June 16, 2006
Two Papers: On Creativity & On Change
Text of both papers below the fold.
Abstract for ON CREATIVITY
The creative process is mythic at times. Inventors are stereotypically portrayed as eccentric, bordering on psychologically dysfunctional, members of society. However, there is nothing mysterious or magical about the creative process. de Bono has a large body of work on the subject, the most famous probably being his description of, and coining of the term “lateral thinking”(1973), whereby people look away from the obvious answer to a problem in order to arrive at an almost certainly better alternative answer. This paper contains two parts that address aspects of creativity much in the tradition of de Bono. The first part will present a response to some of the main points on creativity presented in Chapter 12 of the Osland et. al. (2007) text. The second part will briefly introduce and explain the work of two other sources of creative inspiration that have long held a place in the work and teaching of this writer’s professional life.
Abstract for ON CHANGE
The three brief articles that make up Chapter 22 of Osland (2007), entitled “Managing Change” encompass three entirely different approaches to dealing with change. Though they may be pitched only at the organizational level, there is nothing in them that cannot also be applied at the levels of personal and professional development. This paper will very briefly outline what I will take away from this chapter, and how I will apply it to myself and my personal, professional and organizational contexts and circumstances.
On Creativity MSWord format
On Change MSWord format
On Creativity – Larry Davies for MAN 711 06-A3, Dr. Judy Bachay, Instructor
“Give the game away.” – Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt
“Fight for it.” – Roger von Oech
The creative process is mythic at times. Inventors are stereotypically portrayed as eccentric, bordering on psychologically dysfunctional, members of society. However, there is nothing mysterious or magical about the creative process. de Bono has a large body of work on the subject, the most famous probably being his description of, and coining of the term “lateral thinking”(1973), whereby people look away from the obvious answer to a problem in order to arrive at an almost certainly better alternative answer. This paper contains two parts that address aspects of creativity much in the tradition of de Bono. The first part will present a response to some of the main points on creativity presented in Chapter 12 of the Osland et. al. (2007) text. The second part will briefly introduce and explain the work of two other sources of creative inspiration that have long held a place in the work and teaching of this writer’s professional life.
Weird Ideas
Sutton (2002) posits that management has to do its best to remove itself from the snake pits of complacency and embrace “weird ideas”. Each of the nine ideas presented in this chapter are worthy of short comment. They are addressed, for lack of space, as 1) No Management, 2) Selling, 3) Flexibility/Rigidity, 4) Discomfort, 5) Transience (or, a temporary condition), 6) K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple, stupid), 7) Drawbacks, 8) Fail faster, and 9) Open=Good, Closed=Bad.
“No management” is an argument mostly against micromanagement. Pedagogically, this follows closely with constructivist ways of teaching: being the “guide on the side” and not the “sage on the stage”. This lends itself to the understanding that the people hired to do the job should also be trusted to do the job. Though this seems self-evident, Sutton is correct in recommending that managers get out of the way.
“Selling” is important and reminds this writer of two cases. Selling is at times more important than actually innovating. The famous Sony Betamax video recorder versus the VHS standard illustrates this. Sony’s Betamax format was far superior to VHS, but Sony failed to market the product properly, and VHS, though now superseded by DVD, held top place in the market for well over 15 years, due mainly to the companies that were able to market the product more effectively. The same can be said for Bill Gates’ Microsoft, which used superior techniques to gain, and hold even to this day, a more than 90% market share in the personal computer realm.
“Flexibility/Rigidity” has to do with what this author calls (in course design) “drawing a circle”, whereby students are allowed to write or speak about any topic (flexibility), as long as it falls within the realm of the overall topic (rigidity). Conversation in the class, much like product design, and much like Bebop jazz, works seamlessly within a certain framework, but can fail as soon as it exits that framework.
“Discomfort” addresses the conservative and cautious elements in an organization, and how they must be constantly challenged with dissent, interruptions, or anxiety causing situations. When people are out of their comfort zone, they have a chance to stumble upon a new way of working, viewing or experiencing something.
“Transience (or, a temporary condition)” is actually a common sense way of constructing working relationships with any organization. Products, teams, workgroups need to follow the “Hollywood” model of coming together for a short time, always keeping in mind that the relationships built exist for a very short amount of time, and people need to adjust their mindset to the reality that “it will end shortly”.
“K.I.S.S.”, or “Keep it simple, Stupid” is a reminder that no process needs to be overly complicated; nor should it get bogged down into heavy details; nor should it entertain, once it is set in one way, the addition of other elements that detract from the original idea or plan.
“Drawbacks” of all of these types of creative innovations are obvious: a very uncertain atmosphere, acrimonious disagreements, hurt feelings. All of these things are a necessary, if unpleasant, part of any creative process.
“Fail faster” addresses the double need of 1) accepting that things will fail sometimes, usually oftentimes, and 2) if they do fail, it should happen at the earliest stages of a process or project.
Finally, “Open=Good, Closed=Bad” uses perhaps the most important example in this writers’ professional life: the Open Source Software (OSS) movement that advocates the free exchange of innovative software. The free swapping of computer code based on the idea that it will improve the lives of everyone involved is a very important value in the OSS community. Being open to new ideas and new ways of looking at things is an essential hallmark of creativity.
All in all, Sutton has done an important job of highlighting several common sense strategies to foster creativity.
Creative Realism
Thompson (2003) has an excellent treatment on the threats to creativity, and several remedies to address the threats. He begins by stating that “creative realism”, in which new ideas that are also immediately applicable to current “structures and ideas,” (p. 384) is the desired state of creativity in an organization. He then goes on to detail the four threats to team creativity, namely 1) Social Loafing, 2) Conformity, 3) Production Blocking, and 4) Downward Norm Setting.
