Senge, Chapter 13 THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE Part IV: Prototypes Senge, Chapter 13 THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

Prepared by James R. Burns Prototypes Are essential to discovering and solving key problems We are in the prototyping stage Significant innovation requires prototyping Prepared by James R. Burns

Prepared by James R. Burns Where are we? Somewhere between invention and innovation To what extent are we open to innovation? To what extent are we willing to address new curricula new organizational structures Prepared by James R. Burns

What explicit innovations would we like to see prototyped? Many of these will fail Out of these failures workable structures will evolve Sometimes this is the only way to learn and advance the state of practice For some firms a culture that encourages trying new things even though they will fail fosters learning To what extent do we provide a “laboratory” for research in organizational learning? Prepared by James R. Burns

Another Reality: Business Integration Integrating themes Information technology Quality Entrepreneurship Leadership Systems thinking/System dynamics Projects and processes February 19, 2000 Prepared by James R. Burns

Prepared by James R. Burns Business Integration FIN IS MAN MAR ACC Information Technology Quality Leadership/Entrepreneurship Systems Thinking/System Dynamics Prepared by James R. Burns

Prepared by James R. Burns Back to prototyping How to encourage openness the elimination of politics and game playing How to discourage localness (Ch 14) the distribution of responsibility widely, while retaining coordination/control How do managers create the time for learning (Ch 15) How can the war between work and family be ended (Ch 16) How can we learn from Microworlds (Ch17) Prepared by James R. Burns

Openness--Chapter 13--Outline How to eliminate politics and game playing Building an environment where self interest is not paramount Participative Openness and Reflective Openness Openness & Complexity The Spirit of Openness Freedom Prepared by James R. Burns

How to eliminate politics and game playing A political environment is one in which “WHO” is more important than “WHAT” Who proposes the idea is more important than the idea itself Some individuals lose political power at the expense of others The wielding of arbitrary power over others is the essence of authoritarianism Prepared by James R. Burns

Is there anything that can be done about org. politics?? In most orgs, no, Senge says, so don’t even dwell on it Yet very few people want to linve in organizations corrupted by internal politics and game playing Challenging the grip of politics and game playing starts with building shared vision Prepared by James R. Burns

Prepared by James R. Burns Shared vision Galvanizes people beyond their personal agendas and self interest We want an organizational climate dominated by merit rather than politics, where doing what is right predominates over who wants what done. Prepared by James R. Burns

Prepared by James R. Burns Openness The norm of speaking openly -- participative openness The capacity to continually challenge one’s own thinking -- reflective openness Openness is needed to break down the game playing that is deeply embedded in most organizations Prepared by James R. Burns

Building an environment where self interest is not paramount Badaracco and Ellsworth in Leadership and the Quest for Integrity assume that practitioners believe that people are motivated by self-interest and by a search for power and wealth The assumption can be self-fulfilling; assume this and you will have a very political org. Really, people want to be part of something larger than themselves Personal Mastery encourages people to look beyond themselves for personal vision Prepared by James R. Burns

Prepared by James R. Burns Shared Visions Draw forth this broader commitment and concern Begins to establish a sense of trust that comes naturally Start by getting people to talk about what is really important to them When people hear each other’s visions, the political environment begins to crumble Prepared by James R. Burns

Honesty begins to Prevail Honesty and forthrightness must pervade every relationship Cannot sanction lying to anyone, administrators, students Prepared by James R. Burns

Unlearning the habits of politics and game playing Shared vision, once it takes root, does not completely dissolve game playing Prepared by James R. Burns

Participative Openness and Reflective Openness Most Common, Part. Openness-the freedom to speak one’s mind Because participative management is widely espoused. But total honesty does not prevail There is little real learning Prepared by James R. Burns

Reflective Openness While Part. Openness gets people speaking out, reflective openness gets people looking inward Starts with the willingness to challenge our own thinking

Reflective Openness, Continued Requires that we test our views, assumptions against other peoples views, assumptions and revise them as necessary Requires inquiry and reflection discussed in the mental models chapter Prepared by James R. Burns

Prepared by James R. Burns Openness & Complexity Prepared by James R. Burns

Prepared by James R. Burns The Spirit of Openness Prepared by James R. Burns

Prepared by James R. Burns Freedom Prepared by James R. Burns

Copyright C 2000 by James R. Burns All rights reserved world-wide. CLEAR Project Steering Committee members have a right to use these slides in their presentations. However, they do not have the right to remove this copyright or to remove the “prepared by….” footnote that appears at the bottom of each slide. Prepared by James R. Burns