Discussion: View Thread

  • 1.  New Tools for New Era

    Posted 02-28-2003 10:00
    From: Enda D. Layuk Allo [mailto:cit@ph.edu]

    Dear all,

    After lurking for some times, I feel time to come up with my question (after
    some desperation).

    My name is Enda D. Layuk Allo, and I am a young lecturer, and giving some
    lectures in Industrial Engineering and Management School in Indonesia. My
    background self is Aerospace Engineering. As a science (as we know now),
    managment in my opinion is not difficult, but as some thing that can be
    applied it is another case. When I saw that most that we learn and teach are
    far from reality. Take an example of forecasting, planning, strategic
    planning. All is no more than beautifull things, but again those are far
    from reality, since we live in ever changing world.

    When I enter a class, teach for example material/production management, I
    started to talk to my self "so are you going to lie again to our students".
    When I stand in front of my MBA/master students, it is quite easier (since
    they have already some experiences in real live), so I can tell them "do not
    believe the formulas. Use what the standard books (& formulas) said as a
    basis only, further all you other wisdom and imagination to solve (I prefer
    to use what Ackoff said "dissolve") problem". But for the undergraduate it
    is much more difficult.

    As far as I know the purpose of undergraduate's education program is to lie
    foundation for analytical thinking. It means that we should come with well
    structured ways of thinking, but in my opinion it mislead them (since the
    real world is not good structured). So while I realized that scientific
    management and Newtonian world is over, and we live in chaos and complex
    world, we still use the same tools as before. My suppection is the reason
    because of lack for tool that can replace the existing tools. Even most of
    graduate students prefer to have tools that make their live easier.

    SO I think that we need to think about about new tools, new concepts to
    bring students closer with reality. How? I hope you suggestions!

    My regards
    Enda D. Layuk Allo
    cit@ph.edu
    Indonesia


  • 2.  New Tools for New Era

    Posted 03-02-2003 14:32
    From: Jeff Miller [mailto:jeff@inleadsol.com]

    Hello Enda:

    Some of the best resources that I've seen bridging the linear
    Newtonian world with a more organic view are the tools that are
    emerging from the work of Peter Senge and others. Senge's book the
    Fifth Discipline began something that has seen many materials and
    teaching approaches emerge.

    Specifically, I would take a look at the three fieldbooks that have come
    since the 5th Disciplne (The Fifth Disciplne Fieldbook; The Dance of
    Change; and Schools that Learn). They are each very user friendly
    and have lots of tools and approaches that can be used in addressing
    real problems/challenges/issues.

    Here are some web sites that you might want to check out that are
    linked to this work:
    Pegasus Communications: http://www.pegasuscom.com
    Society for Organizational Learning: http://www.solonline.org/
    Creative Learning Exchange: http://www.clexchange.org/

    I hope some of this is of help..... I'm finding the resources and ideas
    that can be found in these places is becoming increasingly important
    in dealing with the growing complexities out there.

    jeff miller

    On 1 Mar 2003 at 0:40, Automatic digest processor wrote:

    >
    > From: Enda D. Layuk Allo [mailto:cit@ph.edu]
    >
    > Dear all,
    >
    > After lurking for some times, I feel time to come up with my question
    > (after some desperation).
    >
    > My name is Enda D. Layuk Allo, and I am a young lecturer, and giving
    > some lectures in Industrial Engineering and Management School in
    > Indonesia. My background self is Aerospace Engineering. As a science
    > (as we know now), managment in my opinion is not difficult, but as
    > some thing that can be applied it is another case. When I saw that
    > most that we learn and teach are far from reality. Take an example of
    > forecasting, planning, strategic planning. All is no more than
    > beautifull things, but again those are far from reality, since we live
    > in ever changing world.
    >
    > When I enter a class, teach for example material/production
    > management, I started to talk to my self "so are you going to lie
    > again to our students". When I stand in front of my MBA/master
    > students, it is quite easier (since they have already some experiences
    > in real live), so I can tell them "do not believe the formulas. Use
    > what the standard books (& formulas) said as a basis only, further all
    > you other wisdom and imagination to solve (I prefer to use what Ackoff
    > said "dissolve") problem". But for the undergraduate it is much more
    > difficult.
    >
    > As far as I know the purpose of undergraduate's education program is
    > to lie foundation for analytical thinking. It means that we should
    > come with well structured ways of thinking, but in my opinion it
    > mislead them (since the real world is not good structured). So while I
    > realized that scientific management and Newtonian world is over, and
    > we live in chaos and complex world, we still use the same tools as
    > before. My suppection is the reason because of lack for tool that can
    > replace the existing tools. Even most of graduate students prefer to
    > have tools that make their live easier.
    >
    > SO I think that we need to think about about new tools, new concepts
    > to bring students closer with reality. How? I hope you suggestions!
    >
    > My regards
    > Enda D. Layuk Allo
    > cit@ph.edu
    > Indonesia
    >
    > -----------------------------


    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Jeff Miller, Ph.D. office: 317-733-8635
    Innovative Leadership
    Solutions, Inc.
    6526 Oxford Drive mobile: 317-294-5762
    Zionsville, IN 46077
    http://www.inleadsol.com fax: 317-733-8636
    ------------------------------------------
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    miller.3293@osu.edu (permanent)
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  • 3.  New Tools for New Era

    Posted 03-04-2003 03:17
    Second respond. Note: I thank to the sender for his illuminating articles.

    Regards
    Enda D. Layuk Allo




    Hi Enda - I don't know if this is the kind of response you were looking for,
    but as someone who jumped from Strategy-Practice to Strategy-Teaching a
    decade ago, I can confirm you are exactly right.

    We know some things - strategy analysis methods by and large don't work
    (explanations for firm performance are desperately weak), strategy errors
    failures are frequent and spectacular, and managers don't use the frameworks
    on offer because they don't help (see www.bain.com survey of usage).

    Attached is a pair of articles that address these serious problems, and
    offers what appears to be a robust alternative (one is a draft managerial
    piece, the other a simple theoretical paper).