Social Loafing is defined as it sounds: a person in a work group, for some reason, does less and less work. Conformity raises thoughts of the perennial “Yes Men” who want to please everyone and so are overly agreeable with everyone and everything. Production Blocking concerns disruptions in workflow, most especially above the level of the individual. Downward Norm Setting is the tendency for workgroups to follow the entropy toward the least performing member.
These problems are addressed in a convenient chart found at the end of this chapter (p. 397), where 10 strategies are introduced in a grid as to their effectiveness toward solving the four threats. Remedy 1, Diversifying the Team, can be implemented in hopes of diluting Conformity. Remedy 2, Analogical Reasoning, hopes to reverse conformity by leaning on less conventional ideas. Remedy 3, Brainwriting, addresses all four threats by giving individuals time to generate their own ideas, while Remedy 4, Nominal Group Technique, extends this to sharing these ideas with the whole group. Remedy 5, Creating Organizational Memory is simply a way of archiving the creative activities of group sessions, whether the ideas generated were immediately used or not. Trained Facilitators, which is Remedy 6, can be used for motivation and for controlling the pace and direction of a particular work group. High Benchmarks, Remedy 7, is instituted mainly to establish goals that groups will aim for, and are usually formed to be expectantly high. Remedy 8, Membership Change, proposes the switching out of some members, and the switching in of others. This is done to keep the flow of ideas lively and fresh, and to reduce Downward Norm Setting. Remedy 9, this author’s personal favorite, Electronic brainstorming, seeks to use the powers of newer technologies to facilitate a more equitable generation and sharing of ideas. Finally, Creating a Playground, Remedy 10, seeks to bring fun into the equation, raising motivation and getting rid of conformity.
Reflection
Both of these authors offer excellent ideas to foster creativity in workgroups. They address a spectrum of issues that may inhibit creativity, and offer a variety of approaches and ideas that can only work to enhance creativity. Reading this chapter has reminded this author of two additional sources of creativity strategies that have been used on both the personal and social levels, and that intersect at many points with the ideas presented by the chapter authors. The following sections very briefly introduce these two additional sources.
Creative Whack Pack
von Oech’s (2003) Creative Whack Pack is a deck of 64 playing cards that are a creative workshop in and of itself. von Oech’s approach to creativity is to tell a very brief story on each card, followed by one, two or three questions related to both the overall theme of the card, and the specific main point of the card. The cards themselves are divided into four stages of creativity, with each stage compromising sixteen different cards.
The “Explorer” stage cards help you to find resources. It is similar to “brainstorming” or “brainwriting” in that it seeks to generate as many diverse ideas as possible. One card in this stage is entitled “Let Your Mind Wander” (card 15) and poses the series of questions “What things does your idea remind you of? What do each of these remind you of? How can you use this cluster of associations to develop your idea?”
The “Artist” stage is a transformative one. This may move into the “analogical reasoning”, “flexibility/rigidity” or “discomfort” concepts, where the resources are hewed into firmer ideas. On card here (card 23) is entitled “Rearrange” and poses the single question: “How can you rearrange things?”
The “Judge” stage is where ideas get evaluated, and is equivalent to the “trained facilitators”, or even the “fail faster” principle. Card 46, entitled “Avoid Arrogance” asks “What’s your blind spot? Where does ego adversely affect your performance?”
Finally, the “Warrior” stage segues nicely with the “Selling”, “Diversify the team” and “Membership Change” suggestions of the first two authors. Card 63, “Learn from Mistakes” asks two “Warrior” oriented questions: namely “What mistakes might you make on your current project? What might you learn?”
The cards offer practical implementations of many of the ideas of the chapter authors and best of all, they are portable and ready to use anywhere: by teachers in a class working on a project; by managers seeking to solve a particular problem either in the workplace or in the outside competitive world; by facilitators in training situations where innovation needs to be fostered and nurtured.
Oblique Strategies
In a similar vein to the Creative Whack Pack, “Oblique Strategies” evolved into a set of 100 playing cards that can be deployed in a similar way to the Whack Pack. More interestingly, the cards grew out of collaboration between an artist, Peter Schmidt, and his student turned musician and music producer, Brian Eno. It is worth reproducing here their explanation for the cards:
"These cards evolved from our separate observations of the principles underlying what we are doing. Sometimes they were recognized in retrospect (intellect catching up with intuition), sometimes they were identified as they were happening, sometimes they were formulated. They can be used as a pack (a set of possibilities being continuously reviewed in the mind) or by drawing a single card from a shuffled pack when a dilemma occurs in a working situation. In this case the card is trusted even if it appropriateness is quite unclear. They are not final, as new ideas will present themselves, and others will become self-evident."
The cards have black backs, and white faces with black lettering. The quote that opens this paper “give the game away” is one of the 100 strategies. All of the strategies are now found quite easily by accessing numerous websites that have recreated the randomness of shuffling and picking a card, so the tool is available for anyone to use at any time.
Conclusion
This paper has briefly explored how creativity can be easily facilitated. The chapter authors have offered a set of simple tools to remedy the problems of creatively dysfunctional individuals and groups, and this latter part of this paper has shown connections with previous authors’ methods and strategies outlined by the chapter authors. Being creative and innovative is not existent solely in the realm of the super successful, highly intelligent, hard working individuals and groups. This is a myth. Effective creativity is well within the grasp of any individual or organization that recognizes the threats to creativity, and understands the power of the tools that have been designed by these five authors. This writer is once again delighted to discover the concepts underlying the threats, and to connect those threats to some currently existing remedies that have already been a part of my professional life.
REFERENCES
de Bono, E. (1973). Lateral Thinking. N.Y., N.Y.: Harper Colophon.
Eno, B. & Schmidt, P. (2001, 5th edition). Oblique Strategies: Over One Hundred Worthwhile Dilemmas. Available online: http://music.hyperreal.org/artists/brian_eno/oblique/oblique.html
Osland, J. S. et. al. (2007). The Organizational Behavior Reader. Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Sutton, R. I., (2002). Weird Ideas That Work – Building Companies Where Innovation is a Way of Life. N. Y.: The Free Press. 177-199.
