For all men and women out there who really want to be creative I urgently recommend this - even if I believe that you already have to be special minded in order to really understand the ingenuity of the messages between the lines:)…

How to be creative, H.MacLeaod (.pdf)

(Read more…)

“The global economy appears to be facing a serious downturn. The financial slide that began in the US in August with the dislocation of key credit markets and losses linked to sub-prime mortgages is continuing, with worrisome spin-off effects around the globe: soaring oil prices, higher commodity prices (particularly for food), a plunging US dollar and billions lost by banks. The US economy seems about to slide into a recession, which could be contagious. At the same time, investor and consumer confidence is in a downward spiral.”

What impact will this have on the employee loyalty if we face a lack of consumer confidence as general trend in the macroeconomic business? There’s a natural reciprocal and direct dependency from employee - to customer loyalty. And employee loyalty - I claim- is one of the key success factor for the participating and collaborative”employee 2.0″ in a Web 2.0/3.0 context.

“At the top of the list of concerns, as indicated by the vote,

• is lack of coordinated response and leadership (18.5%),
• followed by mismanagement of the current crisis (18.1%),
• broad-based collapse of confidence (16.7%),
• US recession (11%),
• severe global credit crunch (11%),
• rise in energy and commodity prices (7.5%),
• overreaction to the threat of recession (7.5%),
• rise in protectionism (4.4%) and
• greater income inequalities (2.2%).”

Source: 2008 World Economic Brainstorming: Addressing Uncertainty

Auszug aus: Removing Barriers to Change: The Unwritten Rules of the Game, Peter B. Scott-Morgan

“In every realm of our lives, whether we’re at work or play, there are Rules of the Game. And these rules always
come in two forms – written rules and unwritten rules.”

(Read more…)

Quelle:  The role of leadership in emergent, self-organization /  d.pdf

 ”Some of the characteristics of complex adaptive systems include: 

1. they are made up of many agents who act and interact with each other in unpredictable ways
2. they are sensitive to changes in initial conditions
3. they adjust their behavior in the aggregate to their environment in unpredictable ways
4. they oscillate between stability and instability, and
5. they produce emergent actions when approaching disequilibrium.
6. Additionally, complex systems are dynamic and non-linear, and rarely explained by simple cause–effect relationships.”

“The traditional view of organizations is based on the idea that the world is knowable because it is a kind of mechanical system in which discernable forces and basic laws of motion are in operation ([Capra, 1996] and [Stacey, 1995]). From this view, organizations consist of highly prescribed rule sets, formalized control and hierarchical authority structures, which are intended to simplify the organization’s ongoing operations and lead to simple, and well-defined and predictable responses to a changing, yet knowable world. “

Auszug aus: The role of leadership in emergent, self-organization

Leader: Controller (traditional) vs Enabler (in complex systems)

Encouraging innovation:
“Swarm intelligence” is observable in organizations as well when complex collective behavior emerges from
individuals who follow simple rules.”

“Termites construct their beautifully intricate colonial dwellings through processes that look anything but organized.
Yet, out of the activities of termite construction gangs, that form and disperse in apparently disorganized patterns,
there emerge coherently structured pillared halls and passageways, complete with air conditioning, that
accommodate thousands of inhabitants. (Goodwin, 2000, p. 42)”

“Our findings show that as enablers, leaders disrupt existing patterns of behavior, encourage novelty, and make sense of emerging events for others.”

Sensemaking:
“Our study also revealed that the leaders aided the transformation of the organization by acting as sensemakers.
Sensemaking is the process by which individuals “construct meaningful explanations for situations and their
experiences within those situations” (Gioia, 1986, p. 61). Leaders as sensemakers are important as previous research
has found top managers’ ability to scan the environment and interpret issues influence decision-making and strategic
change in organizations (Gioia & Thomas, 1996; Smircich & Stubbart, 1985; Thomas, Clark, & Gioia, 1993).”

Auszug aus dem sehr lesenswerten Manuskript von Peter A. Gloor.
Vieles wird bestätigt, was man intuitiv vermutet und man erfährt auch noch spannendes über Tim.

“COIN Definition
A Collaborative Innovation Network (COIN) is a cyberteam of self-motivated people with a
collective vision, enabled by the Web to collaborate in achieving a common goal by sharing ideas,
information and work.

It takes a series of innovators who are ahead of their time to prepare the groundwork for the
COIN. Their ideas are then picked up by a cyberteam “swarming” around the innovation by
sharing a common vision, a set of common values and a common pool of behavioral genes. They
collaborate by developing and sharing relevant knowledge in internal transparency. The main glue
that guarantees transparency and holds the network together is a shared ethical code and a bond
of mutual trust.

Initially the activities of a COIN are invisible to the hosting organization. Subsequently the hosting
organization is slow to recognize the value of the innovation of the COIN. COIN results are only
brought to the attention of top management through external recognition. Once the results of a
COIN are fully recognized, the original COIN has reached the end of its useful live. It transforms
itself into other organizational structures.”

“Looking at a large number of innovation networks, we identified four different role patterns for creators (gurus), communicators (ambassadors), collaborators (expediters), and knowledge experts. The picture below shows the contribution index pattern”

Quelle: http://www.swarmcreativity.net/html/tool_roles.htm

“To share (1592)- to divide one’s own and give part to others.”

What’s your opinion? What’s the meaning of “to share” for us, living in a world wide web 2.0 ?

“to share (2007) - exchange mental models / creating a connectedness, experience”, Cédric

“to share (2007) - exchange information combined with experience, interpretation and reflection in a virtual or non virtual space and connect to known or unknown people to enrich one’s own by giving and receiving parts to and from others”, Leila

“to share (2007) - give and get. I get, so i’d like to give. And the other way around.”, Alain

to share (2007): 2 - 1 = 3 ;-),  Stephan

Auszug aus: http://www.managingchange.com/bpr/bprcult/3culture.htm

Schein (1985) :
“[…] a pattern of basic assumptions - invented, discovered, or developed by a given group as it learns to cope with its problems of external adaptation and internal integration - that has worked well enough to be considered valid and, therefore, to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems”

Rousseau (1990) :

“Rousseau’s rings were “organised from readily accessible [outer layers] to difficult to access [inner layers]”. Rousseau’s model is re-produced below.”

” Rousseau’s model appears to capture all the key elements of culture: “a continuum from unconscious to conscious, from interpretative to behaviour, from inaccessible to accessible”. But whilst Rousseau asserts that “the layers of culture associated with values, beliefs, and expectations constitute the primary elements in organisation researchers conceptualisations of culture” (p159) it would appear from other critical researchers that in fact most research has concentrated on those more visible outer layers.”

Weiterführende Links:

http://www.managingchange.com/bpr/bprcult/3culture.htm

http://strategytank.awardspace.com/articles/Sino-American%20Cross-Cultural%20Negotiations.pdf

Auszug aus: Linking Values to Behavior

“To understand where behavior comes from—to understand why people behave the way they do—means learning about values and beliefs. While the behavior of people from another culture may seem strange to you, it probably makes sense to them. The reason any behavior makes sense is simply because it is consistent with what a person believes or holds dear. Conversely, when we say that what someone has done “makes no sense,” what we mean is that the action contradicts what we think that person feels or wants.”

Quelle: http://www.pacific.edu/sis/culture/File/sec1-1-2h1.htm