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Organisational Mechanics

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Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast

25 June, 2017 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Culture eats strategy for breakfast

What does that mean? It sounds like management claptrap. Let me repeat it, and attribute it. Culture eats strategy for breakfast ~ Peter Drucker Anybody who has worked in a large organisation will know that we prize strategy above all else. It is an intellectual pursuit, highly valued in the boardroom. We hire consultants to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: accountability, culture, fear and anxiety, group think, management style, strategy

Why Were You Late for Work?

18 June, 2017 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

Logic Tree

Logic Trees There is a simple way of diagnosing a problem, and then finding a solution.  It is called “the five whys?” No doubt you have heard of it, it is a way of refining a problem until you get to its cause. When faced with a problem ask why it happened. Then ask again. […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: communication, logic tree, problem solving

Teenagers, Bedrooms and Cash Payments

9 June, 2017 by James Lawther 11 Comments

Over-justification effect

I nearly broke my neck At the entrance to my eldest daughter’s bedroom there is a short flight of steps.  As I went to wake her this morning I slipped on what I could most graciously describe as a pile of underwear.  I took 5 of those steps in one fell swoop.  I think “fell” is […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: incentives, motivation, over-justification effect

Human Error

18 May, 2017 by James Lawther 4 Comments

B-17 Cockpit

World War 2 During the second world war, over 60 million people were killed.  That was roughly 3% of the worldwide population.  It was a hazardous time. Amongst the hardest hit were the bomber crews.  The Eighth Air Force suffered half of all the U.S. Air Force’s casualties.  The British fared as badly.  The chances of surviving the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: accident prevention, error proofing, human nature

Strategic Plans and Complex Systems

12 May, 2017 by James Lawther Leave a Comment

complex system

Organisations are systems System  /ˈsɪstəm/ A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network; a complex whole There are (at the risk of gross oversimplification) three types of system: Simple Complicated Complex Simple systems These are easy to understand and predict.  Boiling an electric kettle is a simple system, there […]

Filed Under: Blog, Wild Cards Tagged With: command and control, complexity, strategy, systems thinking

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