Kicking Command and Control New Messages

System Failures Why public services have got worse and worse.

System Failures: ; System Failures; Why public services have got worse and worse. . By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy 2 comments. When I was young most of the electrical and mechanical equipment we used needed constant maintenance to avoid constant break-downs.[1] Cars, lorries, washing machines, motor bikes, TV sets, gramophones, were all unreliable.[2] Manufacturers were thought to be deliberately creating something called "Built-in obsolescence" so that we would have to buy the new models they produced each year.[3] Those days are past.[4] In the world of mass-produced technologies, systems breakdowns are now a rarity, and the real costs of individual items have fallen dramatically.[5] Delivering higher and higher performance for lower and lower prices.[6] Yet our social and administrative systems seem to have become less and less reliable and effective.[7] Schools, health services, call centres, policing, prisons, politics, ...
---Last comment Tue Mar 2 17:28:42 2010 by Andrew Carey:
More Success Stories I thought you might be interested to know that a lot more success stories have now been published in a follow-up to John Seddon s book.[1] Delivering Public Services that Work is a collection of six Case Studies with a Foreword by John Seddon showing Systems Thinking at work in different public services roads, housing, benefits .[2] It s proof that this approach works. ... Tags: ministerial_meddling improving_public_services

kicking- System Failures Call Center Purpose

System Failures: kicking-; System Failures; Call Center Purpose. kicking- By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy 1 comments. One of the key components of systems thinking is the idea of "Purpose".[1] If the driving purpose of a Call Center operative is to minimise their Average Handling Time, AHT in order to satisfy some useless Command and Control 'metrics' the service they give will be perfunctary at best and frequently lousy.[2] In Call Centres run by systems thinkers, the driving purpose is to understand what is bothering the customers and use that knowledge to a give the customer the service they need and b use that knowledge to improve the firm's systems and products.[3] Certainly, systems thinkers collect data but the data is used to understand why the customer is unhappy with the firm's products and services, and to work out how to improve them.[4] By working together to understand and improve the ...
---Last comment Wed Jun 24 07:51:55 2009 by Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy :
Tripp Babbitt's latest post contrasts the many types of waste generated by Command and Control Thinking with the reduction in waste and improvements in performance that result from the introduction of Systems Thinking in Call Centers.[1] As always, Tripp says many wise things, but I think that he and other very able systems bloggers need to 're-frame' their messages.[2] In order to break though the culture barriers, Tripp et al have to recognise ... Tags: aht working_together satisfied_cusomers win_win_systems

kicking- System Failures THE FAILURES OF AMERICAN LEADERSHIP 01

System Failures: kicking-; System Failures; THE FAILURES OF AMERICAN LEADERSHIP 01. kicking- By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy No other country in the world is so obsessed with the topic of Leadership - in business, government, civil society and the military - as is the USA: and it wants the world to follow its lead.[1] You can now get US-inspired MBAs on every continent, while the US government, authoritarian billionaires, and right-wing foundations put hundreds of millions of dollars a year into US-style programmes of leadership and leader development all around the world.[2] Yet, over the decades, the USA's authoritarian leaders and command and control leadership models have failed miserably and, in many cases, criminally, with disastrous consequences for millions of its citizens at home and many other countries.[3] Before the current ecological, economic and security crises, high-flying American leaders have led ...

kicking- System Failures Carbon Reduction targets won t work.

System Failures: kicking-; System Failures; Carbon Reduction targets won't work. . kicking- By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy NASA's leading climate scientist, James Hansen, advocates the introduction of a Carbon Tax to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.[1] He has been told by John Romm of the climate progress blog "Your opposition to Waxman-Markey's cap and trade Bill is ill-conceived and unhelpful.[2] There isn t going to be a carbon tax nor should there be.[3] Get over it and move on." Romm is a supporter of Cap-and-Trade and opposes a Carbon Tax because "it doesn t have mandatory targets and timetables.[4] Thus it doesn t guarantee specific emissions results and thus doesn t guarantee specific climate benefits." Systems thinkers as varied as W.[5] Edwards Deming, Stafford Beer, Peter Checkland, Horst Rittell, Jake Chapman, John Seddon and Richard David Hames have shown that the "targets and timetables" approach does ... Tags: carbon_tax cap_and_trade http_climateprogress_org_john_robb jameshansen waxman_m

