Category Archives: organisations
zoom
Over the past year or so, I have noticed a shift in the kinds of work which organisational consulting colleagues are engaging with, a change which may perhaps be connected with the current popularity of 1-1 and small group coaching. … Continue reading
not an abandoned monument
From the opening pages of his 2-volume work on The Psychology of Personal Constructs, George Kelly emphasises the essentially active nature of our universe and everything in it, reminding us, rather neatly, that ‘the world is not an abandoned monument … Continue reading
uncharted territories
I have been looking at this map of management structure at the BBC, published to illustrate a piece about the Jimmy Savile story and show ‘how it happened’. As an image, it has acquired some dynamism thanks to the journalist’s … Continue reading
subjectively speaking…
Following Martha Raddatz’s much-admired moderation of the recent US vice-presidential debate, Glenn Greenwald has published a brief essay on the Guardian website addressing ‘faux objectivity’ in journalism. He notes that, for establishment journalists, objectivity is the holy grail that distinguishes … Continue reading
money talks
Constructivists interested in the performative power of language will find rich, if depressing, material in the traders’ emails revealed during the breaking of the Barclays/Libor scandal. In his blog, Joris Luyendijk suggests that the vocabulary of the trading floor may … Continue reading
curiosity and complexity
At a workshop last week the ‘Kafkaesque’ processes of institutions were a recurring theme and a source of many frustrations. In the interests of reclaiming energy, and potentially replacing frustration with some lively curiosity, here are a few alternative viewpoints: … Continue reading
paradox and change
I have been sent an interesting report from the University of East Anglia: Professional Culture Conflicts: change issues in public service delivery authored by Brown, Higham, Elliott and O’Hanlon www.uea.ac.uk/ssf/cue-east/Professional+Culture+Conflicts+-+report Their main claim, which will be recognised by consultants working … Continue reading
map or no map?
In a conversation about planning (or not) following the last post, Fiona Duggan reminded me of two stories from the Strategy Bites Back collection. (This is the lighter-spirited follow-up to the excellent Strategy Safari by Mintzberg, Ahlstrad & Lampel) The first … Continue reading
the limits of planning
An invitation last week to a discussion on business planning led to some interesting debate. Given the widespread uncertainty in all areas of organisational life, a powerful contrast emerged between those who advocate the preparation of more comprehensive and detailed … Continue reading
reframing business ethics
At a Tate symposium this weekend on the artist and immaterial labour, Stefano Harney from Queen Mary (University of London) startled the arts audience by proposing that management was the prime example of immaterial labour, citing its focus on harnessing … Continue reading