The strategic and the stratigraphic: a working paper on the dynamics of organisational evolution.

Despite large debates over fundamental issues a broadly evolutionary paradigm of organisations is growing in legitimacy. It may though be preferable to replace the metaphor of the organisation as an organism with the literal assertion that both social organisations are ecologies (Weeks and Galunic, 2003). They are still classes of complex systems maintained, and specified by, replicators (or schemata Gell Mann 1994) but the interactor is not necessarily the individual organisation, or population of organisations. Conceptual evolution has been argued as a post-Kuhnian analysis of the scientific process (Hull 1988), a rival economic paradigm (references in Hodgson 1993), a view of strategy (e.g. Lloyd 1990) and an explanation of organisational transformation and learning (Price and Evans 1993, Price 1994, 1995).My concern in this paper is to compare strategic extinction and speciation events in both systems. The stratigraphic record shows a dominant pattern of extinctions and radiative speciations which then settle to stabilised ecosystems. The historical and commercial (or strategigraphic?) record illustrates a similar pattern (Rothschild 1990, Tylecote 1993, Arthur 1994). The causes of extinction events may be genuinely external to the system affected (e.g. asteroid impacts interrupting a reptilian dominated system cannot plausibly be traced to feedback processes in any coupled eco/ lithosphere) or they may be internal when the success of a particular replicator system disturbs a wider systemic balance (e.g. ice-house glaciations terminating plant dominated episodes of earth history). Strategic scale parallels of both forms of extinction event can be seen in commercial and technological history. Keywords Organisational evolution, Punctuated equilibrium, Narrative ecology, memetics

Flexible working policies and environments in UK Local Authorities: current practice

The research surveys the uptake of 'modern' or flexible working practices in UK Local Authorities, especially as it impacts on property and office accommodation. Nearly all permit flexible starting and finishing times for as many employees as is practical while forms of accredited hours working for at least some appropriate employees are policy in a majority. Flexible practices with property and ICT implications, working from home without a dedicated work station, formal policies, 'hot' desking, flexible offices and satellite or drop-in offices are less common (ca 10%) but have grown significantly in the last two years. A number of councils also report being at the stage of planning pilots. Five detailed case studies are reported. Three authorities have expanding strategic programmes for 'workstyle' changes or new ways of working. One has shifted its emphasis away from such plans toward higher density office usage only and one was awaiting the election result before anticipated permission to start. These cases do all come from authorities in areas of much higher than average property values and costs. While they have seen savings, they emphasise that the initiatives were equally about better work life balance and improved office environments. Green benefits and service enhancements are harder to quantify but are believed to have been achieved. Higher density of net space utilisation has uniformly been achieved. Executive commitment and clear member support are seen as critical strategic success factors. Clear liaison between HR, Property/ Facilities and ICT has been essential to operational success. Entrenched management attitudes and, at least initially, staff reluctance to change, are cited as the major drawbacks. Accounting and valuation practices can also be a barrier. Similar messages are provided by a variety of pilots, some undertaken deliberately as strategic tests, others as much more of an ad hoc response to local circumstances. Most have not, or not yet, seen net office space reduced. The more successful pilots were not 'just' either property or HR policy initiatives: indeed there is some evidence that initiatives involving only one of the two functions have been less successful. Service areas most frequently cited as being involved in changes are various property functions. Trading Standards and Social Services are other areas where the real or potential development of flexible working and shared desking is highlighted though the latter in particular is also cited as an area where workers in the office have particular mutual support needs. Higher density officing for less mobile workers is, in principle, an option more widely available. Workplace strategy should reflect future service delivery models, asset management plans and organisational development. New ways of working have been a tool for achieving changes in culture and delivery, but were, and are, a challenge to traditional mindsets. They will involve senior property professionals in a range of issues with which they have not traditionally been associated. Future property and workplace strategy will be driven by an authority's service models and aspirations as to working culture: but will also be a tool, alongside organisational development (OD) and ICT, to achieve change and improvement

