Sysparatem

Social Media, Complexity at the Organisation / Environment Interface & Systems Thinking Frameworks

Copyright 2012 Sysparatem

Major real-world paradigm changes create multifaceted problems

They demand a range of skills and tools

Usually we need to mix approaches and frameworks to suit the
territory we find ourselves in

We are free to fuse frameworks to suit the territory but trying to
make the territory fit the framework only ends in falsifying or ignoring
evidence

This half of the session explains a framework fusion I used for
looking at crucial change

The problem was how organisations need to transform to function
in modern social media environments

Sysparatem

Framework Fusion

Sysparatem

Problem I

Organisations can't invent customers to suit their organisations any more because their customers are in an enormous articulated network outside the boundaryThey have to address much more complexity at the perimeter and have to respond to the inputs instantly in most cases

Sysparatem

Problem II

A hierarchical structure is unable to deliver the necessary responsiveness at the organisational perimeterThe structure cannot process the necessary policy application decisions and strategic actions required for organisations to survive

Sysparatem

Problem III

A lot of the answers have been around for a long time but while it was still largely possible to hoodwink the consumer, implementing those answers was optional.The big difference now is that you can't do that any more

Sysparatem

Systems Thinking VSM

What follows are 3 frameworks from Systems Thinking that mashed up together looked like a solutionThe first was developed in the
1970's by Stafford Beer
called the Viable Systems Model

Sysparatem

Systems Thinking VSM

Diagram from The Brain of the Firm By Stafford Beer published by Wiley 1981

System 5Policy, Governance, Culture

System 4Marketing, Portfolio, Innovation

System 3Delivery Resource Distribution

System 2Coordination

System 1Operations

Sysparatem

Systems Thinking VSM

VSM is not a 5 minute study so I'm going to focus here on the aspect which most directly answers the problem with hierarchical structure.

The organisational model is fractal
So every level of every organisation
contains a whole model within.
This provides requisite variety at the
organisational perimeter as there are
always local instances of Governance etc.
Power is distributed but also coordinated.
This framework let me see how large
organisations could work to achieve
common aims

See The Fractal Organisation by Patrick Hoverstadt

Sysparatem

Systems Thinking PCP

The Second area of ST I drew on was work developed by Fran Ackermann & Colin Eden based on George Kelly's Personal Construct Theory. This work is called SODAStrategic Options Development and Analysis.

George Kelly

I

Sysparatem

Systems Thinking PCP

SODA uses cognitive mapping techniques and workshop environments to arriveat socially negotiated and jointly shared models for organisational change

I thought this fitted perfectly with VSM as a method of developing a shared vision
across an organisation

The next slide is an example of a causal map. Rule of thumb if the map is of anIndividual it's Cognitive if it's used for a group it's Causal

Sysparatem

Systems Thinking PCP

Cognitive mapping tool Decision Explorer available from Banxia.com

Sysparatem

Systems Thinking Head Stuff

Now no change proposal or effort gets very far without meetingserious resistance and quite often from serious players.

SODA is great at encouraging group negotiated strategic options but it seemed
a good idea to look at tools and techniques that might be used to helpwith more human / individual levels of resistance

So the final third element were a group of techniques designed to help people re-frame or re-conceptualise their part in the whole

Metaphor & Visualisation

Challenging restrictive thinking

Overcoming fear and building trust

Sysparatem

Mashing the ST Frameworks

Pulling these different frameworks together I ended up with A model that showed them as three interlocking and mutually supporting parts of a pyramid

The fourth point of the pyramid I saw as outcomes and I labelled it 'Crucial Change' because it expresses that the change that needs to be made in 21st century environments is about whether organisations will survive

So looking at those issues, this was my Framework Fusion.

Sysparatem

The Framework Fusion

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Sysparatem

Part II

Example of a Social Media Tool Helping Meet the Challenge of Increased Variety

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Sysparatem

Managing Variety in Social Media

A very simple, common attenuator and amplifier of variety

Organisation

Environment

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Sysparatem

Managing Variety in Social Media

For the purpose of illustration I'm using prediction markets as one example of a social media tool

A prediction market is an approach to using collective intelligence which is being dealt with in greater depth by Dr Servan-Schreiber in a separate session. A very brief summary will serve for our purposes

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Sysparatem

Managing Variety in Social Media

World's shortest introduction to Prediction Markets

A Prediction Market is:A market in which the stocks are questions about future events, money may not be real and there are no insider trading laws

A technique applied by Iowa Electronic Markets to successfully predict the outcomes of nearly all the US elections for the past 15 years with greater accuracy than the professional poll organisations 75% of the time

A technique for getting at the aggregate knowledge and wisdom of large groups so effective that it is leveraged by GE in its new innovation driven business model and by Best Buy to select product lines for next years focus

A method of finding out what people really think about the questions floated as stocks because bidding is anonymous

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Sysparatem

Managing Variety in Social Media

Another example of tackling massive variety created by Social Media actually extends BEYOND the organisations self perceived boundary.

One of our technology partners FlyingBinary, run by the inimitable Jacqui Taylor, specialises in big data and social media.

The following two slides show the results of a massive high speed web-data trawl and the latest super-fast structuring and search technologies

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Sysparatem

Managing Variety in Social MediaFrom FlyingBinary

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Sysparatem

Managing Variety in Social MediaFrom FlyingBinary

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Sysparatem

The Framework Fusion

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Sysparatem

The Framework Fusion

This is an overview of how I think these three areas may fit together to deliver 21st Century organisations.

Harnessing the energy in Human-nessForming socially negotiated strategiesArticulating them through a fractal model enabling distributed leadership

This is not a small short term undertaking

But that doesn't mean you can't start Getting results fastThe fractal structure of the modelAllows for cellular change

Major real-world paradigm changes create multifaceted problems

They demand a range of skills and tools

Usually we need to mix approaches and frameworks to suit the
territory we find ourselves in

We are free to fuse frameworks to suit the territory but trying to
make the territory fit the framework only ends in falsifying or ignoring
evidence
We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploringWill be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time

Sysparatem

Framework Fusion

Thank You

Context

Value

Sysparatem

This is just a great place in Yorkshire

called Brimham Rocks

07/06/12

Copyright Sysparatem 2012 under creative commons license

Copyright under Creative Commons Sysparatem 2012