Activity 2 ogl 550

Chapter 4 - LEARNING AND SELF-ORGANIZATION: Organizations as Brains

· Images of the brain - "More recently, the brain has been compared with a holographic system...When it comes to brain functioning it seems that there is no center of point of control. The brain seems to store and process data in many parts simultaneously. Pattern and order  emerge from the process; it is not imposed....But the holographic explanation can go too far in that it underplays the fact that despite the distributed character there is also a strong measure of system specialization. The brain, it seems, is both holographic and specialized!

· "Single-loop learning rests in an ability to detect and correct error in relation to a given set of operating norms.   Double-loop learning depends on being able to take a "double look" at the situation by questioning the relevance of operating norms."

· "...many organizations have become proficient at single-loop learning, developing an ability to scan the environment, set objectives, and monitor the general performance of the system in relation to these objectives...However, the ability to achieve proficiency at double-loop learning often proves more elusive. Although some organizations have been successful in institutionalizing system that review and challenge basic paradigm and operating norms, many fail to do so. This failure is especially true of bureaucratized organizations, whose fundamental organizing principles often operate in a way that actually obstructs the learning process."

· Guidelines For Learning Organizations

1. Scanning and anticipating environmental change - "Learning organizations have to develop skills and mind-sets that embrace environmental change as the norm. They have to be able to detect "early warning" signals that give clues to shifting trends and patterns....They must embrace the creation of insight and knowledge."

2. Challenging operating norms and assumptions - "To learn and change, organizational members must be skilled in understanding the assumptions, frameworks, and norms guiding current activity and be able to challenge and change them when necessary....For successful double-loop learning to occur, organizations must develop cultures that support change and risk taking. They have to embrace the idea that in rapidly changing circumstances with high degrees of uncertainty, problems and error are inevitable. They have to promote an openness that encourages dialogue and the expression of conflicting points of view. They have to recognize that legitimate error, which arises from the uncertainty and lack of control in a situation, can be used as a resource for new learning. They have to recognize that genuine learning is usually action based and thus must find ways of helping to create experiments and probes so that they learn through doing in a productive way. All this, of course, can raise high levels of anxiety in an organization. In particular, it is difficult for managers who want to be "on top of the facts" and "in control" to ride the kind of creative chaos on which innovation thrives. Yet this is precisely the competence that double-loop learning requires."

3. Encouraging "emergent" organization - "As has been shown, a "top-down" approach to management, especially one focusing on control through clearly defined targets, encourages single-loop learning but discourages the double-loop thinking that is so important for an organization to evolve. This creates interesting paradoxes for management, for  how can one manage in a coherent way without setting clear goals and objectives? The answer derived from cybernetics is that behavior of intelligent systems requires a sense of vision, norms, values, limits, or "reference points" that are to guide behavior. Otherwise, complete randomness will prevail. But these "reference points" must be defined in a way that creates a space in which many possible actions and behaviors can emerge  including those that can question the limits being imposed!  Targets tend to create straitjackets. Cybernetic points of reference create space in which learning and innovation can occur."

· Organizations as holographic brains (or "designs" that facilitate learning) - "The metaphor of a hologram invites us to think of systems where qualities of the whole are enfolded in all the parts so that the system has an ability to self-organize and regenerate itself on a continuos basis... there are several key principles that can help create contexts in which holographic self-organization can flourish."

1. Build the "whole" into all the "parts"  - Four ways to accomplish a)  Corporate DNA  - "The visions, values, and sense of purpose that bind an organization together can be used as a way of helping every individual understand and absorb the mission and challenge of the whole enterprise...To create brain-like capacities for self-organization, however, it is vital that the cultural codes uniting an organization foster an open and evolving approach to the future." b)  Networked intelligence  - "Information systems that can be accessed from multiple points of view create a potential for individuals throughout an enterprise to become full participants in an evolving system of organizational memory and intelligence." c)  Holographic structure  - "A third way of building "the whole" into "the parts" rests in the design of organizational structures that can grow large while staying small... Consider, for example, the case of Magna International, an auto parts manufacturer that has grown at a rapid rate....The Magna philosophy is encoded in a simple set of business principles and the rule that operating factories must remain on a small s cale to avoid becoming impersonal. Thus, once an enterprise reaches a size in the region of 200 people, the only way it can grow is by spinning off another unit...The process has a "fractal" quality in that the same basic pattern reproduces itself over and over again." D)  Holistic teams and diversified roles  - "A fourth way of building "the whole" into "the parts" rests in how work tasks are designed. Under old mechanistic principles work processes were usually fragmented into narrow and highly specialized jobs, linked through some means of coordination...The holographic approach to job design moves in exactly the opposite direction by defining work holistically. The basic unit of design is a work team that is made responsible for a complete business processÉWithin the team, roles or jobs are then broadly defined with individuals being trained in multiple skills so that they are interchangeable and can function in a flexible, organic way."

