Al l i c

e ni o rga n isa t i o l

a

n d

n

A visual journey in English through the Dutch book

www.aliceinorganisatieland.nl

fallsAlice

fallsfalls …

.

and

and

When she is finished falling,

she scrapes the remaining pieces of cloud from her dress

She looks around her and sees a magnificent grainfield

ready for harvesting

S uddenly she hears voices …

She turns around

We will starve this winter because so little

harvesting has been done

The rainy season is coming. The grain will

decay in the fields

“Why on earth are the people tálking about the grain,

whereas they should be harvesting it ? ”

Alice asks herself loudly

… people don’t behave as logical as a clock

To this I know the answer ….

Alice turns towards the clock

She is very eager to hear what the clock has to say

“The written rules shape the first system.

This structure determines part of your behaviour”

“ … behind the intended system a second system lies. Both are tied together and preserve each others state …..”

“Everything which is not visibly regulated is regulated nevertheless,

you see?”

the clock says

Alice would gladly see the invisible,

but the sight of pregnant grain is catching her eyes instead

“Maybe you will get

the picture if I show

you some unwritten

rules

Look …”

“Ik zal je een aantal

ongeschreven regels

laten zien”

“Ik zal je

een aantal

ongeschreven

regels

laten

zien”

Don’t make mista

kes

Make

the boss happy

Be the bringer of happy news

Never putt down your colleagues

Do not speak your true mind

Don’t speak directly to someone higher in the hierarchy

You can say NO and do YES

Alice has become pretty dizzy

watching all those rules that are unwritten!

“Dizzy or not, people tend to follow

the rules which are nót written”

the clock calls out

before Alice continues falling

“Belie

ve behaviour, not

word

s”

After Alice hits solid ground, she continues her journey

She thinks about the man who recently told her

that his door always stands open for her …

She can see now that people

don’t always walk their talk, but she doesn’t yet understand

why,

especially not if people get hungry by doing so!

Then she comes across a motive

make

sure y

ou

clarify th

em

“Every behaviour has its roots in its motives”

the motive says

“Motives?

Hmmm… having enough to eat, being important, cosiness, making friends, being able to harvest well, gaining

respect, status, earning money, climbing the social ladder, recognition, acknowledgment”

Alice runs down a few

“People want to satisfy several motives. When they can’t, they simply freeze”

the motive knows

“Wait, I will show you …”

Behaviour: working hard to harvest the grain

Motive: Cosiness

Motiv

e:

Gaining so

cial s

tatus

…. My colleagues will

think I am a eager beaver

…. I will then get recognition from my boss

“Are you showing off when you work hard? How I would like to

break this circle”

Alice calls out before she continues

falling

While Alice tidies up her hair a bit

(which is not an unnecessary luxury after falling) she hears distant twittering

“Emotion is the reason why people will be hungry this winter”

the birds twitter in her direction

“Thoughts about the written rules paint the colours of people’s emotions. They thereby make a painting of reality. But their emotions do not represent reality itself”

“You can not check whether your emotion is “real”,

because if you go looking for it, you summon it ..

“… but the colour of your emotion dóes affect your behaviour”

Je kunt niet controleren of je emotie echt bestaat,

want als je ernaar zoekt roep je de emotie op

“If you are feeling bad, you’d rather not play or work together and your memory does not work as well either”

“Then, harvesting the grain will probably not belong to the possibilities?”

Alice asks while summoning an angry mood

“That’s right. The way you think determines the way you feel and behave

Acknowledge the power of thinking habits!”

“Emotion is a closed system of chain reactions. Stand beside the dominoes and try to see what your

emotions tell you about the situation”

While the dom

inoes fall,

Alice falls further and further …

Her landing is wet

“Most people don’t see the other person, but an image they have formed of someone.

In this way they don’t talk to the other, but to themselves”

the bubbles say

“…. but the behaviour of others is determined by a lot more factors than your opinion about them”

“But how do I break down this system ….”

