Johtamisen ja hallinnon jakaminen itseohjautuvissa organisaatioissa

Objective of the Study The objective of this research was to study how leadership and management processes are distributed in self-managed organizations, with a focus on leadership processes. According to contemporary organizational theorist, there is a need to reorganize organizations to better deal with the prevailing increasingly complex business environment. Additionally, it is engrained in public thought that the absence of leadership, means the absence of organization. The main research question of this study was: How are leadership and management distributed in self-managed organization? The main question was approached through three sub questions: SQ1: How should one define “agile” self-managed organizations? SQ2: What sub processes are associated with leadership? and SQ3: How do agile practitioners in leadership positions view leadership? Methodology and Theoretical Framework The theoretical framework of the study was based on suggestions from agile practitioners and previously conducted studies by the researcher. The framework describes an academically derived understanding of self-managed organization, to support the view of contemporary leadership and organizational literature. Additionally, it builds on a previously constructed model of viewing leadership as a process listing associated sub processes to leadership and management. The empirical part followed a qualitative research approach. Data was gathered through six semi-structured research interviews with two agile consultants and four individuals having leadership roles in self-managed organizations. The consultants were added for a more theoretical view on the subject. Findings and Conclusions The findings of this study indicate that leaders of agile organizations see leadership as a process, supporting the theories that leadership and management are a subset of processes separate from each other, but all are needed in some form to successfully operate an organization. Additionally, it was found that scientific research in contextual ambidexterity of organizations, best describes the notions presented in contemporary leadership and organizational literature, in a fashion that is academically acceptable. Finally, this research suggests, based on the findings, that self-managed organization or contextually ambidextrous organizations, have become the best way to deal with the prevailing complex business environment, since “knowledge” has become the central resource in today’s society, as opposed to capital during the previous century.Tutkimuksen tavoitteet Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoitus oli tutkia miten johtamisen ja hallinnon prosessit ovat hajautettu itseohjautuvissa organisaatioissa, keskittyen johtamiseen liittyviin prosesseihin. Nykyajan organisaatioteoreetikoiden mukaan on tarve uudelleen organisoida organisaatioita, jotta ne pystyvät paremmin käsittelemään vallitsevaa ja kiihtyvää liikemaailman monimutkaisuutta. Tämän lisäksi julkiseen ymmärrykseen on juurtunut käsitys, että johtamisen poissaolo tarkoittaa, ettei organisaatiota ole laisinkaan. Tutkimuksen päätutkimuskysymys oli: Miten johtaminen ja hallinto ovat hajautettu itseohjautuvissa organisaatioissa? Päätutkimuskysymykseen pyrittiin vastaamaan kolmen alakysymyksen avulla: SQ1: Miten tulisi määrittää ketterät itseohjautuvat organisaatiot? SQ2: Mitkä alaprosessit liittyvät johtamiseen? Ja SQ3: Miten johtotehtävissä olevat, ketteryyttä harjoittavat henkilöt näkevät johtamisen. Tutkimusmenetelmä ja teoreettinen viitekehys Teoreettinen viitekehys pohjautui ketteryyttä harjoittavien asiantuntijoiden ehdotuksiin ja tutkijan aikaisempaan tutkimukseen. Viitekehys kuvailee tieteellisesti polveutuvaa ymmärrystä itseohjautuvista organisaatioista, tukeakseen nykyajan johtamisen ja hallinnon kirjallisuutta. Lisäksi tutkimus rakentuu aikaisemman tutkimuksen rakentamaan malliin, joka näkee johtamisen prosessina ja luettelee johtamiseen, sekä hallintoon liittyviä alaprosesseja. Empiirinen osuus tutkimuksesta toteutettiin laadullisena tutkimuksena. Tutkimusaineisto kerättiin kuudella puolistrukturoiduilla teemahaastatteluilla, haastattelemalla neljää, ketterissä organisaatioissa, johtotehtävissä olevaa henkilöä ja kahta ketterää konsulttia. Tutkimuksen tulokset ja johtopäätökset Tutkimuksen tulokset viittaavat ketterien organisaatioiden johtajien näkevän johtamisen prosessina. Tämä tukee johtamisen ja hallinnon teorioita, jotka näkevät nämä prosessit sarjana eroteltavia alaprosesseja, mutta joita kaikkia kaivataan jossain muodossa voidakseen onnistuneesti johtaa organisaatiota. Tämän lisäksi todettiin tieteellisen tutkimuksen ”contextual ambidexterity”:n olevan paras tieteellisesti hyväksytty kuvailu ketteristä organisaatioista. Lopuksi tämä tutkimus esittää väitteen, että ketterä organisoituminen organisaatioissa on paras tapa käsitellä maailman jatkuvasti kiihtyvää liiketoiminta ympäristöä, koska tiedosta on muodostunut keskeisin resurssi tämän päivän yhteiskunnassa, varallisuuden sijaan mikä oli edellisen vuosisadan keskeisin resurssi

