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e-O&P SUMMER 2015 VERSION HISTORY

Date Version Description Name

07-05-2015 0-1 Some placeholders inserted David

05-07-2015 0-2 More content David

19-07-2015 0-3 Revised book review, more on David

Working with humans:

Beings not resources

Journal of the Association for Management Education and

Development____________________________________________________________________________________________________________e-ORGANISATIONS & PEOPLE, WINTER 2014, VOL. 21, NO. 4 PAGE II www.amed.org.uk

Volume 22 ● Number 2 ● Summer 2015

http://www.amed.org.uk/


Lead Editors: David McAra and David Shepherd

Thanks to Triarchy Press for their continuing support.

© AMED 2015. ISSN 2042 – 9797. You may freely print or download articles to a local hard disk, provided they are for your personal and non-commercial use only. Please ensure that you acknowledge the original source in full using the following words

‘This article first appeared in e-O&P Vol 22 No 2, Summer 2015 and is reproduced by kind permission of AMED www.amed.org.uk’.

For permission to reproduce article(s) from this journal more widely, please contact the AMED Office www.amed.org.uk, Tel: +44 (0)300 365 1247.

The views expressed in this journal by both editorial staff and contributors are not those of AMED or any of the organisations represented by the editors, but reflect the opinions of the individual authors only.

e-O&P Editorial Board:Bob MacKenzieDavid McAra

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________e-ORGANISATIONS & PEOPLE, WINTER 2014, VOL. 21, NO. 4 PAGE III www.amed.org.uk

This edition of e-O&P may be downloaded from the AMED web site www.amed.org.uk , priced at: £10 for networkers and non-members or £5 for visitors to the Triarchy Press website £0 for full members of AMED and e-O&P

subscribers

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Working with humans: beings not resourcesWORKING WITH HUMANS: II

BEINGS NOT RESOURCES II

LESSONS OF MANAGEMENT 2Roger Niven 2

HUMAN BEINGS NOT HUMAN RESOURCES 4David McAra 4

THE DEAD HAND OF MANAGEMENT 7David Shepherd 7

MANY ARE WORKING ON THIS CHALLENGE 8Selected by David McAra 8

INTRODUCING IMPROV 12Book review by Ron East & Lin Grist 12

KINDRED CULTURE 15Book review by David McAra 15

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________e-ORGANISATIONS & PEOPLE, WINTER 2014, VOL. 21, NO. 4 PAGE I www.amed.org.uk

Contents



Lessons of managementa loving and respectful pastiche

Roger Niven

The naming of parts:

Today we have the naming of parts. Yesterday,

We had the appraisal system. And tomorrow

We have what to do after assessment. Camellias

Glisten like coral in all of the neighbouring gardens

And today we have the naming of parts.

These are the core competences. And these

The deraillers, whose use you will see

When you get the test results. And this is the leadership matrix

Which in your case you have not got. The branches

Hold in the garden their silent, eloquent matrix,

Which in our case we have not got.

This is the leadership development system, which is launched

By an easy touch on the keyboard. And please do not let me

See anyone using pen and paper. You can do it quite easy

If you understand the IT system. The blossoms

Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see

Any of them using pen and paper.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________e-ORGANISATIONS & PEOPLE, WINTER 2014, VOL. 21, NO. 4 PAGE 2 www.amed.org.uk



And this is the talent management system. The purpose of this

Is to sort the wheat from the chaff. We can rate people

Rapidly, backwards and forwards: We call this

Ensuring development. Rating people backwards and forwards

The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:

They call it ensuring development.

They call it ensuring development: it is perfectly easy

If you understand the human resource management system,

Like the appraisal, the deraillers, the test results, and the matrix

Which in our case we have not got: and the almond blossom

Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards

For today we have the naming of parts.

With apologies to Henry Reed (1914 – 1986) and grateful thanks for his wonderful, original, poem contained

in “Lessons of the war”.

About the authorRoger Niven is …




Human beings not human resourcesSummer editorial

David McAra

Our prevailing mental model for organisation – that we must appoint a

manager to acquire and manipulate resources (including the human

ones) to make something happen – has been effective, even if flawed.

The consequences have been astonishing, both good and bad. So it’s

deeply embedded and hard to change, no matter how evident its

shortcomings become.

I think the concept of human resources encapsulates the problem. So

how about this for a working title: “Working with humans: beings not

resources”?

Binary world views: either / orFor the last few decades, I have found myself trapped in a binary mental model. When we meet for the first

time, I will be wondering which of two world views you hold. If we are really to talk, this is what I’ll need to

discover. How do you see the world and your place in it? “Only two world views,” you might ask? “What a

naïve boy! He’s not scratching the surface,” could be your perfectly valid response. I know my picture is

simplistic and far from complete but these are the only two positions which interest me, at the moment, as a

player in the organisational world.

Mechanism or organismTo describe the two alternatives as simply as possible, you may find an organisation resembles more closely

either a machine or an organism. I know Gareth Morgan lists 8 organisational metaphors in his ‘Images of

Organisations’ (1997), but as I say, these are the only two that matter to me, at the moment. For shorthand,

I think of them as Old Testament (machine view) or New Testament (organism view). Again, at risk of

oversimplifying, here’s my account of the difference. The Old Testament tells me all about the rules I must

follow while the New Testament leaves me to make up my own mind. “Just be guided by love,” says Jesus

in the David McAra translation. This biblical analogy also expresses something of the process of transition

between the two world views, i.e. that it is far from straightforward.

