and the faculty were not already capable of doing? If they did something new, is the […]
Planning considerations for “insider” consultants
Image via Wikipedia as an inside consultant with considerable knowledge of the status quo, what kinds of procedures or checklists or attitudes do you think are necessary to ensure that we are taking a fresh look at a well-known situation to find root causes? How dangerous is it for the organization to have OD consultants […]
Information technology: integrating IT into Strategic planning
Image by Chris Pirillo via Flickr Your information technology department MUST be part of your strategic planning process for our value can be created and multiplied2 reasons: 1. they have possibilities and enablers that may suggest new ways that your value can be created,d explanded, multplied, leveraged 2. if they don’t know where you are […]
A reflection on educating Army officers in force management
Image via Wikipedia The college in-briefed the new Commander yesterday; From the dialogue emerged his 4 priorities 1. Leader Development (sub-bullets below are not all-inclusive) – Develop and implement ILE 2010 – Identify ILE and captains career course backlog issues related to ARFORGEN 2. Mission Command Center of Excellence (We emphasized LD&E’s contribution of manpower […]
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 […]