Organisational Memetics?: Organisational Learning as a Selection Process

Companies are not only systems created and controlled by those who manage them but also self-organising entities that evolve through learning. Whereas an organism is a creation of natural replicators, genes, an organisation can be seen as a product of an alternative replicator, the meme or mental model, acting, like a gene, to preserve itself in an Evolutionary Stable System. The result is an organisation which self organises around a set of unspoken and unwritten rules and assumptions. Biological evolution is stimulated by environmental change and reproductive isolation; the process of punctuated equilibrium. Corporate innovation shows the same pattern. Innovations in products and processes occur in groups isolated from prevailing mental norms. Successful organic strains possess a genetic capability for adaptation. Organisations which wish to foster learning can develop an equivalent, mental capability. Unlike their biological counterparts they can exert conscious choice and puncture the memetic codes that seek to keep them stable; the mental models of individuals, and the strategies, paradigms and unwritten rules at the company level

Does FM destroy value? a polemic

FM has a long history of declaring, without much evidence, that it adds value as well cutting cost. In practice the latter dominates. In the process FM often detracts from business or social value and transfers costs to others

Leadership and innovation lessons from professional services firms

This paper compares and contrasts higher education with professional services firms. It considers what (if anything) leaders in higher education may gain from reflecting on how other sectors are evolving and the extent to which lessons can be learned by looking outwards. We structure the paper by outlining the world of PSFs, its many manifestations and some of the current challenges in Section 2. We then move on to compare and interpret one particular leadership framework we developed to understand PSFs, and use this to identify some potential questions for higher education leaders. Finally, we conclude by exploring how, in the light of some of the current drivers of change, our view of the higher education sector may evolve as a new ‘eco-system’ emerges

Tales of the unexpected: Perceptions of excellence in Facilities Services

ISS UK Ltd commissioned the Centre for FM Development [CFMD] at Sheffield Business School to investigate clients' perceptions of service excellence in FM. We could not locate previous studies of service excellence, as opposed to service quality in Business to Business as opposed to Business to Consumer literature. In the latter excellence is variously regarded as synonymous with expense and as being easy to do business with, even in budget environments. Our interviews confirmed those two views. Some clients perceive excellence as too high a standard to aim for - or to be seen by senior management to aim for, - except on particular customer or business critical journeys. Internal users of FM services tended to view excellence as having their problems solved within a known timescale. Other organisations have embraced pursuit of facilities excellence as part of an organisation wide strategy. They describe having been on or being on a journey beyond the limitations of SLA driven contracts. Financial evaluation of the two models was beyond the scope of the project but there is some evidence that the overall excellence model is actually more cost effective

An output approach to property portfolio performance measurement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the analysis of portfolios of office properties using measures of business outputs, namely occupation efficiency and staff satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – Satisfaction is measured using a proprietary online survey instrument that has proved highly reliable and repeatable in three separate trials. The data on 192 buildings are analysed using data envelopment analysis. Findings – Instant and significant differences are revealed between clusters of buildings and individual properties. The approach reveals inefficiencies that are concealed by more conventional cost-based metrics. Practical implications – The study has proven to be of use in gaining organisational commitment to strategic property improvements. Originality/value – The authors are not aware of this approach having been applied elsewhere in either research or application.</p

The extended narrotype: adaptation and stasis in spatial evolution.

We present the proposition that features of work spaces, in both learning spaces and offices, might be considered as the memetic or linguistic analogue of extended phenotypes. We demonstrate a synchronicity in theorising about, on the one hand processes of cognition and learning, and on the other about the design of physical space in our two chosen contexts. The actual physical expression lags the theory in both because, we argue, it reflects the narratives of both powerful occupiers of the space and the professional departments responsible for provision of same. The results are compatible with, and an independent argument for, a ‘narrative ecology’ perspective on organisations. Our intention here is the theory however the results have relevance both to accelerating learning and democratizing management. They argue for the spatial dimension to organisational studies as a subset of research and practice in organisational Darwinism

Mobility, physical space and learning

Our biological inheritance is to sense the world through many channels including the non verbal. Learning theory, in both organizational and pedagogic contexts, has come to recognise as much, yet the dominant physical expressions given to learning space in both contexts remain rooted in linear arrangements. The advent of contemporary human processing tools and artefacts have the potential to liberate the learner yet space designs, driven by dictates of notional efficiency and a view of work and learning as separate, stationary processes, constrain through a reduction in the natural reliance on sensorial, embodied human capacities. With an example of case material, we suggest an asynchronous co-evolutionary process, a syncretisation of learning theories and space design. Granting physical expression to modern views of the learning process as mobile and corporeal can, accelerate learning. Key words Workspace, workplace, learning, complexity, organizational ecology, mobilit

Room for improvement

Some businesses have begun to make space work for their staff, while others are stuck in a different ag