Thompson, L. (2003). Improving the Creativity of Organization Work Groups, Academy of Management Executive, 17(1), 2003:96-109
von Oech, R. (2003). Creative Whack Pack: 64 Creativity Strategies to Provoke and Inspire Your Thinking. Stamford, CT:U.S. Games Systems, Inc. Available online: http://www.creativethink.com/
On Change – Larry Davies for MAN 711 06-A3, Dr. Judy Bachay, Instructor
A Zen Master walks up to a hot dog vendor and says, "Make me one with everything"..
The vendor gives the Zen Master his dog and pockets the $20 bill he's offered.
"What about my change?" asks the Master.
"Change," says the vendor, "must come form within ..."
– Found on the Internet
This particular paper comes at a good time for me, and where I need to be, and things I need to be considering. I’m reaching the end of this Managerial Psychology course, and I’m about to embark on a course entitled “Crisis and Change”. I work at St. Thomas University, which is undergoing a major restructuring change in the next year. Finally, I’m in the last year of the particular job that I was originally hired for, that of Faculty Instructional Technician, and looking forward to moving into my new official capacity of Manager of Academic Technology. My job title and official responsibilities will change. The coda to all of this is, of course, that after I complete my Ed.D. here at St. Thomas, I’m interested in changing my job from Manager of Academic Technology into the director of one of the St. Thomas’ as yet unnamed Institutes. I am in the midst of personal development, professional development and organizational change.
The three brief articles that make up Chapter 22 of Osland (2007), entitled “Managing Change” encompass three entirely different approaches to dealing with change. Though they may be pitched only at the organizational level, there is nothing in them that cannot also be applied at the levels of personal and professional development. This paper will very briefly outline what I will take away from this chapter, and how I will apply it to myself and my personal, professional and organizational contexts and circumstances.
You are here
Kotter and Cohen (2002) begin the chapter with their article, The Heart of Change. Their main thesis is that all organizational change is about changing people’s personal behavior. This struck me immediately about something I discovered in our second face-to-face session in this course. After Dr. Gisondo spoke, I noticed at least three people in the room who looked stressed, worried and, honestly, I could see the weight of the world on their shoulders. It was the brief exchange you will remember between Jorge and myself. Dr. Gisondo had left the room, and Jorge shrugged his shoulders, looked pained and asked, rhetorically: “All of what he (Dr. Gisondo) said just makes me wonder: how is my organization going to change? We have so many problems! Where will I start?” I raised my hand and was able to reply to him: “Actually, your questions DOES have an answer, and that is: start with yourself and change yourself. You’ll see soon enough that the people around you will change, too.” In fact, this was the correct answer and it was one of those moments that is a kind of epiphany for me, and I hope it really was for Jorge. The Zen Master/Hot Dog vendor joke, though a play on words, is so very true. If your own behavior changes, it CAN and WILL influence others to change their behavior.
I found myself agreeing with Kotter and Cohen that an effective way to change is to be urgent about it. This is, in fact, in line with the earlier article you gave us by Deutschman (2005), which discussed empirical evidence that change be instituted in a radical, rather than incremental, way. My strategy to date at St. Thomas has been to get some small victories and build momentum on them. This is actually one suggestion from Kotter and Cohen, but I believe it may not be as important as getting one major change to happen through urgency.
In fact, our Blackboard upgrade to version 7.1 is a large scale move, not so much as to the cost of upgrading the software, but the money, time and effort needed to get the 105 full-time faculty and 150 or more adjunct faculty in on the training sessions involved around just this one piece of software. This calls for urgency for me, as the system administrator of a much larger software system, to know the ins and outs of the system before I have to deal with the front line of educators. I also will have to deal with the entire administrative staff…and of course the students. The undertaking just for this is overwhelming at times. Planning to get buy-in, to make it stick and to empower many of the main actors around the entire Blackboard suite of programs (it involves much more than just the courses in the upgrade) will require me to be able to move fast and to convince people to move faster.
All of the Blackboard implementation though depends most on what Kotter and Cohen call “getting the vision right”. It is here where I have the most fears with Blackboard. With the university restructuring, there will be acrimony in regards to the roles and functions of technology in the curriculum. My main job will be to suss out the visions of the university as a whole, but also the new schools, colleges and institutes that will be part and parcel of the restructuring. This will also entail my developing a strategy to work with each entity in a separate way, since it will create different cultures within each of the different entities. It is a challenge I feel better prepared for with each course I take in my Ed.D. and with the tools offered in the articles I am reading.
Surf, Spin, Herd
Pascale’s (1999) entire article hinges on a single word. This word is, ironically, the first word of the title: SURFING. If we are to accept his premise that organizational change has ties to chaos theories, and that systems can only be disturbed and not directed, then surfing is a good metaphor. We “surf” the web, which is an apt metaphor. We surf through life, work, school. The metaphor works because water is a complex and powerful force that we need to stay on top of if we are to continue to breathe, hence, to live. In addition to surfing, though, I have two other powerful metaphors I employ at one time or another when dealing with the complexities of working in an organization.
At times, I will use the metaphor of “plate spinning”. This is where several tall thin poles are stood in a line, and I have a corresponding number of plates. My job is to place each plate on top of the pole and spin it. The plate will spin on top of the pole as long as it is going fast enough. Once I have one plate on, and spinning, I can put the next plate on the pole. After time, the earlier plates lose their energy and start to wobble on the pole. I cannot simply put all the plates on at one time. I need to watch the earlier plates as I put on the later plates, and sometimes I have to come back and re-spin the earlier plates. With more plates comes more likelihood that one of the plates will wobble out of control and fall off the pole, crashing into pieces onto the ground. Within all of this activity, I will never follow any set pattern to keep all the plates going. It always depends on how hard I spin the plate initially, and how well it has been spun around the center of the plate. Plates that spin even slightly off center are more likely to lose their speed more easily, but I have no time to try to get it exactly right, since the other spinning plates don’t stop to wait to see if I did it right. It is indeed a system where equilibrium leads to death.
