Session 16

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED ABOUT ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURES?

THIS SESSION WILL BE LED BY LED BY ONE OR MORE TEAMS, WORKING TOGETHER,
AS EVERYONE DISCUSSES AND DELIBERATES ON WHAT WE SEE AS THE ESSENTIALS OF THE MODULE

A short discussion of the place of structure in an organizational design

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ROBUST APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAM KEY TO GERMANY'S MANUFACTURING MIGHT

U.S. firms often complain about a lack of skilled workers, but the U.S. has struggled to create widespread apprentice programs. Felix Rauner says growing a viable American apprenticeship system will be difficult. Partly because the U.S. has historically had a barrier between schools and business, and partly because of the fractured nature of U.S. education, with 50 states in charge.

by John Ydstie, NPR, 04 January 2018

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YOU DON'T HAVE TO READ THESE UNLESS YOU WISH TO, BUT WE MIGHT TOUCH UPON THEM IN CONVERSATION

... with regard to information, reengineering directs attention to the information that flows across longitudinal links. This information helps to coordinate the complementary activities that make up a firm's critical process ... Such a focus is undoubtedly invaluable for organizations. Nonetheless, focusing on longitudinal process and the information that goes with it may lead to tunnel vision. Although reengineered organizational charts may happily represent organizations in terms of these types of process, neither linear processes nor charts encompass all that goes on in organizations. It is not surprising, then, that business process reengineering has had less success in the parts of organizations that are less linear and less clearly defined by process and information. Management, for example, has proved notoriously hard to reengineer. So has R&D. In such areas, life is less linear; inputs and outputs are less well defined; and information is less "targeted." These are, rather, areas where making sense, interpreting, and understanding are both problematic and highly valued-areas where, above all, meaning and knowledge are at a premium.

Read chapter 4 in The Social Life of Information, a bit more from a classic on information and organizations, it might prove illuminating.

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THINGS WE'LL TALK ABOUT

The group leading the session will make this determination.

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SOMETHING TO TAKE AWAY

Shanren

Shanren. The following quote comes from WNYC.

Beijing-based alt-folk quartet Shanren meshes rock and ska with the rich music of its native Yunnan province -- the mythical home of Shangri-La -- in southwestern China.
Shanren (which means "Mountain Men" in Chinese) formed after its members migrated from the rural countryside to the bustling Chinese capital a decade ago.
In addition to singing about its ethnic traditions, Shanren's music also grapples with themes resonant to rural transplants and ethnic minorities. The lute-laced song "Thirty Years," for instance, deals with migrants looking for work and love in the big city.

And, closer to home, a local talent

Wei Xie, a former student, performed a music style unfamiliar to me, but clearly something he knew from his background, at a competition in Durham, NC.

The world is small.

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