Some interesting ideas emerging from recent posts in other blogs regarding a panel discussion held recently at Brainstorm, the annual conference jointly run by FORTUNE and the Aspen Institute.
The full text of the Fortune Magazine article has been posted by Robert Paterson on his Blog, and commented on by Jonnie Moore on his Blog.
I found the perspectives of the different CEOs etc refreshing really ?? that they were able to succinctly describe what the new organisational model is ?? or will become! Key characteristics of that model that I could identify in the article include
- networked structures – with individual members of the network focusing on their core business and outsourcing the rest
- democratisation – made possible by the transparent exchange of ideas via open communication channels (eg Blogs!)
- balance of power shifting from management to employee
- process oriented architecture (as opposed to top-down systems) – promoting collaborative approaches to develop products in shorter periods of time
- Perception of the “big company” that is really a veneer over a whole range of smaller, interlinked businesses and enterprises.
What I need to do is spend some time pondering on what this means for the organisation of schools ?? if this level of democracy is to be a characteristic of the commercial and social environment, then we??ve got some pretty significant ??catch-up?? to do in the education sector in the way we conceive of and organise schooling.
I particularly liked Morgan??s comment: ??We need to change our thinking from “command and control” to “coordinate and cultivate.?? – this is consistent with my own preference for thinking about schooling in ‘organic’ ways, using a ‘growth metaphor’ to describe the structure, purpose, operation etc.
It does strike me, however, that it??s easy to think about coordination at a local level ?? but the real need is for coordination at a national/international level ?? and that will require a commitment to developing standards, partnerships and letting go of traditional power bases (control).
As a sobering endpoint to this entry, the comment from Jim Breyer [a venture capitalist from Accel Partners] rings true with the situation we are facing here in NZ:
- “My comment is related to my role as board member at Wal-Mart. Even if decentralization and localization is the right business ethic and strategy, corporate boards and CEOs need to sign off on financial statements. Sarbanes-Oxley [the congressional act that requires companies to document their actions much more carefully] has pushed it the other way. It forces boards and CEOs to take much more of a command-and-control perspective, when in fact a decentralized perspective is the right way to build a business.”
4 replies on “Future organisations?”
I find this whole transition from industrial-age to knowledge-age fascinating. You may be interested in the writing of Charles Reigeluth which is specifically focussed on education at http://php.indiana.edu/~reigelut/2.5sys.html
The characteristics you list are a subset of Reigeluth’s knowledge-age keymarkers which I quoted at http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/stephen.harlow/2004/07/connecting-unconnected.html
This statement is something I really like ??We need to change our thinking from “command and control” to “coordinate and cultivate.?? To make this happen for our learners we need to make sure we practise what we preach. Without sound networks of educators we are not going to progress down this road easily. For me it is becoming more and more crucial that the network of educators needs to be well versed in what they need to do to facilitate the changes to make our world more like this. A “coordinate and cultivate?? education system.
Stephen – appreciate your reference to Reigeluth – and the URLs supplied. I’m well acquainted with his work through my previous life as a lecturer in Ed Tech at CHCH College of Education – I still have one of his books on my shelf.
The chart you’ve provided on your site is very useful in helping understand what some of these “journeys” are that we are taking in various educational contexts at present – provided we see each of these as something of a continuum, and not interpret the binaries as an “either/or” choice.
Certainly, Reigeluth’s writings assist in helping us see the issues introduced by these industy leaders within an educational context.
Thanks
Derek are you able to clean comments messages off your Blog. You might like to do that with a comment posted to your message back in July called data driven decision making.