The other metaphor I use is that of “herding cats”. I find this to be an amusing, but very succinct metaphor. Each cat is its own “thing that needs attention”, but like a cat, it can be disturbed but not guided in any particular direction very well. Attention must be paid to it, but as it moves in the order of emergent complexity, it will take time and distance to see a pattern that emerges as the cats move in a seemingly random way. One bit of solace from emergent complexity is that there is, in fact, a pattern. In the end, then, cats can indeed be herded, and organizations can change.
Light My Fire
Shepard’s (1984) piece, Rules of Thumb for Change Agents, contains bits of common sense, more than empirical evidence that substantiate theories of organizational behavior. Of these rules, and in the interests of saving space, I will address only Rule VI: Light Many Fires.
At St. Thomas, I have held very close and fast to this particular rule. One of my philosophies of life, and something I allude to in my “On Creativity” paper (written also for this class), is that every idea is a good idea. Brainstorming is an excellent process, mainly because it disallows the disallowing of ideas. This is why I will sell an idea to someone at the school, then go to someone else and sell them another idea, then go to someone else, and sell them another idea. It is my hope that by lighting all these fires with different people who have different functions within the overall organization, progressive connections between the ideas will somehow emerge, cross-talk will result, more variations will spring up, and word will get around.
I believe this approach has borne some fruit in the area of using technology in courses. More professors are either using technology in their courses, considering using technology shortly, or finding out about new technologies and bringing them to my attention. Meanwhile, I have pushed to have us install software that most professors don’t yet know or realize they will be using with students. This goes well beyond using just Blackboard, Web Advisor, email or other systems. My strategy is to have everything ready to go, then light the fires that will make people want to use what is there.
I like the fire lighting strategy. Some fires die out quickly, but this does not mean they were unsuccessful, just that the conditions were not right to light them. I will try these fires again at a later date. Some fires burn hot, but for a short time: these are fires that were probably better not to be lit in the first place. I will not pursue these further (this is actually Corollary 5 of Rule III in Shepard: Don’t argue if you can’t win). Some fires burn slowly for a long time and one of two things happen: 1) some fires eventually die out (not heeding Rule V: Load experiments for success) or 2) they gain in strength and spread out. Blogs and Podcasting are two newer technologies that are, at this point, fires I lit that are gaining in strength.
Conclusion
Living is complex. Change is complex and constant. Ideas come and go. Energy comes and goes. Managing all of this is like asking a trapeze artist to walk a thin wire over a shark tank carrying a 90-pound weight in one hand and an umbrella in the other. It is outrageous in its expectations, unreasonable in the goals it wants to achieve, unfair with the parameters given to work in, and unacceptable in the commitments of time, money, innovation and resources that it asks of a manager. Yet, embracing change, accepting its pitfalls and inherent rewards: that’s what I live for. I love the challenges I’m facing here at St. Thomas (and there are MANY on all three levels: personal, professional and organizational!), and cannot believe my luck and timing that I’m in this place at this time, with the skills set that I have, and the needs of the institution. The articles in this chapter will help me in my journey to be made one with everything.
REFERENCES
Deutschman, A. (2005, May). Making Change. Fast Company,(94), 52-62. Retrieved May 21, 2006, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 818599611).
Kotter, J. P. and Cohen, D. S. (2002). The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Osland, J. S. et. al. (2007). The Organizational Behavior Reader. Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Pascale, R. T. (1999, Spring). Surfing the Edge of Chaos. Sloan Management Review 40:83-94.
Shepard, H. A. Rules of Thumb for Change Agents. (1984, December). OD Practitioner. Portland, OR: Organization Development Network.
Posted by ldavies at 07:32 PM
June 02, 2006
Overcoming the Burdens of Communication
“Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.”
– Zen Proverb
Abstract: This short paper will weave together three strands. It will illustrate the evolution of my philosophy of intercultural communication since that time and before, look at the development of my classroom-based and online instructional design, and describe the refinements in my more recent approach to training facilitation and materials development: all of these observations are based on the synthesis of the articles I read in the OB reader, chapter 8 (Osland, et. al. Eds, 2007!) of this week’s readings.
MSWord Formatted Version Intercultural Communication has been a strong interest of mine since the time I saw Janet and Milton Bennett serve as guest speakers at the School for International Training, where I did my master’s degree in Teaching English, back in 1993. Their talk very strongly influenced me, because it affirmed many of the situations I had been in both in Kenya and in Japan. I was learning of the great challenges, opportunities and difficulties of having to communicate with people of different cultures, and I was becoming more and more aware that even people of the same culture and gender as I would prove to be difficult to communicate with in a smooth fashion. This short paper will weave together three strands. It will illustrate the evolution of my philosophy of intercultural communication since that time and before, look at the development of my classroom-based and online instructional design, and describe the refinements in my more recent approach to training facilitation and materials development: all of these observations are based on the synthesis of the articles I read in the OB reader, chapter 8 (Osland, et. al. Eds, 2007!) of this week’s readings.
Awareness: Karibuni Kenya! (Welcome to Kenya!)
I have been developing my interest in intercultural communication since my language and cross-cultural training in the Peace Corps, though at that time, it was more latent than active. In Kenya, our group of potential volunteers spent several weeks in in-country training going over aspects of Kenyan culture and the challenges of the Kenyan educational system. In our Swahili language training, we were learning the basics: greetings, asking for directions, and general socializing in the language. Our pre-country training, done a week before we went to Kenya (October of 1986!) was more of a process of self-discovery, where we were asked to consider our attitudes of dealing with people, living in relative isolation for a long period of time, and taking care of our physical and mental health.
