"Warm-up" Blogs

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Knowledge Archetype.pdf

Great minds gave developed the organisation chart that can be seen on the attachment here.

House-Democrats-Health-Plan.pdf

A common reaction is: "God help us!"

Interestingly, He seems to take an even smaller role than the poor customers! You can see THEM tucked away in the bottom left hand side of the chart!

But, is this way of communicating and generating engagement with stakeholders really good enough? Value network techniques are now well known for discovering what really is happening in a system. They effortlessly lead to helping contributors negotiate win-win agreements between themselves, knowing the effect on the whole?

OK! It will take time and a subtle change in mind sets, but start small, with the customer centre stage and gradually add other key contributors. That way it is easy ...here's the start...

Useful links::

Here is an encouraging approach to applying value networks in Singapore to a single hospital.
This is how to visualise, using value networks, how viagra was discovered.
Finally, here's another example in health care. Refer to York Hospital Business Case for Family Care

Above all keep it simple to start with: keep to the essentials and seek help in doing so.

This page is at http://tinyurl.com/m2r2c8

There is an intriguing article on Cloud Computing and the Promise of On-Demand Business Innovation in Intelligent Enterprise here

The central message is that the wow is not just about technology; it is about process flexibility and reuse that will enable enterprises to quickly serve new customers and launch new lines of business. It is envisaged that Internet enabled components can be linked together to provide the flexibility needed by businesses in the 21st century, particularly within the current economic crisis.

The author implies that cloud computing is needed to deliver now the “End to end Situational Business Process (SBPs) Supporting Multiple, Simultaneous Value Chains.“

This may send shivers down the spines of enterprise architects or IT professionals and business leaders who want flexibility but fear a lack of accountability and auditability.

Fortunately, there is a more secure and controllable route. For example, consider:

1) using value networks to discover how best to meet customer needs and the interaction with the whole business

2) connecting those findings to systems that currently exist for creating the appropriate workflow, incorporating agility, compliance and performance management with rapid prototyping - see, for example Procession

It may seem complicated but start off simply. After all, it's the people that count and it needs to be intelligible. Here is a first cut business model covering a slice of your ecosystem.

You can read more about value networks and business models here

You are at http://tinyurl.com/kwofc4

"Does Increased regulation reduce corporate responsibility?"

This was the title for the annual open debate held as a regular event by the UK Institute of Business Ethics sponsored this year by Simmons & Simmons.

The event was held under the Chatham House Rule so these observations are the result of a distillation of what was debated there and my own prior knowledge. This means, though, that no attributions or acknowledgments of insights contributed by others can be made.

An understandable reaction by most businesses is that regulation invariably increases the complexity of doing business and could lead to obfuscation if regulations are too detailed. They can detract from seeing the bigger picture and also be a distraction to understanding the business itself.

Invariably, extra management time and costs are incurred and the threat of criminal proceedings is frightening.

There are also issues of accessibility, clarity and coherence, with a veritable succession of tides and unceasing waves of EU Directives, laws, departmental guidelines, regulations, standards et al that have to be navigated with guidance from Court rulings and opinions.

So why is regulation needed at all? Perhaps it all comes down to "performance," both individually and collectively as is manifest in our behaviour. And what constitutes appropriate regulation depends upon the nature of the subject matter, or context, and the form of the regulatory mechanisms and material.

For example, for health and safety issues, particularly in construction where the safety record has improved considerably, simple rules for particular situations become a statement of sensible good practice for remaining safe and healthy. However, in more fuzzy areas such as economic regulation, financial services and data protection, there is a real danger that a list of rules alone will simply be shuffled down to operational levels who simply "tick boxes" without consideration of reasons why, and the underlying principles, if any.

Taking a leaf or two from the writings of Adam Smith we are reminded of the effect of natural human instincts: that the pursuit of self interest by an individual, maximising revenue for himself in a free market, tends to maximise the total revenue of society as a whole. But in his time, the "invisible hand" as it were, was underpinned by a good dose of moral sentiment, cultivated by the strong Christian tradition. So we can see from the left hand side of the figure following that a positive impact on society can be achieved. Additionally, Adam Smith also pointed out that the division of labour, despite achieving productivity gains, induced a certain stupidity of mind, the early equivalent, perhaps of a tick box mentality!

However, we also know that selfish cattle owners overused their rights to free grazing on common land and, with no regard for their co-farmers, ruined the nutritional value of the land leading to the "tragedy of the commons." So greed had to be tempered by regulation to control access. So we can see from the right hand side of the figure that we can still aim for a positive impact on society despite human greed.