A Short History of Cybernetics in the United States: The Origin of Cybernetics

Key events in the history of cybernetics and the American Society for Cybernetics are discussed, among them the origin of cybernetics in the Macy Foundation conferences in the late 1940s and early 1950s; different interpretations of cybernetics by several professional societies; reasons why the U.S. government did or did not support cybernetics in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s; early experiments in cyberspace in the 1970s; conversations with Soviet scientists in the 1980s; the development of „second order“ cybernetics; and increased interest in cybernetics in Europe and the United States in the 2000s, due at least in part to improved understanding of the assumptions underlying the cybernetics movement. The history of cybernetics in the United States is viewed from the perspective of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) and several questions are addressed as to its future.Key events in the history of cybernetics and the American Society for Cybernetics are discussed, among them the origin of cybernetics in the Macy Foundation conferences in the late 1940s and early 1950s; different interpretations of cybernetics by several professional societies; reasons why the U.S. government did or did not support cybernetics in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s; early experiments in cyberspace in the 1970s; conversations with Soviet scientists in the 1980s; the development of „second order“ cybernetics; and increased interest in cybernetics in Europe and the United States in the 2000s, due at least in part to improved understanding of the assumptions underlying the cybernetics movement. The history of cybernetics in the United States is viewed from the perspective of the American Society for Cybernetics (ASC) and several questions are addressed as to its future

Confidentiala "Mode 3" Systems Approach for Knowledge Creation, Diffusion and Use: Towards a 21st Century Fractal Innovation Ecosystem. ACES Working Paper (Report) No. 4, 2007

"Mode 3" allows and emphasizes the co-existence and co-evolution of different knowledge and innovation paradigms: the competitiveness and superiority of a knowledge system is highly determined by its adaptive capacity to combine and integrate different knowledge and innovation modes via co-evolution, co-specialization and coopetition [sic] of knowledge stock and flow dynamics. What results is an emerging fractal knowledge and innovation ecosystem, well-configured for the knowledge economy and society. The intrinsic litmus test of the capacity of such an ecosystem to survive and prosper in the context of continually glocalizing [sic] and intensifying competition represents the ultimate competitiveness benchmark with regards to the robustness and quality of the ecosystem's knowledge and innovation architecture and topology

Systems of the quality management of goods-monetary exchange processes. Alternative approach

Objective: to demonstrate alternative solutions to the problem of ensuring the quality of goods and services, taking into account the interests of all participants in the process of commodity and money exchange, to outline the main directions for building a quality management system based on the use of the existing scientific developments in the field of economic theory and the theory of quality management as an integral element of economics.Methods: the research is based on a systematic approach, as well as the basic provisions of the theory of new institutional economics (neoinstitutionalism), which expands the microeconomic analysis, involving factors that are not taken into account by theclassical microeconomic theory, in particular, transaction costs.Results: the study established a direct connection between the target function of the main economic agents interacting during the commodity-money exchange and the characteristic of the exchange object quality, expressed in the form of total costs (transformational and transactional); the role of unilateral account of transformation costs in the formation of opportunistic behavior of the manufacturer is determined and, as a consequence, the need for mandatory accounting of transaction costs in the formation of analytical concepts of the theory of quality management. The possibility is shown of applying an isomorphic, adequate model of the balance of interests of participants in commodity-money exchange, based on the theory of energy dynamics.Scientific novelty: for the first time, the work substantiates the existence of a direct connection between the target function of the main economic agents functioning and the commodity-monetary exchange with the characteristics of the exchange object quality.Practical significance: using the results obtained in the course of research, a manager may design a quality management system focused on meeting the needs of all participants in the commodity exchange

Using the Interpersonal Action-Learning Cycle to Invite Thinking, Attentive Comprehension

This chapter shows how the interpersonal action-learning cycle (IALC) can be used to invite thinking, attentive comprehension from learners in conversation. It explains what the IALC is, where it comes from, how it works, and why. In particular, it offers a logical demonstration that all interpersonal learning takes place within the IALC, and that all competition for dominance lies outside it – suggesting conscious use of the IALC as a desirable practice. The chapter goes on to explore linguistic factors that routinely disrupt use of the IALC, and that can hide its very existence. Strategies for restoring and stabilizing it are offered. Routine use of the IALC can have profound implications for teaching and instruction, collaborative learning, assessment, course evaluation, and professional development. These are explored

Should knowledge of management be organized as theories or as methods?

