Saturday, December 15, 2007

2. Systems approaches

Among system thinking are these ideas;

1. Rythm of change (Mintzberg and Huy 2003)
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2003/summer/13/

From the extract:
"Although a lot of attention is focused on the type of change that is imposed dramatically from the top, Huy and Mintzberg believe that this view should be tempered by the realization that effective organizational change often emerges inadvertently (organic change) or develops in a more orderly fashion (systematic change). Because dramatic change alone can be just drama, systematic change by itself can be deadening, and organic change without the other two can be chaotic, the authors argue that they must be combined or, more often, sequenced and paced over time, creating a rhythm of change. When functioning in a kind of dynamic symbiosis, dramatic change can instead provide impetus, systematic change can instill order, and organic change can generate enthusiasm.

"The authors illustrate their framework with older and newer examples, saying that this highlights another crucial point: The problem with change is the present. Today's obsession with change tends to blind managers to the fact that the basic processes of change and continuity do not change."

2. Businesses as chains, hubs and webs.

Ivy Business Journal September/October 2000
TAKING A CLOSER LOOK: REVIEWING THE ORGANIZATIONby H Mintzberg and L Van Der Heyden
The organization chart can no longer help us understand what an organization does. What's needed in these dynamic times is a much richer diagram that gives us a more revealing picture of a more dynamic organization. That organization can be a hub, a web or a chain. It is critical that we understand each of these forms and how they work in a particular organization. Then, and only then, will we be able to understand how an organization really works.
http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/article.asp?intArticle_ID=254

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