Alistair Mant

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• Alistair Mant
• Chairman
• Socio-Technical Strategy Group, UK

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• Effective
• Managerial
• Leadership

Sound Systems Thinking
Supply chains frogs or bicycles
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SOCIO-TECHNICAL STRATEGY GROUP

• Making organisations work by aligning strategy
  with the natural properties of operational and
  human systems.
• DEFENCES AGAINST THE THINGS THAT NATURALLY GO
  WRONG
• Creeping Entropy Systems are non-static
  variability breeds
• Sods Law If it can go wrong it will go wrong/
• Normalisation Forgetting to be afraid
• Routinisation Expertise liberates consciousness
• Intrinsic Hazards Unpredictable local variation

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Transformer
Reservoir
Generator
Turbine
Valve
The Cathedral
Reservoir
OPEN SYSTEMS Hydro-electric throughput
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INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP The natural properties of
open systems
IMPORT
TRANSFORMATION
EXPORT
IMPORT
RESOURCES ADDED VALUE PRODUCT USEFULNESS
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DOG WAGS TAIL WAGS DOG
PRIMARY TASK
CONSTRAINT
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A. K. RICE AND THE MODERN UNIVERSITY
Primary Task
Constraint
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COMMODITY MODEL OF EDUCATION
School Model
PARENT etc
CHILD
Batch Processing
Customer
Product
Agent
Customer
Bespoke

• Gardners roles for the bespoke school
• The assessment specialist
• The student / curriculum broker
• The school / community broker

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MANAGING HUMAN THROUGHPUTS
Bring in for Processing
Leave at the Gateway
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BALANCING THROUGHPUT
PUSH Primary task fill the bath
PULL Primary task use water downstream
(outcome)
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BALANCING THROUGHPUT
BOGOF
STUFF UP
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PUSH / PULL IN EMPLOYMENT SERVICES

• OUTCOME
• Disabled person employed sustainably
• Treasury saves

Intermediary (Broker)
Employer (Customer)
Candidate prepared, confident
Workplace prepared, confident
Disabled job-seeker

• GOVERNMENT
• Understands the supply chain end-to-end
• Demonstrates best practice

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The exercise of judgement is how we add value
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THE NATURAL PROPERTIES OF INSTITUTIONS
Component-level solutions
Total system-level solutions
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Proposition B Proposition F
What gets measured gets done. If you dont
measure it you cant manage it
The unmeasurable is important because it is
unmeasurable
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Proposition B Proposition F
What gets measured gets done. If you dont
measure it you cant manage it
The unmeasurable is important because it is
unmeasurable
NATURAL PROPERTIES The exercise of human
judgement
Certainty
Timely decision-point
Time
Gut-feel
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Management consultants myth number 1 We can get
the system to do our thinking for us
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A USEFUL DEFINITION OF JUDGEMENT
What you do when you dont (and cant) know what
to do! (but you sense you must do something quick)
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A USEFUL DEFINITION OF JUDGEMENT
What you do when you dont (and cant) know what
to do! (but you sense you must do something quick)
Good judgement is based on experience
experience is built on bad judgement
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A USEFUL DEFINITION OF JUDGEMENT
What you do when you dont (and cant) know what
to do! (but you sense you must do something quick)
Good judgement is based on experience
experience is built on bad judgement
A SOUND ORGANISATION STRUCTURE A SYSTEMATIC set
of RELATIONSHIPS between individuals (and groups)
which allows just the right amount of elbow-room
for the exercise of DISCRETION in making
JUDGEMENTS.
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After Stamp
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After Stamp
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DIFFUSE TRIPOD OF WORK
After Stamp
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LEVELS OF WORK AUTHORITY, COMPLEXITY AND TALENT
(25-50)
Sustaining long-term viability defining values,
moulding contexts
Global corporate prescience
VII
(15-20)
Reading international contexts to support/alert
level V strategic business units
(Group) corporate citizenship
VI
(?10)
Overview of organisational purpose in context
Strategic intent
V
Inventing/modelling new futures positioning the
organisation
Strategic development
(?5)
IV
Constructing/connecting and fine-tuning systems
Good practice
(?2/3)
III
(?1)
Supporting/serving level 1 and customers/clients
Service
II
Hands-on skill
Quality
I
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FOUR NON-DELEGABLE FUNCTIONS OF LEADERSHIP
(MANAGING THROUGHPUTS) 1. PROCESS
CHAMPION Prioritising work Acting as advocate for
the groups task Auditing group performance
against targets 2. PEOPLE DEVELOPMENT Being an
exemplar Coaching Motivating, disciplining
(UNDERSTANDING CONTEXTS) 3. HIGH-LEVEL
ADMINISTRATIVE CO-ORDINATION Giving strategic
direction Deploying group resources Coordinating
relations with other groups 4. CHANGE
AGENT Discerning future group needs Improvement
planning and timetabling Managing change
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PURPOSE and SANITY
Binary
Ternary
Master
Servant 1
Master
Servant
Servant 2
Authority Achievement Consensus Building Mature
dependence
Power Survival Win/Lose Raiding Fight/Flight
Key Words
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THE GOOD BOSS
but
Not a tough personality but strict on
standards.
Boss
Standards
Subordinate
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The buck stops here
Doctor (Artful Power-broker)
Manager
Doctor
Manager
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TWO VIEWS OF LEADERSHIP

• Typical American
• (Warren Bennis)

• Typical European

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THE NATURAL PROPERTIES OF HUMAN BEINGS

• The Need to be Useful
• To work in an organisation which does something
  useful for its environment.
• To work in a job/role which adds value to the
  surrounding system.

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THE NATURAL PROPERTIES OF HUMAN BEINGS

• The Need to be Useful
• To work in an organisation which does something
  useful for its environment.
• To work in a job/role which adds value to the
  surrounding system.
• The Need for Association
• To work as part of a team.
• To get the work/recreation balance right.

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THE NATURAL PROPERTIES OF HUMAN BEINGS

• The Need to be Useful
• To work in an organisation which does something
  useful for its environment.
• To work in a job/role which adds value to the
  surrounding system.
• The Need for Association
• To work as part of a team.
• To get the work/recreation balance right.
• The Need for Achievement
• To work in stretch mode, running just-manageable
  risks.
• Continuously to develop personal capability.

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THE NATURAL PROPERTIES OF HUMAN BEINGS

• The Need to be Useful
• To work in an organisation which does something
  useful for its environment.
• To work in a job/role which adds value to the
  surrounding system.
• The Need for Association
• To work as part of a team.
• To get the work/recreation balance right.
• The Need for Achievement
• To work in stretch mode, running just-manageable
  risks.
• Continuously to develop personal capability.
• The Need for Mature Dependence
• To work for a capable and sane authority figure
  (e.g. boss).
• To receive and manage the dependent projections
  of others.

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FRONT-LINE SOCIO-TECHNICAL SYSTEMS
ANXIOUS
CARING
SUCCOUR
THE SYSTEM
HURTING
HEALING
SUPPORT
THE NEEDY CITIZEN
THE HEALTH etc PRACTITIONER
TEAMWORK
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THE NATURAL LINK BETWEEN PEOPLE AND WORK
Designated work group leader
Each work group completes the plan-do-review cycle
Basic work group
Each individual personally controls at least one
transformation
Basic transformation
Natural work flows
Personal and structural conditions to encourage
teamworking throughout the organisation are
established
After Schumacher