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A great metaphor
If you think product design is the glue between marketing & manufacturing that might explain why parts fall off things you make.
Sound Advice from Napoleon Hill
General Having consulted to government and industry organisations since 1981 I have been struck by the contrast between those organisations that get on with change and those that flounder. My interest in doing a PhD was to understand and articulate what CEOs need to do to ensure that change happens in their organisations instead of permitting people to avoid what needs to be done. I observed a contemporary issue; how CEOs who were effectively dealing with sustainability issues were going about leading that change. In other words, what sort of deliberation takes places in organisations that are dealing with sustainability issues effectively? What I discovered has broad implications within all organisations and for individuals in their private lives. I have applied my learning within client organisations as reported in my book chapter 'Assessment of Quality Systems with Positioning Theory', in Harre, R and F Moghaddam 2003, The Self and Others: Positioning Individuals and Groups in Personal, Political, and Cultural Contexts, Greenwood Publishers, Westport, Conn I am working with Charles Kovess to develop a program to help people learn about themselves and others so they can develop themselves and their relationships with others. Papers Published So Far
John Elkington's 1998 book has provided a foundation for my research. A second book has been written to build on this foundation. I put forth that people, who care about the environment and community they work in say things like, "I know this is going to cost the company money, but I think there are other reasons for doing it � environmental and / or social." Triple bottom line is an attempt to recognise that if you only consider things for the dollars they cost, you miss many benefits, because they just do not fit on the balance sheet. The selective way they account for things means you do not see the whole enterprise and its affect on things. A purely financial interpretation would be inappropriate. Positioning Theory Dr Ian Ling suggested that I consider Prof Rom Harre's positioning theory as a basis for my research. Lings 1998 thesis and Harre's 1999 book have provided a foundation for my research. The position a person occupies intellectually defines the way information is taken in and perceived. This counters the idea that man is an objective being. Positioning theory relates to discursive psychology. It attempts to describe the dynamics of people in action with each other and considers how they position themselves and each other. Furthermore, it deals with what happens when people choose not to accept the position assigned to them or when the positions they are attempting to impose on others are renegotiated. The tool box of positioning theory includes:
Michel Foucault My analysis was assisted with a number of Foucauldian ideas. Gaze and governmentality were two concepts that sensitised me to develop my concept of Social Flux. See my discussion of Foucault's ideas in Chapter 3 and my development of Social Flux in Chapter 7 (available on PDF files soon). |
a part of RMIT Business - School of Management Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology |