Saturday, April 28, 2012

Updated outline of an actual day.

The previous post about the outline of a possible day in September still looks reasonable. There has been a bit more interest through the Critical Management site. So the stats tell me. On one of the hotseats for the Networked Learning Conference it was suggested that Analytics could be a nightmare or even fairy dust. But I find stats quite useful sometimes. The book on Cloud Time is now published and there are extracts on the Amazon Look Again. Something in this area would balance the technology claims that others are likely to make. The Cloud is still gaining I think but then I live in Twinity. My colleague Will Pollard has blogged about the LCC. I don't see why this could not be covered just because some situations are difficult. By the way Source Dubious tells me that the LCC building is only 12 stories high. The Ministry of Sound is planning for 30 stories in a rebuild. So the rumours about the LCC site could have a basis. Apparently the Elephant and Castle is a booming area. I'm not sure about everything that Source Dubious tells me but there must be something to this. Meanwhile I have noticed that there will be a couple of days to celebrate 30 years of the MA in Management Learning and Leadership at Lancaster. This will link to some social media and topics may include avatars so this is very interesting for me. I think the face-to-face event is free so suggest you have a look if you are near Lancaster at the end of May.

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Source Dubious tells me about performance targets

I recently visited Source Dubious at his Fleet Street flat. I like to check his blue screen seat is still there and also he often has some information. We got talking about the quality meetings that seem to happen towards that end of London. He has heard that some people have raised doubts about the performance targets sometimes suggested by HR. It was all a bit of a puzzle as it seemed quite like what I sometimes hear about QA.

I do hope lots of people will join the discussion around Management Theory at Work, either as comments on this blog or the LinkedIn group or now on Facebook. Search for #mtw3 , this often works. The Facebook group has a couple of other photos so you could experiment with collage. I find that Twinity is not for everybody.

Monday, April 2, 2012

Draft outline of a day conference shape

I am still thinking about what the day might be like if there was a face to face version of the third Management Theory at Work. It is quite possible this would be at the Work Foundation in London as it is now closely aligned with Lancaster University. A high proportion of those attending would probably be already involved in the Work Foundation so the practitioner aspect could be even stronger than for the first two conferences. There could still be a significant thread for CMS and Organizational Learning. But I am not sure how the closing plenary will work out. There may need to be three of them or at least some options. Fortunately the Work Foundation has many rooms.

See the previous post for a YouTube version of what might happen. The opening keynote is definitely from John Burgoyne. Similar to what is on YouTube but he seems to welcome questions so it could vary. There will probably be something on Organisational Learning but I don't know how much time this will take. The Handbook of Organizational Learning and Knowledge Management Second Edition is just over 700 pages. I keep looking on YouTube for some sort of introduction.

There could be different streams for case studies, theory and critique. There is already an #mtw3 cloud on Cloudworks so Cloudworks itself could be a case study. The OU is studying Analytics as "dream, nightmare or fairydust" (search on these words to find it) so there could be something for each stream.

There are enough blog posts about the London College of Communication for another possible case study at another stage of technology. I am not sure how public this can be but there coulkd be informal discussion during the day.

There is a new book about the cloud - Cloud Time by Rob Coley and Dean Lockwood - that "maps capitalisms mobilization of cloud computing in its bid to archive and enclose the future". This could be part of a critique stream. Interest in the cloud continues.

There should be space for several papers, including work in progress for PhD s . I notice that when John Burgoyne is invited to speak there are usually other topics that seem to follow on from the first two events. Some links so you can have a look.

Lancaster Senior Learners Forum

University Campus Suffolk, School of Business, Enterprise and Leadership
Past Lectures

Management Theory at Work Two - programme from 2003

Management Theory at Work 1


The Grove Volume 1 Number 1 2012 International Journal of Experience and Reflection

So I think I will look for connections over the next few weeks. The way to end the day is still a bit of a blank.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

My visit to a Quality training site


I recently went to a training centre near London Bridge used by the CQI for a meeting on Deming Secrets. I think it is possible they would be interested in Management Theory at Work, details in the rest of this blog.

I notice Will Pollard has linked to a recent Peter Senge video in his learn9 blog. There are various opinions on Peter Senge but he was definitely mentioned during the first two conferences. The people looking at Deming Secrets may have more to say about this. The learn9 blog is set up for SceneChat so commenting on the video is possible.