Bricolage

 In his 1960 book “The Human Side of Enterprise” Douglas McGregor described Theory X managers as those who believe that “The average person dislikes work and will avoid it he/she can” while theory Y managers believe that “People usually accept and often seek responsibility”

50 years later there is no shortage of Theory X and Theory Y managers in organisations throughout the world.

I can’t help thinking that if McGregor was writing today he would notice a very different approach to the introduction of new technology for communication with the workforce which aligns with his seminal work.

A study of the use of a Virtual Synchronous Classroom in a global consulting firm was described by Thompson (2004) at the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (ELEARN) 2004.

This response is typical of a theory X organisation.

A YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4VhoWGZ2eA shows a theory Y attitude. The video is about school students, but those students are going to be in the workforce before very long and the technology they are using was purchased by their parents.

This is how I would categorise the beliefs of today’s theory X and theory Y managers

21st century Theory X managers believe

• There is not enough server space or bandwith to store all of the data that we need to provide if we used podcasts (technology)
• There are too many security concerns. we could not be certain that people outside the company were not viewing our confidential material (security)
• The material would become out of date and people would be relying on old material (currency)
• The technology is not good enough yet. (technology)
• We would have to cater to people in several countries and so would have to provide the information in multiple languages (diversity)
• The media devices would be used for non work activities. They could also be stolen. We would have to be able to clear them remotely if they fell into the wrong hands. (trust)
• Most of our people are not tech savvy enough to use the equipment. training costs would be exorbitant. and the equipment becomes superseded every year. (competence)

21st Century, Theory Y managers believe

• The stuff is out there. To maintain competitive advantage or even a place in the market we have to use it. (currency)
• Communication means using whatever our people use to communicate. (currency)
• We trust our people to deal with our customers face to face. Surely there is no more important priority. If we have got it wrong there we are in trouble already. (trust)
• The volume of information that we need to participate in the market place is so huge we have to have the server space and technology to cope. It is just a cost of doing business. (technology)
• This will help us deal with our customers, suppliers and other stakeholders as well as our employees (diversity)
• Security and privacy is a priority. We need to be using best practice. (security)

So

When McGregor published in 1960 his approach was politely acknowledged by most, and included in every supervision course ever since. Meanwhile, back at the coal-face Theory X continues to dominate. 

Some Theory Y managers operated in small cells and prospered. Others were run over as people raced to take advantage of them.

Neither theories were universally right. Which direction is more appropriate in the new millennium?  

Are you more inclined to Theory X or Theory Y? What other beliefs need to be considered?

References

McGregor, D. (1960) ”The human side of enterprise”  McGraw Hill, New York.

Thompson, T., (2004), “The Virtual Classroom @ Work: How Technology Shapes Workplace Learning”, In G. Richards (Ed.), “Proceedings of World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (ELEARN)2004″, pp.2166-2171, Chesapeake, VA: AACE, downloaded (purchased) from  www.editlib.org April 12, 2008.

One of the delights of higher education is the marvellous words that one finds in scholarly texts.

Joel Barker discovered Paradigm in a 1984 article by Harlan Hahn about Law Enforcement for Disabled Americans and made a movie about the word - not the topic. This was almost twenty years ago and it has now made its way into everyday language. Generally misused, but nevertheless ever-present.

I found Bricolage in a readable, but nevertheless scholarly, article and have adopted it to describe everything I do. While my son guessed it was a green vegetable, my wife suspected it was highly calorific. She suggested that it may be a progression from Irish coffee, which contains only four of the five essential food groups - alcohol, sugar, cholesterol, caffeine and chocolate. That’s what happens when you work with whatever materials are at your disposal.

But the word of the week must be reification. It is an Anglicization of the German term Verdinglichung, which is almost onomatopoeic. I found it in an article by Etienne Wenger, but it is not defined there. As is my wont, I went to the Onelook on line dictionary and discovered two options:

representing a human being as a physical thing deprived of personal qualities or individuality (freedictionary.org).

OR

To regard or treat (an abstraction) as if it had concrete or material existence. (Random House)

The two may seem opposites.  ”Removal of the spirit” - turning humans into objects or materialization - “giving an abstract concept a concrete form”.

But this can be the effect of so many policies and procedures. The humans are required to comply with the written word. The rules are unchallengeable. The humans become robotic and treated as though incapable of thought. The rules, however become living things. The policy is about to descend from its ivory tower and Verdinglichung you into submission.

Like reification, policies have whatever meaning the upholders wish to ascribe.

I am not against written policies. it is just that I believe that any CEO should be able to express them when asked to do so in a social setting. It would be even better if the front-line workforce jumped out of bed in the morning committed to implementing them as a way of making the customer’s experience more pleasant.

But that would require reification.
 

Saunders (1999) discusses the Johari window with respect to Social Learning. Saunders’ comments were pre Web 2.0, so what can we learn by looking on line through a Johari window at social networking sites?

 The traditional Johari Window was set on two axes to form four panes. Was the matter known to me? Was the matter known to others?

There are things that I know about me that I am happy to let you know about. These may include my name, age and / or  gender in a face to face contact. I may be more reluctant to disclose those on line.

There are things that I would prefer to hide about me both in face to face and on line contacts.

There are also things that you have determined from our interactions that I am not aware of, or at least I am not aware that that is how you see me.

Then there are things that neither you or I am aware of. (more…)

When Nicole-B (Purplegirl) asked a question about tagging, I went to her site to see what the problem was and clicked on one of the links she had made to see if it was working properly.

There was no problem, but the link did show how the face of business has changed with social networking tools and the web.

The link was to Carol Daunt Skyring’s blog in which she proudly proclaims that she has reached number 1 ranking in Google for “Videoconference“.

I searched a bit deeper and discovered that Carol is an Australian entrepreneur who heads up LearnTel a 5 person team of consultants not aligned with any particular brand of equipment and works with all major service providers. Like most overnight successes, it has taken Carol 20 years to reach the top - she started in 1986. Her media page shows that she is  a recognised international expert on the effective use of videoconferencing for teaching. She works with lecturers, teachers, trainers, health workers and management from government departments and private organisations throughout Australia, New Zealand, USA and Europe.

Her blog is posted in Edublogs, so we share the technology and opportunity.

Prior to embarking on a second career about 20 years ago I was told that if I wrote something every day within a year I would be knowledgeable, within 5 years an expert and within 20 years the world authority.

I lost sight of the goal for a while, as one does. But it is great to know that Carol has done just that. Her Masters degree was gained during the twenty years and she is now working towards a doctorate. 

I am astounded by the amount of talent in our EMT group and feel confident that in twenty years time there is every chance that someone I met on this group will get primary ranking on Google.

Debra drew attention to another attempt to regulate the web, this time by banning self promotional material on feedback web sites.

It seems that the Eurpopean Union has moved to standardise acceptable commercial practice throughout all member states. The full directive is available in a 36 page pdf of a powerpoint show.

The outlawed behaviour that inspired the blog post that Debra cites includes “Falsely claiming or creating the impression that the trader is not acting for purposes relating to his trade, business, craft or profession, or falsely representing oneself as a consumer.” (more…)