Traffic signal at Tamil Nadu. (c) 2011 Thamizhpparithi Maari (CC BY SA 3.0)

Replacing Management With Project Management Is Disastrous

Forrest ChristianComputers/IT, Managing Leave a Comment

CIO (Australia) Magazine had an interesting article last month by Sue Bushell on Information Technology (IT) organizations and their spectacular failure to the business [“Just Deserts”, 2005 May 5]. Bushell quoted Kathryn Cason of Requisite Organization International Institute on the problems of IT being caused by the organizational structure itself: The fact that IT has primarily been pushed into a …

Cognitive Dissonance & Change

Al GormanChange, Theory Leave a Comment

I recently completed the following article that defines the concepts of dissonance and consonance and their significance in the process of change. Cognitive Dissonance Theory for Inspiring Social Change

Analog Computing Machine in Fuel Systems Building Lewis Flight Propulsion Lab-NASA

Retraining Mainframe COBOL Programmers to Object-Oriented Java Programming, via Requisite Organization

Forrest ChristianComputers/IT, Managing, Organizations 1 Comment

A few weeks ago, I talked about the basics of Requisite software developmen and organizational design affects the quality of software projects. Today, I will continue that, answering Paul’s questions about retoolling a mainframe shop to object-oriented programming (OOP). Computer solution groups within companies have different names, often from when they started. Management Information Systems (MIS) and Data Processing Center …

Mastering the new, letting go of the old

Al GormanManaging, Theory Leave a Comment

Enclosed is another article published (and reproduced with their consent) by the folks at Core International. This creation is from Ginty Burns and Rich Morgan, two of Core’s talented consultants specializing in Requisite Organization and Stratified Systems Theory. You can visit Core at their website www.coreinternational.com Here’s the article.

Effective Listening for Leaders and for Life

Al GormanCoaching, Managing 1 Comment

Do we really listen? How are effective, or ineffective, listening skills affecting your organization, the people who are employed by the organization and the results they deliver? Expanded further how are your listening skills affecting your life? Let’s start with the premise that we really don’t listen at all. Or, as a minimum at best we listen to what we …

Time for success!

How Hope Breeds Success

Forrest ChristianMotivation Leave a Comment

People who have always been fully employed often pooh-pooh the idea that simply being unemployed can have detrimental effects on people, especially men. Even though they have never struggled to find work, usually moving seamlessly from one position to another, they have strong opinions on the laziness of the long-term unemployed. Studies in unemployment show how a long-drawn-out idleness affects …

The Problem of “Universal” Speech

Forrest ChristianKnowledge, Theory 3 Comments

In this post, I’d like to continue a thread about “Universals”, or ideas that are higher than Strata 5-8’s (“abstract conceptual”). I will go over some of the previous discussion, talk about the problems of 6th Order communication and maybe make a point or two. If you are coming to this site from outside the theoretical framework, you may want …