2. The importance of "redundancy"  - "Any system with an ability to self-organize must have a degree of redundancy: a kind of excess capacity that can create room for innovation and development to occur. Without redundancy, systems are fixed and completely static....Parallel processing and sharing information can be a source of creativity, shared understanding, trust, and commitment...shared decision-making (ringi) contains massive redundancy. It is however, very effective in exploring issues from multiple perspectives and in testing the robustness of emerging decisions and actions. The process offers a wonderful example of how intelligent action can emerge from "multiple drafts."...The second design method incorporates a  redundancy of functions. Instead of spare parts being added to a system, extra functions are added to each of the operating parts, so that each part is able to engage in a range of functions. This is the principle guiding the self-organizing work groups...Members acquire multiple skills so that they are able to perform each otherÕs jobs and substitute as the need arises."

3. Requisite variety  - Clearly, it is impossible to give everybody all possible information about everything. It is impossible for people to become skilled in all possible tasks and activities. So where does one draw the line?   The principle of  requisite variety...suggests that the internal diversity of any self-regulating system must match the variety and complexity of its environment if it is to deal with the challenges posed by that environment... The principle of requisite variety if not just an abstract concepts. It is vital management principle. If a team of unit is unable to recognize, absorb, and deal with the variations in its environment, it is unlikely to evolve and survive. The principle suggests that when variety and redundancy are built at a local level - at the point of interaction with the environment rather than at several stages removed, as happens under hierarchical design - evolutionary capacities are enhanced. Individuals, teams, and other units are empowered to find innovations around local issues and problems that resonate with their needs. This also provides a resource for innovation within the broader organization, as the variety and innovation thus experienced is shared and used as a resource for further learning."

4. Minimum specs  - "The three principles discussed above create a capacity to evolve. But systems also need freedom to evolve. This is where the principle of "minimum critical specifications" ....comes into play. The central idea here is that  if a system is to have the freedom to self-organize it must possess a certain degree of "space" or autonomy that allows appropriate innovation to occur...The principle of minimum specs suggests that managers should define no more than is absolutely necessary to launch a particular initiative or activity on its way. They have to avoid the role of "grand designer" in favor of one that focuses on facilitation, orchestration, and boundary management, creating "enabling conditions" that allow a system to find its own form...The challenge is to avoid the anarchy and the completely free flow that arises when there are no parameters or guidelines, on the one hand, and over-centralization, on the other."

· "The metaphor (brain) invites us to rethink key management principles in a way that lays the foundation for a completely new theory of management. Consider, for example, how an understanding of the functioning of the brain challenges traditional assumptions about the importance of strong central leadership and control; about the wisdom of setting clear goals and objectives; about the role of hierarchy; and about the concept of organizational design; and the wisdom of trying to develop and impose systems from the top down."

· "...in developing the importance of the brain as a way of creating capacities for learning and self-organization there is a danger of overlooking important conflicts that can arise between learning and self-organization, on the one hand, and the realities of power and control, on the other.   Any move away from hierarchically controlled structures toward more flexible, emergent patterns has major implications for the distribution of power and control within an organization, as the increase in autonomy granted to self-organizing units undermines the ability of those with ultimate power to keep a firm hand on day-to-day activities and developments. Moreover, the process of learning requires a degree of openness and self-criticism that is foreign to traditional modes of management. Both of these factors tend to generate resistance from the status quo. Managers are often reluctant to trust self-organizing processes among their staff and truly "let go." Many early experiments in self-organizing work designs encountered this problem, and many still do. There is such a strong belief that order means clear structure and hierarchical control that any alternative seems to be a jump in the direction of anarchy and chaos. As has been suggested, successful self-organizing systems always require a degree of hierarchical ordering. But this hierarchy must be allowed to emerge and change as different elements of the system take a lead in making their various contributions. In such systems, hierarchy and control have an emergent quality; they cannot be pre-designed and imposed."