Dynamic Organizations

My colleague Daryn was discussing his training, and the way he had to work to become the type of trainer that his organization wanted him to be. He was worreid that he wasn't doing enough. 

Based on what he said, it seemed to me that he is doing exactly what Morgan (2006) suggests when he quotes Kenneth Boulding that evolution is more than just survival of the fittest but "survival of the fitting" (p. 63). 

You wrote yourself that you wish to fit in and I think like you, organizations do the same. In my organization, a non-profit contractor, safety training community, we bend and mold and change as an organization based on the needs of the contractor learners we service. If refinery owners want to include more engaging safety training we provide it or they do somewhere else. If they want virtual reality (VR), extended reality (XR), or even augmented reality (AR) training then we will find a way to provide it. Since we don't want to lose them, we change and mold based on the needs they are expressing. 

Morgan (2006) writes on page 63 "it suggests that organisms do not evolve by adapting to environmental changes or as a result of these changes selecting the organisms that are to survive. Rather, it suggests that evolution is always evolution of a pattern of relations embracing organisms and their environment." That quote about the environment made me think of the environment that I describe regarding contractor safety training. I think part of the power within organizations, especially those that find a way to function as an organism, is the ability to adapt, adjust, and overcome. Those that don't fade away or close down. Those that do find a way to continue on.

Reference

Morgan, G. (2006). Images of Organization (Updated Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Several Short Evershades

I ran into a few more Evershade lines (see HERE), some of them just short one liners. One shaders so to speak. 

The first is from blue monk. A simple one liner. Simple and so true. When you’ve met that person with the perfect eyes, perfect scent, perfect everything,  . . . Then they smile,  . . . We all know that feeling. It burns into you and you never forget it. 

Follow Up - One Off

So, it looks like I may have been off by one game (see here). I will NOT be getting a jeep from this year's ridiculous bet. But, I was close. 

I thought the first game would be the one that could go either way. It went the way of the Texans. I'm a tad surprised by Urban Meyer. I thought he would be a better coach. Looks like he had lots of people snowed. 

Organizations as Brains and Lisa Moments

Chapter for in Images of Organizations by Morgan focuses on oranizations as brains, learning organizations. There were several things in this chapter that I really enjoyed. For the sake of brevity I'll just focus on two.

First of which was the idea expressed on page 108 of requisite variety meaning "the internal diversity of any self-regulating system must match the variety and complexity of its environment." This seems to suggest that extremely complex environments and organizations will have more internal diversity and variety. 

An idea which is counter to the reliance of bureaucracy and red-tape for mechanistic organizations, where the workers had firm rules and guidelines to follow to help maintain order and interchangeability. 

Secondly there was the idea of error elimination on page 82. I like the idea that we don't pick things up, rather we fail to not pick them up and by failing to not pick it up actually pick the object up. This was not something I had considered as fully as I had once I read it. Both of these tend to, it seems to me, provide opportunities for organizations that behave like brains to find ways to self-organize or to learn how to learn. 

By having ever-growing diversity of opinion and variety of working and leadership styles, an organization led by self-organization and learning can help to find the best possible route to success. By failing, new procedures and policies can be created that help others not to fail, and by not failing succeed. I regularly cite to my teams how although Steve Jobs has been well known for his successes with Apple, in many ways his success came by way of his failures. "Lisa stands forgotten in the shadow of the Macintosh, but its abject failure (the first model only sold 10,000 units) taught great lessons–especially to Lisa’s original project lead, Steve Jobs, who was kicked off and put on another project: the Macintosh," (Lumb, 2015). It's through failures that we, even as organizations, can figure out what best not to do again.

I think back on my life and the major "Lisa" moment for me was when I wanted to create an app called "PopQuiz Password" (see here). I know, horrible name, but it was a working title. Basically, it was designed for parents to ensure that their kiddos got some learning in while they gamed. It was a project I developed when getting my MBA back in 2004. Before a kiddo could play a computer game they had to complete a grade appropriate quiz. They were rewarded time to play based on how they scored. 100%? 30 minutes of play time. 50%? Then just 5 or 10 minutes of game time. Also we created modules like Texas History, or Boy Scouts and Bible History, to try and make it appealing to parents and more relevant for kids. Additionally we came up with the idea of creating teacher interactions, whereby teachers could upload their own class specific questions and have them load onto the kiddos quizzes.

We started a proof of concept, but then the project died off. There were a multitude of reasons for it dying off, but I've always wondered if that was my Lisa moment. What if I had created PopQuiz Password and it had been a rousing failure like Lisa? What would I have learned? How might I have developed other microlearning opportunities before microlearning took off? 