The problem in Kenya, though, like anywhere in Africa, was that “Kenyan” was really a European label, and the 45 different linguistic and cultural groups that exist within the European drawn borders had some significant differences that even 12 weeks of in-country training could not adequately cover. Cultural groups on the coast were predominately Muslim, and had ties to the countries in the Arabian Peninsula. Groups in the center and west of the country were more tied into sub-Saharan and West African cultural “norms”. Upon arrival at my “site”, which was located in the coastal region, I found myself working with a Ugandan, and two other teachers from the Western part of Kenya who had had no cross-cultural training. It was a confusing mish-mash of cultural attitudes, as the teachers were also Christian, while the village was predominantly Muslim.
After a year, I had to transfer for medical reasons (allergy to an anti-malarial drug, which was more dangerous than the malaria I got!) to a culturally homogeneous area, the Kamba tribe, where I had to adjust yet again to communicative norms that were different from the coastal peoples: same country, VERY different people and ways of going about day to day life. In addition, the headmaster of this second site was steeped deeply in the corruption of the old British Empire, and the locals were powerless to do anything about his abuses of students and parents (both physical and psychological). I was becoming more aware of the communication challenges of living in a different culture. As far as teaching, though, I was still a novice, adjusting to the logistical demands of the teacher, and not too concerned with delivery, or what it meant to be a “good teacher”.
Discovering Carl Rogers
Back at the university a few years after Kenya and after three years living in Japan, I was studying the Counseling-Learning/Community Language Learning (CL/CLL) approach to teaching languages, which was based very heavily on the groundbreaking work of Carl Rogers. The approach was student-centered, and based on student-generated conversations and issues. The instructor was seen as a conduit: enabling students to express themselves through the language they wanted themselves to produce. We did some “active listening” exercises which brought home, experientially, the challenges of taking yourself out of the conversational picture, and focusing and valuing what the other person had to say. Another aspect of CL/CLL was the “human computer” whereby the instructor would pronounce words or phrases that the students wanted to practice. Where the old language teaching paradigm was “listen and repeat”, CL/CLL was more, say/listen and repeat until you feel ready to move on to something else. In addition, it was a culturally empathetic tool as it relied completely on what students would bring into the class.
Japan: Jyozoo desu ne? (You are a fluent speaker, aren’t you?)
About two years after getting my master’s, as I progressed, then, in my own teaching, I had the opportunity to teach a class of my own design. I developed an introductory course in Intercultural Communication for Japanese students at Nagoya University, considered the top university in the city of Nagoya, and one of the major Japanese universities. Students at this school were definitely considered relatively intelligent and able, so it seemed like a good fit. The course was eventually taught to both undergraduate and graduate students entirely in English, which was an additional challenge for them. I further refined the class while teaching at Nanzan University, also in Nagoya, adding more experiences and opportunities for students to embark on a voyage of self-discovery.
The way I designed the course materials drew liberally from some of the ideas expressed by all the authors in the “Interpersonal Communication” chapter. Rogers’ and Farson’s (1972) notion of being able to subvert your own identity to the identity of the person you are listening to was a major component of the “Identity” module in my course. Gibb’s (1961) emphasis on “descriptive” processing of communication, rather than the more confrontational “prescriptive” processing, informed a lot of the instructional design of the “Interpersonal Communication”, “Male/Female Communication”, and “Culture Shock” modules designed in the course. In each of these modules, I designed activities that would force students to examine the way they were relying on their cultural norms to process a situation. Finally, I found and used the brilliant simulation game “Barnga”, designed by the renowned interculturalist, Thiagarajan (1990). This game helped students experientially to understand how culturally constrained their reactions were when they perceived that others were not “playing by the rules”.
Japan was where I moved forward with my teaching approach, too. I moved away from teacher-centered activities to more student-centered. Charged with getting my students to take on the challenge of learning English, I began to understand many of the concepts covered by Thomas and Osland (2004). Teaching English in Japan was a two-sided coin. Administrators had no idea of the time it would take to learn a completely alien language, since English and Japanese are completely unrelated linguistically, and Japanese culture and society, in my opinion, actually pressures people not to take too seriously the study of anything outside the realm of Japanese history or society. In fact, the Japanese deal with culture clash in a very “dis-mindful” way. The Japanese approach to effective language learning was the highly discredited “grammar-translation” method, where sentences in the target language are diagrammed, dissected, then put together again. Everything is then tested, usually in the same way: by translating sentences from and to Japanese/English. There was little to no understanding or acceptance that communication involved a much different nuance that went well beyond the words themselves.
The Harsh Reality of Intercultural Communication
Ironically, the Japanese, with one of the most extensive non-verbal communication systems in the world, for the most part did not understand that there were non-verbal behaviors outside of their ken, nor were they much interested in pursuing the matter. Even as I refined the experiential lessons in my Intercultural Communication courses, I found students relatively unresponsive. I must say, though, that of course, some did respond positively.
In the end, 13 years after living in Japan, I came to the sad realization that Japan was a “socially Stalinist” country. Even at Future University in Hakodate, Japan, where I attained tenure as an associate professor of communication studies, I realized that my project-based approaches to language learning would do nothing to shake the social resolve of the Japanese to remain pure to their history and heritage. The pressure to conform to the Japanese way severely constrained the people to move beyond their worldview. This pains me to write something like this, because I am still in conflict with myself whether this attitude is good or bad. I saw in Kenya the slow destruction of the local culture through a combination of state imposed, and very corrupt, education, and the use of the English language to maintain power and distance among the rich and the vast poor of that country. At least in Japan, with its’ “socially Stalinist” tendencies, there is also a social equality among a large majority of the population (this paper is too short to discuss the Chinese, Korean, Pilipino and Brazilian minority problems that are growing there). The pressures of the outside world are coming to a head there, and Japanese pride remains proudly defiant.
Technology Serves Pedagogy!