The philosophy of science has traditionally assumed that knowledge should be organized in the form of theories. From theories propositions can be deduced that can be tested in experiments. Most propositions deduced from theories take the form of if-then statements. For example, if variable A increases, what happens to variable B, assuming that all other variables are held constant? However, an alternative way of organizing knowledge, in the form of producer-product relationships, was proposed by the philosopher E.A. Singer, Jr. and advocated by two of his students, C. West Churchman and Russell L. Ackoff. Whether to structure knowledge in the form of theories or methods is related to the question of whether there is a fundamental difference between the natural and the social sciences. As opposed to Karl Popper’s doctrine of the unity of method, this paper argues that structuring knowledge in the form of methods is appropriate in applied fields, particularly in management where a large part of the task is to achieve agreement among a group of knowing subjects on an appropriate set of actions

Managing Problems of Postmodernity: Some Heuristics for Evaluation of Systems Approaches

According to social scientists the contemporary western societies manifest an unparalleled scientific, technological and economic development, and, at the same time, a normative, ethical and spiritual crisis. This imbalance makes the management of societal problems very difficult. In this research, the question of investigation is: what help does the contemporary scientific problem-management approaches provide to our postmodern societies? Hence in order to manage its problems, the contemporary western societies -- that is us -- have designed an amount of intellectual problem-solving instruments -- called here systems approaches -- such as Operations Research & Management Sciences, Systems Analysis, Systems Engineering, Decision Sciences, Cybernetics, Soft Systems Thinking, etc. This self-referentiality asks for investigation, that is, what is the relation between the characteristics of the contemporary western societies and the problem-solving instruments that these societies have conceived? By means of meta-modeling, a set of evaluation heuristics have been constructed and employed to some of the main contemporary problem-solving systems approaches. Two types of results have been obtained. First, evaluation heuristics have provided some new intelligibility that previous findings have not been able to do; therefore they seem to be a valuable addition to support an understanding of scientific problem-solving approaches. Second, the diversity of systems approaches promises to become a powerful support in managing societal problems when combined in the form of a toolbox, but, at the same time, an impotence of systems thinking has been identified with regard to its various religious ground-motives. The latter makes any prospects of human advancement pessimistic

Feedback systems in the design and development process

Feedback is essential in the design and development process, occurring in the generation of new designs, in the adaptation of development projects to emerging information, and in coordination and collaboration of project participants—among many other aspects. Feedback also contributes to development project complexity and may cause resistance to desirable changes. But despite the importance of feedback in the design and development process (DDP), relatively few publications have examined this topic in an integrated way. This article makes two contributions towards addressing the gap. First, a conceptual framework is developed to organise perspectives on feedback in the DDP literature. The framework shows how feedback occurs at different levels of the design and development process and how it affects important DDP behaviours, namely goal-seeking, learning and emergence. Second, a system-theoretic model of feedback situations in the design and development process is introduced to synthesise key ideas. We provide concrete examples to show how this new model can be used to frame DDP situations and draw out feedback-related insight

Business Architecture Tool (BAT) : development and assessment of a systems framework to guide organisations from concept to delivery, in terms of creating deeper and meaningful integration across processes and functions

This thesis is based upon a prolonged research period, wherein a practical systems based tool (prototype), was researched, developed and tested, so as to gain outputs of integration improvements for service delivery in South Africa (SA) specifically, and in general for developmental economies. The research question can be summarised as: "to develop a systems-based intervention tool, able to provide practical integration improvements from concept to delivery". Existing systems methods and approaches were accessed, and based upon their utility for the local context, were used to varying degrees, in "building" the prototype, which was tested across a number of interventions, categorised under "world of the client"; and "world of the designer" (firm created for this purpose). Being aware of local and international implementation challenges by virtue of experience as consultant for a number of governments, whereby national planning and implementation techniques tend to be embed mechanistic models of thinking directly affecting how agents and agencies: understand the problem; plan to resolve the problem; and implement the designed solutions. The research sought to recover key systems insights in order to build a practical tool that could reduce negative outcomes, perpetrated by well-intended reforms, having limited integrative thinking, planning and delivery. The research required long-term observation, reflection, and extensive literature review. A distinctive feature of the research is the account of the author's exploration of his learning and development, within University of Cape Town PhD: Business Architecture embedded in complexity and systems theory