Systems Thinking YOU TOO CAN BE A SYSTEMS THINKER

Systems Thinking: ; Systems Thinking; YOU TOO CAN BE A SYSTEMS THINKER. By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy 1 comments. If you want to find out about systems thinking or systems theory go to Wikipedia for guidance, you may decide that you do not want to explore these crucial topics further.[1] Wikipedia shows that systems thinking and systems theory are vast topics that have attracted some of the best minds of the 20th century.[2] However, you may find the unfamiliar language and the range of detail and variety in the material offered by Wikipedia a total turn-off.[3] That would be a great shame, because without a basic understanding of key systems concepts and methodologies, you will not be able to play a useful part in tackling the huge threats looming over the human family in the 21st Century.[4] On the other hand, by concentrating on just a few aspects of systems thinking and systems theory, I could be accused ...
---Last comment Wed Mar 4 12:47:04 2009 by Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy :
For some reason my links didn't work in the previous post.[1] Hopefully they will this time and when you reach the site, watch John Seddon's Video Welcome, and click through on "GETTING BACK TO CARING:..." , "SYSTEMS THINKING PEOPLE:..." and "SYSTEMS THINKING TAKES OFF IN THE SOUTHWEST:..."for starters.[2] enjoy ... Tags: local_government road_repairs the_greater_good

Funding the Campaign Ideas are not enough.

Funding the Campaign: ; Funding the Campaign; Ideas are not enough.. By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy Having better ideas is crucially important but as a Spanish Grandee said 400 years ago, wars are won by the side that has the last escudo .[1] If the human family survives the 21st Century it will be because Leaders who deploy participative processes of large-system transformation will have replaced today's top-down, ideologically-rigid, elite-centred, Command and Control dinosaurs At this moment however, vast sums of money are being spent propping up the Command and Control paradigm.[2] Bill Gates' parents gave $400 Million to Cambridge University to endow the Gates leadership programme, for example.[3] The Gates' gift is just a tiny fraction of the money available to force-feed Command and Control KoolAid to future generations and reinforce its lobotomising effects on their elders.[4] To help our ...

Good Leaders Naming names, telling stories

Good Leaders: ; Good Leaders; Naming names, telling stories. By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy In the last half of the 20th Century, a number of men remarkably demonstrated how a shift in thinking about leadership can both create successful organisations from scratch, and achieved spectacular rescues in failing ones.[1] Names that come to mind are Herb Kelleher of SW Airlines, Ricardo Semler of SEMCO, Dee Hock of the VISA Corporation, Pat Lanchester of LANTECH, Andy Law of St.[2] Lukes Advertising Agency.[3] Their stories exemplify the importance of Kicking the Command and Control Kool-aid.[4] Those exceptional men achieved what they did without too much in the way of theory to guide them.[5] But add systems thinking to the examples they offer and there is a very real possibility of a profound revolution in our understanding of what leadership the 21st Century. ... Tags: 21st_century_leadership_rescuing_failed_organisaitons

How to Kick Command and Control THINKING YOUR WAY INTO A BETTER FUTURE

How to Kick Command and Control: ; How to Kick Command and Control; THINKING YOUR WAY INTO A BETTER FUTURE . By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy John Seddon puts it this way: THINKING -> SYSTEM -> OUTCOMES.[1] In other words, if you don't like the outcomes produced by any human system, then you have to put the blame on the Thinking that provides the DNA of the system.[2] Put another way, if you want to change the outcomes of the system, you have to start by changing the thinking of those who are responsible for the system.[3] That is a very difficult challenge, but if it is not addressed, all the fancy managerialist techniques and tools will be a waste of time and energy.[4] The essential shift in thinking, of course, is from the Command and Control mindset, to one that sees leadership in terms of initiating and sustaining the participative processes by which the whole system constantly improves its capacity to learn, adapt, and respond ... Tags: system_outcomes system_change learning_systems participative_processes

Participative Methodologies First find your Liberating Leaders

Participative Methodologies: ; Participative Methodologies; First find your Liberating Leaders. By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy In the early 1980s, I spent four years as a Research Fellow in the Participation Research Unit of Manchester Business School.[1] Over a three year period, I interviewed scores of senior executives, systems designers, clerks, journalists, engineers, process workers, mail-order "pickers" and middle managers on their experiences in LONG-TERM processes of participative systems change.[2] During the 1970s, the idea of industrial and community "participation" had been all the rage.[3] In that decade I had designed and implemented many warmly-welcomed but sadly SHORT-LIVED "participation exercises" for city councils and health authorities in the UK.[4] What made LONG TERM PARTICIPATION possible in teh firms we were studying It was not until I had almost finished reviewing the transcripts of my ... Tags: paulo_freire liberating_human_potential dialogue_vs_monologue

kicking- Priorities - Dilemma from tankers to shoals

Priorities - Dilemma: kicking-; Priorities - Dilemma; from tankers to shoals. kicking- By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy Today's global financial crisis is a systemic consequence of the Neo-Martian political and economic decisions made in the 20th century.[1] Desperate but unavailing measures are being taken to stem the accelerating collapse of the whole rotten system.[2] The 21st century will see many more profound systemic collapses as the Neo-Martian paradigm takes it terrible toll.[3] All the proposed financial rescue packages will accelerate the collapse of the basic life-support systems of the planet.[4] The scientific consensus is that if our governments try to pursue the Neo-Martian goal of restoring Business As Usual BAU , long before the end of the 21st Century, humanity will exceed , probably by around 100 per cent, the capacity of Gaia to supply our needs for food and water.[5] At the same time, if we ... Tags: david_wasdell tallberg_2008 neo_martian_system systemic_collapse global_warming