Alice sighs

“By asking if what you are seeing is right. That’s how you break the second system”

the bubbles bubble

“You can start by putting on different glasses to look at the same thing …”

“…. you can only complete the picture by wánting to understand the point of view of everyone involved …”

If you comply with unwritten rules like

“Don’t keep asking questions”

and

“Don’t speak up to someone higher in the hierarchy”

your picture remains one sided”

But is your picture right ?

”You will have to verify !”

Alice calls out in an euphoric state

“That’s right !”

a proud bubble says, bursting into pieces as a result of pure joy

Alice feels her journey through

organisationland has come to an end

She thinks about what she has learned

“If you use your eyeballs well,

you can find out how people interpret the written rules”

“… and if you know how unwritten rulescome about, you can change them!”

Alice concludes feeling as

light as a feather

From that moment on …

Alice fell happily ever after

Epilogue by Alice:

Unwritten rules have diverse effects from which people suffer, while the same people also cause them by keeping to the unwritten rules. People often don’t know that and they almost never do so on purpose.

No one is to blame! And that is just as well, because feeling guilty makes you freeze and do nothing and we

wouldn’t want thát. Tsssss…

Through the eyes of Marina Noordegraaf

You were watching the visual interpretation of the book “Alice in organisatieland” as seen through the eyes of Marina Noordegraaf (www.marinanoordegraaf.nl). With very special thanks for checking the English to my

dear friend Tim Bowen, who has been my penfriend from England for over 16 years now

The visual material for this travel came from flickr (http://www.flickr.com)

1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/botheredbybees/323501213/ 3. http://www.flickr.com/photos/andthenpatterns/608853796/ 4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kky/704056791/ 5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rayced/480714958/ 6. http://www.flickr.com/photos/77682540@N00/2623969513/ 7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/hamed/962315433/8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/konehead/2831780556/ 9. http://www.flickr.com/photos/azrainman/990800063/10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/strict/413108056/ 11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/rockymountainhigh/1538260470/12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zakmc/2336254540/ 13. http://www.flickr.com/photos/trialsanderrors/2818529606/ 14. http://www.flickr.com/photos/marfis75/2583328345/ 15. Photo by Marina Noordegraaf 16. http://www.flickr.com/photos/miranda310/2586075501/in/photostream/17. http://www.flickr.com/photos/17305559@N00/482841793/ 18. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cygnus921/2728259955/ 19. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/395357747/ 20. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkspleen/464011400/21. http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyfitz/292886381/ 22. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wojtekmejor/1338394306/23. http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/1461848534/24. http://www.flickr.com/photos/28481088@N00/1461848106/in/photostream/25. http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/96674873/ 26. http://www.flickr.com/photos/peterpearson/2618681122/27. http://www.flickr.com/photos/superfantastic/1565232473/ 28. http://www.flickr.com/photos/terretta/168517881/29. http://www.flickr.com/photos/combust/988271713/ 30. http://www.flickr.com/photos/superfantastic/327265160/31. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lifeontheedge/476415724/ 32. http://www.flickr.com/photos/yogi/175690858/33. http://www.flickr.com/photos/allyaubryphotography/2535453766/ 34. http://www.flickr.com/photos/selmanpinarli/407250078/ 35.http://www.flickr.com/photos/lanuiop/2488945432/in/photostream/36. http://www.flickr.com/photos/freeparking/2567089413/ 37. http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/297237720/ 38. http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdecomite/474389675/ 39. http://www.flickr.com/photos/notsogoodphotography/2099576911/40. http://www.flickr.com/photos/annieominous/2216861189/ 41. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kubina/42275122/ 42. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkspleen/2088114113/ 43. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/612350664/ 44. http://www.flickr.com/photos/visulogik/1744058293/in/set-72157602691462472/ 45. http://www.flickr.com/photos/napfisk/382956990/ 46. http://www.flickr.com/photos/clickclickclickclick/2587958183/in/photostream/ 47. http://www.flickr.com/photos/monroesdragonfly/2739734655/ 48. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeygottawa/2154857390/in/photostream/ 49. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ckaroli/1671699914/ 50. http://www.flickr.com/photos/yoko69/482034146/ 51. http://www.flickr.com/photos/paul_fisk/2079495260/ 52. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kessiye/2487581897/ 53. http://www.flickr.com/photos/frenkieb/4423393/