In Japan, I was also realizing the impact of the Internet, and what role technology was about to play in the future of education. I argued that the administration of technology had to have a pedagogical basis, and that the implementation of new technologies had to come from an educator who was dedicated not to teaching, but to researching best practices in using technology. This educator would also be charged with raising the cultural and cross-generational awareness of the faculty at the institution.
I arrived at St. Thomas University, moving into the type of situation I found myself advocating. In my new capacity as Manager of Academic Technology at St. Thomas University, which is not exactly managerial in nature, but requires a high degree of interpersonal communication skills, I feel that I DO draw on many of the concepts covered in this chapter. I am happy to look more into Gibb’s descriptions of “Supportive and Defensive Climates in Small Groups” and I believe I’ve actively tried to use his recommended strategies, while building on all my previous experiences as a teacher, interculturalist, and now as an academic technician.
I approach any new place as an anthropologist: trying to discover the underlying ways and norms of where I am. I then become the interculturalist: working to raise awareness among the people in that culture as to how they act, and how it affects people coming into it. As a trainer working now with faculty, I’ve found it very effective to use deep listening techniques, and to help faculty understand how they work within the institution. I also try to help faculty understand and deal with technology, which I compare metaphorically with how English is used in Kenya. It can easily become a tool of oppression when it should instead be the tool to put forward best practices in becoming lifelong learners.
I approach instructional design in a similar way: faculty need to get students to become self-aware as learners first, then to situate themselves culturally, so that they can deal with others in their classes and ultimately in their work places. Project-based Constructivist pedagogy is where I’ve evolved to, and I see many professors discovering this approach to developing their courses and materials. Constructivism, based largely on the work of Lev Vygotsky the educational psychologist, and exemplified, for example by Jonassen and Land (2000), encourages professors to be the ones who lay the scaffolding. The students build their walls and buildings of knowledge as the professors take themselves more and more out of the way of the learners. This can be done online, too, as long as the underlying understanding of the learner’s psychological, cultural, and cognitive styles and views are self-aware and self-understood.
All in all, these three strands have been my work for the past twenty years. Self-awareness in every endeavor is first and foremost! Learners who know themselves as learners, cultural beings and as central resources will be the most successful leaders in the future. They will be the ones who can work best with people, and bridge the communication gaps that occur at home, in the work place and in the public spaces within which they find themselves daily. Those who live with self-dignity will be the most adept at valuing, even cherishing, what others bring into their world.
REFERENCES
Gibb, J. R., (1961). Defensive Communication. Reprinted in Osland, J. S. et. al. (2007). The Organizational Behavior Reader. Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Jonassen, D. H., & S. M. Land. (eds.) (2000). Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments. Mahwah, NJ.: Lawrence Ernbaum Associates.
Rogers, C. R., & R. E. Farson. (1972) Active Listening. Reprinted in Osland, J. S. et. al. (2007). The Organizational Behavior Reader. Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Thiagarjan, S. (1990). Barnga: A Simulation Game on Cultural Clashes. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.
Thomas, D. C., & J. S. Osland. (2004). Mindful Communication. In Osland, J. S. et. al. (2007). The Organizational Behavior Reader. Eighth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Posted by ldavies at 11:30 PM
May 26, 2006
Learning Leaders; Learning Leadership: Deeper Investigations into the nature of Leadership
Abstract: In an earlier investigation of leadership, and what it might mean as we move into the 21st century (Davies, 2005), I discussed four areas that I thought would be worth investigating more deeply. These areas, in no particular order of importance were: 1) the concept of “ownership”; 2) the spaces that exist between the connectedness of people, things, events and actions; 3) “Sharing ideas, work, ownership, information, understandings of how things operate, change and progress”; and, 4) “In organization of all types, the collective good is good for the individual good, not the other way around: The individual will benefit most by sharing.” This paper delves into these concepts and attempts to weave them together. It concludes that the Mission Statement of my Academic Technology Unit does indeed weave the concepts together.
Download MSWord Formatted Version
“How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...” – Albert Einstein
In an earlier investigation of leadership, and what it might mean as we move into the 21st century (Davies, 2005), I discussed four areas that I thought would be worth investigating more deeply. These areas, in no particular order of importance were: 1) the concept of “ownership”; 2) the spaces that exist between the connectedness of people, things, events and actions; 3) “Sharing ideas, work, ownership, information, understandings of how things operate, change and progress”; and, 4) “In organization of all types, the collective good is good for the individual good, not the other way around: The individual will benefit most by sharing.”
After reading Leonard and Swap’s (2004) suggestions for revisiting mentoring and apprenticeships, and seeing some of their concrete guidelines for doing so, and then re-acquainting myself with Senge (1990), who also offers practical ways of fostering connectivity, I cannot but help myself to tease out these earlier ideas. This is a good opportunity, and the focus of this short paper.
First, though, I must distinguish between Senge’s “Learning Organizations” and my own understanding of “Learning Organization”. Senge posits that “Learning Organizations” are entities: they are tangible, describable, and therefore can somehow be manipulated by external forces. I do not doubt that he is right, as he goes into practical ways to bring out mental models, he describes systems thinking, and describes a range of new tools to tease out positive changes in any organization. My conception, though, is that there is also “Learning Organization”, a space between people, things, ideas, and action that is much less tangible or describable. By looking at my four earlier areas of investigation, I can perhaps move slightly closer to a realistic working definition of the concept, and this paper will be that attempt.
I was first made aware of the concept of “ownership” by a language teacher, Caleb Gattegno (1976). As I did my Master’s in Teaching, I found that Gattegno stated simply that students would best master another language if they felt ownership over the words they were learning. That is, the student had to feel as if the word came from them, and was not given to them by an outside force. Ownership came from within. Learning organization, then, relies on individuals to feel as if they have generated something from within, and which they can claim to be theirs. It is said that the greatest leaders are found where people say “we did this ourselves” as if they are the owners of the accomplishment. I believe that both Senge and Leonard & Swap imply this in their articles. I am also reminded that when I was a Peace Corps volunteer, my main job was to work myself out of a job, meaning that I was to help the people I was helping to accomplish things without my help, or, in my words, to become the owners of their futures.