Intellectual Stuff What is wrong with Command and Control

Intellectual Stuff: ; Intellectual Stuff; What is wrong with Command and Control . By Barry 3 comments. When I was in the military, we used "command and control" to manage all aspects of our option.[1] I believe that the effective use of command and control is why we won wars.[2] The wars we lost were surely a result of a poor implementation of command and control. ...
---Last comment Sun Feb 15 07:00:23 2009 by Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy :
Anthony Evans in yesterday's Guardian.[1] and Simon Caulkin and Nick Cohen in today's observer all use the stupidity of the decisions made by the big UK banks to provide compelling reasons why the Command and Control model has no future.[2] Only Evans, however, makes the point that "Rather than gather more "facts", we need to find the most appropriate theory to piece what we already know together.[3] In response, WILLSON wrote the following.[4] " Good ...

kicking- Key Concepts How to get our of command and control

Key Concepts: kicking-; Key Concepts; How to get our of command and control . kicking- By Jerry 1 comments. I was searching the web for some help with management and leadership in my business.[1] I found this site and have no idea how I would change from what you call "Command and Control" to something else and what that something else would be.[2] It is easy for you to tell us that "Command and Control" is wrong, bad, ineffective, that we are addicted to it and all that.[3] But can you give us some specific ideas on what to do ...
---Last comment Mon Jan 19 12:50:39 2009 by Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy :
So much depends on your own personality, your cultutal conditioning and your position in the organisation.[1] Any of those could be a major obstacle.[2] But if you've got some leeway to try out new ideas, then start by reading anything you can get your hands on by John Seddon of Vanguard Consulting, and about W.[3] Edwards Deming.[4] Google for them both and you'll find plenty to keep you busy.[5] NB.[6] If all of this is new to you, give yourself a month of ...

Intellectual Stuff AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITIES

Intellectual Stuff: ; Intellectual Stuff; AUTHORITARIAN PERSONALITIES. By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy Prof.[1] Robert Altemeyer of Manitoba University was hauled into the limelight in 2006, when the Watergate Whistle-blower, John Dean, based much of his best-seller CONSERVATIVES WITHOUT A CONSCIENCE on the forty years of virtually unreported research he had done on the origins of this politically-disastrous phenomenon.[2] Over the years, Altemeyer has perfected questionnaires that identify what he calls "RICHT WING AUTHORITARIANS" and predict their behaviours in experimental simulations.[3] Spurred by Dean, he has put a detailed summary of his work on the internet see weblink and it is essential reading for anyone who is trying to understand the social and psychological origins of the extreme versions of Command and Control leadership that we see in our governments, presidents and prime ... Tags: authoritarian_personalities conservatives_without_a_conscience robert_altemeyer

Learning Societies COMMAND AND CONTROL vs REFLECTIVE LEADERS

Learning Societies: ; Learning Societies; COMMAND AND CONTROL vs REFLECTIVE LEADERS. By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy Donald Shon was one of the first to recognise that our societies and all of their institutions are engagesd in "continuous processes of transformation".[1] "We cannot expect new stable states, " he said, "that will endure for our own lifetimes." Consequently, "we must become able not only to transform our institutions, in response to changing situations and requirements; we must invent and develop institutions which are learning systems , that are capable of bringing about their own continuing transformation." Elsewhere in this site you will find a short blog on the negative impacts of Command and Control thinking on the emergence of effective Learning Systems.[2] The issues are complex and require much thought and discussion, but the either-or Models 1 and 2 that Schon and his colleague ... Tags: reflective_laders command_and_control_thinking learning_systems stable_states co

Intellectual Stuff SHIFTING THE PARADIGM

Intellectual Stuff: ; Intellectual Stuff; SHIFTING THE PARADIGM. By Roy Madron from Curitiba, BR and Montevideo, Uy When an obsolete 'paradigm', gives way to a radically different paradigm, an ensemble of formerly unquestioned theories, concepts, technologies, training regimes, methodologies and problem-definitions are no longer taken for granted.[1] The theories and concepts that provide the basis for the new paradigm allow scientists and scholars to re-define the puzzles that had defeated the old paradigm, and open up an array of techniques, insights and opportunities that had been - literally - unthinkable before.[2] Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, Newton, Smith, Du Pont, the Federalists, Clausewitz, Marx, Spencer, Weber, Nietzche, Ortega y Gasset, Pareto, Schumpeter, F.W.[3] Taylor, Walter Lippman, Kennan, Ayn Rand, Carl Schmidt, Andrew Marshall are among those who have made the Command and Control ...