I am far to safety oriented to have a Lisa moment. Any whiff of failure and I'll look for another option instead of face the failure. Maybe Lisa moments are what entrepreneurs need to be successful ultimately?

References

Lumb, D. (2015, January 22). Remember Apple’s Lisa, the computer that cost Steve Jobs A gig? Kevin Costner does! Fastcompany.Com; Fast Company. https://www.fastcompany.com/3041272/remember-apples-lisa-the-computer-that-cost-steve-jobs-a-gig-kevin-costner-d (Links to an external site.)

Morgan, G. (2006). Images of Organization (Updated Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Another Race Novel Idea

As you know I used this space for cataloging and filing away ideas for future novels. I ran into one of those ideas this morning while reading the WSJ (see HERE). 

This one was about an ultra-marathon race in China that went horribly, horribly wrong. 21 of the over 170 runners died. It's an amazing story to read, with some incredible pictures. What surprised me was that it wasn't a blizzard, or white out, or snow storm per se, so much as it was just plunging temperatures. 

Yet More Shade

 I've been on a tear lately, throwing out more of these Evershade lines (see HERE). They just really help me in some sort of way. So, here are some more!

The first is from Will Rogers via Cafe Camille. (why do so many of these people have such wonderfully witty profile names? Maybe there's a string I can do on that!)

Being Open About Bias

We had to watch a video of an interview of Dr. Karen Myers-Bowman, a family scientist specializing in family life education at SDSU. The interview really resonated with me for several reasons. 

Dr. Karen Myers-Bowman mentions as her focus is on communication between students and parents who may go on foreign exchange trips.

Both the student's communication to the host parents but also to their biological parents they leave behind. I spent a year as a foreign exchange student living in Brussels Belgium with a host family. It was a life altering experience in many ways, not least of which is what Dr. Myers-Bowman discusses as the communications between the student and the various adults. I remember well how my communication with my natural parents changed, especially as it was reliant only on air-mailed letters and the occasional phone call. Also I remember how my connection with my host mother (there was no host father) developed over the year. 

Auto-ethnology was an interesting concept. The idea that the researchers own views and thoughts and interests are a part of the study is an interesting thought line. How do my own biases and perspectives change how I look at the research that I am undertaking. I think it's obvious that all of our biases are a part of whatever research we might undertake, but the idea that Dr. Myers-Bowman promotes, of using that story, and using our perspectives to help inform the reader and user of our research is intriguing. 

Finally, I like that Dr. Myers-Bowman felt that she could be more non-biased and objective in a qualitative study than in a quantitative study because it allows the researcher the opportunity to communicate with the reader and be reflective about the topics. She says that that is more "honest" which is interesting. This brings into mind the reading by Tracy where on page 842 she states about transparency, "In addition to being honest and vulnerable through self-reflexivity, another mean practice of sincerity is transparency." This I think is what Dr. Myers-Bowman is trying to highlight in her thoughts on how qualitative research can be more honest. 

References

Tracy, S. J. (2010). Qualitative quality: Eight “big-tent” criteria for excellent qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry: QI, 16(10), 837–851.

Evershading More

Yet another entry for the ole Evershade file. These are pretty decent if you ask me. Just like all of them (see HERE).

Evershad-ed Even More

As I continue to add to this ever growing list of great, romantic, lines I catalog them here in my Evershade label (see HERE) and I think they're always worth reading again. 

That being said, I've got some new ones . . . and I'm looking forward to reading them again too soon!

This first is from "Just Kate" which is a terrific profile name. And it's a terrific line.

In my heart we were a lifetime

In yours we were simply a moment

Ah, man! That hits me! Does it you? It shows the disparity between expectations.

Tiger-Tom via Top Shelf Bourbon Elf wrote this next one, and I can't agree with the sentiment more.

If you have to beg someone to be in your life,

They don't deserve to be there.

Damn skippy! 

And finally, since these things tend to come in threes, I have this one from CoffeeCurves.

Just once

Show me

What a tender touch feels like

Just once

Show me

What it's like to keep your word

Just once

Show me

What it feels like to hold and be held

Just once

Show me

What it feels like when someone stays

Elizabeth, Betsy 

Evershade, evershades , ever shade, ever shades, shades of Betsy

A Bit More Evershade

HA! Although this isn't typical for the Evershade series I like (see HERE), this did make me laugh. I've always loved Helen Mirren. She always looks like she's having a good time in life, and I would love to think that others look at me and think the same thing. Maybe I need to channel my inner Helen Mirren spirit more often.

There are couple more I've found that do fit the series a bit better.