The Squawk Point

Organisational Mechanics

  • Home
  • Blog
    • People
    • Data
    • Process
    • Wild Cards
    • Index
  • Podcast
  • Book

Caution: Management by Hippopotamus

6 February, 2013 by James Lawther 2 Comments

There is a HiPPO in the room.  It is big, loud, ugly and everybody is doing what it wants. The HiPPO is the Highest Paid Persons Opinion. You can spot HiPPO’s quite easily, they are expressed forcefully, everybody nods and agrees with them and they are always the last thing said. A HiPPO is a […]

Filed Under: Blog, Process Improvement Tagged With: assumptions, learning, sacred cows, test and learn, video

“Group Think” is no Laughing Matter

9 January, 2013 by James Lawther 4 Comments

In the 1970’s the psychologist Irving Janis coined the term “group think” to explain why group pressure results in poor decisions, or, as he explained it, why groups show: A deterioration of mental efficiency, reality testing, and moral judgement That is a little more erudite than the way I would put it, but the phrase […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: assumptions, colleagues, Dilbert, effective meetings, group think, human nature, sacred cows, stereotype, teamwork, what don't you see

Regression to The Mean

5 January, 2013 by James Lawther 16 Comments

Is the Stick Mightier Than the Carrot? Psychologists will tell you that carrots are a far more productive strategy than sticks.  You might think this is a blindingly obvious statement, but the facts don’t always support it.  Sometimes the psychologists are proven wrong, often by a case of “regression to the mean”. That is exactly […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: assumptions, aviation, capability, incentives, management style, motivation, regression to the mean, variation

How to Avoid Looking Stupid

21 August, 2012 by James Lawther 1 Comment

Spiral Staircase of Stupidity

We have all done it, jumped to the wrong conclusion, acted on it and then looked stupid. We are genetically designed to do it. There is even an explanation for it.  It is called the “ladder of inference”. Here is how you climb it: The ladder of inference Step 1: Take in the facts, the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Operations Analysis, Tools & Techniques Tagged With: assumptions, ladder of inference, stereotype

The Question That Will Tame a Dragon

28 April, 2012 by James Lawther 2 Comments

Dragon

I sat on the train for a long time yesterday, bored out of my tiny mind, nothing to do.  Idly I watched the steward push a refreshments trolley past.  He stopped behind me and sold a lady a cup of coffee and a flapjack She asked for a receipt (I guess she could expense the […]

Filed Under: Blog, Employee Engagement Tagged With: assumptions, East Midlands Trains

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 5
  • 6
  • 7
  • 8
  • 9
  • 10
  • Next Page »

Explore

accountability assumptions beliefs best practice blame bureaucracy capability clarity command and control communication complexity continuous improvement cost saving culture customer focus data is not information decisions employee performance measures empowerment error proofing fessing up gemba human nature incentives information technology innovation key performance indicators learning management style measurement motivation performance management poor service process control purpose reinforcing behaviour service design silo management systems thinking targets teamwork test and learn trust video waste

Receive Posts by e-Mail

Get the next post delivered straight to your inbox

Creative Commons

This information from The Squawk Point is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Creative Commons Licence
Customer Experience Update

Try This:

  • Fish Bone Diagrams – Helpful or Not?

  • Should You Punish Mistakes?

  • Sex and Soap Powder, Trial and Error

  • Blame or Solutions?

Connect

  • E-mail
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • YouTube
  • Cookies
  • Contact Me

Copyright © 2025 · Enterprise Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in