Though they may sometimes deny it, but as Einstein clearly saw, people are interconnected. They are also connected to things, events and actions, many times from the past. Einstein understood that he could not accomplish what he did without the work that people before him did. Organizations (the tangible thing) have, I believe, an obligation to make people aware of the fact that the organization is there, has been there, and what people do that ultimately benefit themselves is made possible in part on the fact that the organization exists.
My interest, though, seems to lie more in understanding the conditions whereby connections within an organization can be made – and where connections are sometimes missed. I am interested in what I can only describe as the “culture” of connecting within an organization that helps an individual learn and take ownership of their learning. Organizations need to be extremely cognizant of their culture of connecting, and be able to describe it to newer members entering the entity. My guess is that the more an organization works on creating the proper cultural conditions that connect people to each other, and make them aware that they can connect, and that they have connected, the more successful learning organization will be. This means that organizations will be constantly experimenting with new ways of creating culture and connections, and communicating with the people that are part of that organization, so that learning happens to a greater and greater extent. Again, most of the suggestions in the book chapter from the three authors very much resonate with these ideas.
This naturally leads to considering both my third contention, that “(s)haring ideas, work, ownership, information, understandings of how things operate, change and progress”, and my fourth contention about sharing being of great benefit to the individual. Whether it is through apprenticeships or through learning laboratories, it is indeed essential. I have to agree with the three authors of the chapter, and I am gratified that there are practical ways of sharing. I cannot understand how some organizations consist of individuals who feel they need to “protect their territory” by protecting the data that they work with. I also cannot understand how some groups, divisions or departments within the organization will act in much the same way. Cliques and micro-cultures sometimes work counter-intuitively to the larger organization, and disconnects occur as a result.
An organization is one single entity that relies on all of the separate parts working together in some kind of rhythmic hum where learning organization progresses organically. A single individual can, and usually does, throw off this organic process. If a single individual is not responsible, a slightly larger cultural unit can have the same effect. It is, metaphorically speaking, like trying to dam an ocean. Open systems that have flow in them cannot be dammed. Learning organization, like life on earth, will come about when a certain combination of conditions can coax and goad something new and unique into being.
I am eager to implement some of the ideas contained in this particular book chapter into my very own corner of St. Thomas University. I have been working on some mentoring and apprenticeship programs as the Manager of Academic Technology (AT) in the Office of Information Technology. I believe I have made an excellent start with the AT mission statement which reads: “MISSION: To establish a solid support environment to help faculty learn, use and develop information technologies to improve student learning experience, faculty productivity and overall academic achievement.” I believe this statement integrates many of the issues discussed here, and encapsulate my philosophy of fostering a culture of connectedness. With Leonard and Swap’s “guided experience” and Senge advocating the ability to chart “strategic dilemmas”, I have two preliminary tools with which to accomplish this mission.
REFERENCES
Davies, L. (2005). From Dictator to Aggregator - Welcome to the 21st Century. Paper submitted for EDL 705, Educational Leadership course. St. Thomas University. Available Online: http://eport.stu.edu/blogs/ldavies/archives/edl705leadership/.
Einstein, A. (1931). The World as I See It. In "Forum and Century," vol. 84, pp. 193-194, the thirteenth in the Forum series, Living Philosophies. Available Online: http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay.htm
Gattegno, C. (1976). The Common Sense of Teaching Foreign Languages. New York: Educational Solutions, Inc.
Leonard, D. & W. Swap. (2004, September). Deep Smarts. Harvard Business Review. pp. 88-97. In Osland, J. S., M. E. Turner, D. A. Kolb & I. M. Rubin (eds.). The Organizational Behavior Reader (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, Prentice Hall.
Senge, P. (1990, Fall). The Leader’s New Work. Sloan Management Review. 7-23. In Osland, J. S., M. E. Turner, D. A. Kolb & I. M. Rubin (eds.). The Organizational Behavior Reader (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson, Prentice Hall.
Posted by ldavies at 10:50 PM
May 20, 2006
Managerial Psychology - Opening class notes
Below the fold. Comprehensive notes from the first MAN711 class.
Students in this class include: Rosie, Clara, Jenny, Herbert, Rita, Charmin, Sonia, Raisa, Carol, Cindy, Beverly, Angela, George and Evalise.
The Page 10 activity
1. Background information picked up will work. Applying theories and knowledge. Life skills and interactions. Self-awareness. Getting an "A". All have someone that we report to as well. We are managers, but also managed.
2. No exams. Points out most important theories. Knows where the most important resources are and can point to them. Hone in the most popular item. To pull together the different resources or different points of view. Situations and examples. Hands on and experiential learning. Discussions and guest speakers. Lectures. No exams. Hahah. Clear expectations and guidelines.
3. 4 papers. Enjoyable. Very little to nothing. Demanding and intense, but a lot of good things to learn.
4. Course structure. Progress of the day. Amount of work. Sacrifice to be here on Saturday. The schedule is tough. Can everything.
5. Best= A! Worst= time. New people. New experiences. Good learning environment and interaction. Long lunch break. Ends promptly. Learn and apply new material. New role models. Bad - Knowledge not applicable.
6. Experienced professionals. Personal narratives from work. Diversity of life and work.
7. Safe environment. People oriented. Punctuality. Participation. What happens here, stays here. Confidentiality. Trust. Respect. Respect for diversity. Lack of disruptions. Self-disclosure.
The page 12 activity
1. What are you trying to achieve? What do you hope to accomplish?
-Concrete skill development
-Develop Intellectual curiosity
-Become a good reader
-Get excited about learning
-Be more confident about yourself and what you are able to do
How to accomplish?