However, regulation always seems to be behind the curve of personal aspiration and performance improvement. What holistic perspectives enable us to control bad behaviour and cultivate good behaviour and get to grips with systemic failures and successes?

Two possibilities come to mind for further dialogue.

Winston Churchill once said, "The empires of the future are empires of the mind." Also, leaders and managers are always seeking ways to create more adaptive and responsive organisations and maximise knowledge value. So firstly, consider the ways in which different aspects of knowing have been represented and synthesise them to understand better the evolution of knowledge itself.

Drawing on the work of past colleague Verna Allee in her book "The Knowledge Evolution - Expanding Organizational Intelligence," I depict in the following diagram two dimensions, learning and performance, of her knowledge archetype, arrived at by analysing sixteen theoretical constructs for representing and understanding different aspects of knowing.

The right hand side depicts different aspects of performance. On the left, are corresponding aspects of learning. These are set in the traditional triangle of controls for project performance, (schedule, quality and time) with an additional vertical dimension that enables us to pin point different tasks and operations.

Suffice to observe at this point that a case can be made for applying principles to aspects in the blue zone and leaving rules firmly for the orange zone.

Secondly, utilise simple but effective approaches for visualising the effect of behaviour in organisations systemically. For example, the diagram following uses a powerful approach for combining the formal work flow with the informal conversations that impact board performance. The recent USB shareholder report (a comment on that to an ACCA related meeting is here) highlighted that conversations about the meaning of comprehensive risk management reports did not take place. Could this be the result of NED effectiveness being blunted by collegiality or group think? Would a more diverse representation on the board be appropriate or is it simply a lack of any one individual not being prepared to be "the difficult one?"

Ultimately, it seems that there is no such thing as a corporate ethic, but simply personal matters of conscience, recognising that human nature is fallible.

So, a holistic view of the place of ethics in making choices is particularly appropriate. Usefully, the knowledge archetype introduced above provides an excellent starting point for such a conversation. A more comprehensive snapshot of its contents can be seen on the attachment. Referring to this, maybe we should pin point our conscious attention on ethics when there is an over-riding concern for integrity in assessing performance, when our focus is on caring why (purpose) actions are taken, when our learning is value driven and generative; when our perspective is possessing the will, motivation and adaptability for success, plus the capacity to deduce new effects by integrating different disciplines; when our horizon is "very long" - up to 20 years. Maybe it is at this mode , one up from the top of our pyramid illustrated above, that we should develop principles and then cascade them down to the nitty gritty of specific rules and standards.

By combining what we have so far, maybe we have started the journey to replace the pursuit of self interest by the pursuit of negotiated self interest from a holistic (or systemic) perspective.

A final point. A past Chairman of the SIB, Sir Andrew Large, once agreed with me in the presence of the late Lord Weatherhill, at an ICF meeting that it would be a good idea to have some engineers on his team! At least we do add the odd diagram to punctuate the text that is the natural domain of legal minds who appear comfortable with visualising meaning from words alone!

Maybe the lack of an engineering input is one reason for the occasional corporate governance failure.

Mind map of related aspects of the Knowledge Archetype
Knowledge archetype.jpg

Table of 16 alternative author's views of knowledge aspects
Knowledge Archetype.pdf

This page has URL http://tinyurl.com/lfjlgl

Copy of a version of this note....
IBE Open Debate 9th July 2009 .pdf

With the publication today of the UK Government's White Paper ( see attachment below figure) on reforming financial markets, the impact of networks is dawning.

New approaches for conducting audits are overdue in a failed financial system. Yet overregulation and rule making can kill innovation and competitive advantage.

FACTORS THAT THE ROLE OF SUPER AUDITORS COULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ARE INTRODUCED IN A NE W NOTE - click here

The Note features the interaction of formal workflow, and informal networks (see figure below) and the need for accompanying systems that support agility.

My thanks to the real people who played their part in a recent demonstration of value networks here.

reforming_financial_markets080709.pdf

Value networks combine formal processes/workflow and informal networks. Reference will be made from time to time to metaphors and paradigms as useful ways for looking at organisations. The attached document is a compilation of texts extracted from books written by Professor Mike Jackson at the University of Hull, UK. I am grateful to him for conversations allowing me to share with him some initial ideas on how value networks fit within his System of System Methodologies and his interest.

Metaphors and Paradigms.pdf