-Experiential.
-Be punctual. Do concrete activities. Structured and led by you.
-Work in groups of twos or threes. Choose the area you want to lead. You will have the concrete experience, then read about it, then write about it, then discuss it.
The power of self-awareness. Processing. Doing activities that are geared toward self-awareness.
2. Based on your experience in teaching, how do you believe we can learn the most?
Andragogy vs. Pedagogy - Adult learning is very different from infant or children. Concrete experiences lead to developing new ways of experiencing the world. Students are not blank slates and the teacher does not impart knowledge. Intelligence is innate. Multiple intelligences. Everyone brings strengths and gifts. Mezirow developed this theory in the management field, but it went over into education.
-We will be leading the activity based on PowerPoints. You lead students in interactive realm and apply it in the class.
Do you have a favorite theorist in managerial psychology that you are going to use. Minsberger. Demming's model of total quality management. Kurt Lewin. Nevertheless, an eclectic approach is good.
Will you focus on our strengths or weaknesses? No. Appreciative Enquiry. David Cooperider out of Case Western University. Look and develop your strengths, so that your weakness fall to the side.
http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/ also Srivnasta.
http://appreciativeinquiry.case.edu/research/bibPublished.cfm#C
3. What are you expectations for the students?
Punctual. Honest. Enthusiastic. Committed to learning. Honor your written work with careful editing. Turn in work on time.
How much time do you watch TV? Not a lot of time. You won't have to give up too much time. You will write a paper a week for four weeks. Read the business section. Providing a handout.
Group project for meeting out of class? One class will be group led, and group leading. You will select the topic and the people.
4. What to do with people who are not familiar with some of the terminology that might come up in this course? How flexible are things, or willingness to cover what might be assumed familiarity. Students have the right not to be moved by everything. If you are not free to make mistakes, then you are not free to move forward.
5. What have you learned from other classes that you apply in this class? It's great to see the movement, change and grow. How do you see yourself, other than the professor? What metaphor? The Coach. Role is to light a fire in each person that will help to motivate at the seat of creativity. Coaching psychology books. Some are good, some are manipulative. Note to self: perhaps I should read John Wooden.
6. Transformation. Background. Solution-Focus Therapy is her model. PhD. Transformative change. Therapist for years. Worked with people from womb to tomb. Three children. Worked with middle school kids with drug/alcohol problems. Multicultural counseling. Consultant in conflict resolution. Making Peace. Bosnia. Women.
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BREAK
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Tim DePalma will administer Myers-Briggs online
We started after lunch with the Enneagram. My scores were...
Peacemaker - 6 which was the highest score.
I scored a 5 on Reformer, Helper, Romantic and Thinker
I scored a 1 on Skeptic, so I'm definitely not that.
Here were my scores
1-5
2-5
3-4
4-5
5-5
6-1
7-3
8-2
9-6
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Activity. Reading
Deutschman, A. (2005, May). Making Change. Fast Company,(94), 52-62. Retrieved May 21, 2006, from ABI/INFORM Global database. (Document ID: 818599611).
Abstract
John Kotter, a Harvard Business School professor who has studied dozens of organizations in the midst of upheaval, has hit on a crucial insight: behavior change happens mostly by speaking to people's feelings, he says. This is true even in organizations that are very focused on analysis and quantitative measurement, even among people who think of themselves as smart in an MBA sense. Unfortunately, that kind of emotional persuasion isn't taught in business schools, and it doesn't come naturally to the technocrats who run things-the engineers, scientists, lawyers, doctors, accountants, and managers who pride themselves on disciplined, analytical thinking. There's compelling science behind the psychology of change - it draws on discoveries from emerging fields such as cognitive science, linguistics, and neuroscience - but its insights and techniques often seem paradoxical or irrational.
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James Prochaska - Preventative medicine.
Use joy, not fear. Minds rely on frames, not facts. GEORGE LAKOFF!
The concept of how open systems can be employed in organizations. Celebrate the little victories.
Support! Support! Support! Vision.
Enneagram exercise 9types.com
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Talk by Starbucks Manager
Starbucks and their recruiting. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/full_list/
Train the trainers, too.
James Autry - Servant Leader
http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/103-1788159-8590201?search-alias=aps&keywords=autry%20servant%20leader for a list of books.
Also this link.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400054737/sr=8-1/qid=1148150881/ref=sr_1_1/103-1788159-8590201?%5Fencoding=UTF8
Coaching reinforcement and the What/Why exercise. Also the What/What/Why process of learning.
1. Vulnerable.
2. Be authentic with yourself and your values.
Train the trainers. Admit mistakes and move forward. Admitting that you are wrong, especially to people who look up to you, can be hard, but it is necessary.
Be open with doubts and fears and performance. OPEN. Everyone moves on, but no one forgets.
3. Empathy. Everyone is three years old.
Perceptive ability is key, and to be able to keep the lines of connectivity open.
4. Accepting of someone. Not behavior or performance.
5. Being Present. Being available to others.
Being useful. Mission to the common goal. Ownership.
Another resource - http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=nb_ss_gw/103-1788159-8590201?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=successful+manager%27s+handbook&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go
Founder Howard Schultz
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STARBUCKS
Core Purpose: To enrich people's daily life.
Mission to establish s as a premiere purveyor of coffee, while maintaining our uncompromising principles as we grow.
- To provide a great work environment
- To treat each other with respect and dignity
- To embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.
- To apply the highest standards of excellent in coffee
- To have enthusiastically satisfied customers
- To contribute to our communities and our environment
- To recognize that profitability is essential to our future success.
How to become a district manager - a pre-program is opening. The mentoring system seems to have helped a lot with the success of the place.
The behavioral deck interview. What have you learned over the past year that will help you be a better employee?
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Class over at 4:15PM
Posted by ldavies at 05:16 PM