If you are still with me, half a page in, I imagine you sympathise with the organic view. Otherwise you’d have

found my language vague, wishy-washy and long-winded. You’d have grown exasperated and gone looking

for something more interesting. But that doesn’t matter. We can only push on the door to see if it is open.




An important distinctionBy many criteria, the hierarchical pyramid has been a highly successful model, with its mechanistic

processes such as ‘performance appraisal’ and ‘management by objectives’. Astonishing transformation in

material prosperity has been brought about, pretty much world-wide, over the past few hundred years,

largely by organisations modelled on the command and control pyramid. We might want to consider a

corresponding spiritual impoverishment but if I seem to hanker for a lost Eden of hunting and gathering,

you’d rightly think me soft in the head. However, the limitations of the mechanistic model with its appetite for

continuous, unlimited growth, are becoming ever more conspicuous. Many innovative approaches are

emerging to challenge these limitations, yet the mechanistic school of thought continues to hold sway in the

realm of corporate life, blocking the progress of change.

Mechanics or gardenersThe differences with the organic model are subtle and profound, hinging around power and control.

Mechanics can control their machines whereas gardeners are unable to control their gardens. Gardeners

use their knowledge, plan, take actions and expect results but their relationship with soil and plant is

respectful, patient and open to the many external influences of the biosphere. Gardeners are always in

dialogue, intervening, inquiring and learning. Machine minders are too, of course, enhancing their

understanding of the subtleties of their machines but their interactions are much more direct, their systems

less complex and more closely bounded, the prospect of control, much closer.

In this picture, a group of “gardeners” is trying to capture the essence of the difference.




Perceiving the distinctionIn distinguishing between these organic or mechanistic views, I am not speaking about preferences. We

don’t choose. It’s a question of how we see. Your occupation may restrict your vision. If you work in HR,

your very job title requires you to see people as ‘human resources’, just sophisticated components, with

specifications against which they can be measured. If you’ve an MBA, you will have learned to master your

organisation, as its ultimate authority. If you’ve spent your whole career in one profession, its codes of

practice, laid down in the past, will have guided your actions to achieve the aims of your firm. These are all

ways in which the world is taught as a machine with predictable chains of cause and effect. “Here is how to

succeed. Act on the world in the approved way to accomplish the desired result.”

Why does it matter?Whereas the mechanistic view tends to simplify a situation so it can be managed, the organic view

acknowledges complexity and works with it. It doesn’t try to predict the future with spurious accuracy. It

majors instead on understanding what is happening and responding effectively. While a simplistic solution

involves compromise, waste and rework, a complex solution, which may appear more costly to administer, is

more effective and therefore, a real solution, so the problem it was intended to solve goes away. While

mechanistic approaches are delighted to accomplish percentage points of improvement, organic solutions

can often accomplish breakthroughs into whole new levels of performance.

So where are all the gardeners?I believe we are many, individuals and groups, passionate about transforming the world of work. But we are

scattered and splintered and not skilled at recognising and engaging with each other. If we could discover

each other and connect somehow and learn more effectively together, how might we speed our progress?

Please help to expand my list of thinkers, groups and discussions committed to learning about how

organisations can become more humane, where humans will be respected as beings not managed as

resources or, God help us, as ‘Human Capital’.

Please help us to explore how we can join up creatively so we can challenge more effectively the prevailing

paradigm of command and control.

And please challenge my whole premise in any way you wish.

ReferencesMorgan, Gareth (1997); Images of Organization, Sage Publications, Inc. California

Toynbee, Arnold J (1976), Mankind and Mother Earth, Oxford University Press

About the authorDavid McAra has been reading Arnold Toynbee’s history of the world, Mankind and Mother Earth (1976), in

which Toynbee sets the work of members of AMED and readers of e-O&P in a daunting context. “The

advance in technology,” he writes, “has vastly increased Man’s wealth and power and the ‘morality gap’

between Man’s physical power … and his spiritual capacity for coping with this power has yawned as wide

open as the mythical jaws of Hell.”

He may be contacted at: [email protected]. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________e-ORGANISATIONS & PEOPLE, WINTER 2014, VOL. 21, NO. 4 PAGE 6 www.amed.org.uk


mailto:[email protected]


The dead hand of management

David Shepherd




Many are working on this challengeDiscussions from LinkedIn and other sources

Selected by David McAra

Half an idea is better than a whole oneSeriously, I don’t know how to begin.

Micawber-like, I live in daily expectation of something turning up.

Surely, a more meaningful order will emerge from the chaotic

soup. Either that … or the consequences of our failure to come

to terms with the concept of sustainability will lead to our

collapse.

Transforming ideas are abundant, with solutions beyond

compromise - win for the customer / win for the investor / win for

the staff – and win for any other group of stakeholders.

But the practice of management lags woefully behind … by

several decades, no?

Or are we missing something? We know our world view is

incomplete but might it be deeply flawed? From rare instances of

experience, transformation is usually fragile and short-lived.

I can easily lapse into deep pessimism but I appreciated Ed

Miliband’s robust riposte to Russell Brand and I try to remember

to draw encouragement from the distance we’ve come.

Please help by doing whatever you can to add to the diversity,

improve our connectedness or reduce the noise.

(265 members)

https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/1976279-

5907968219280326656

My ‘home’ is the AMED group but I recognise

kindred spirits in many others and I posted this

note into a number of them. It sparked a few

interesting comments although it isn’t easy to

open up exploratory conversations. Threads get

very long and synergy isn’t easy to cultivate.

Viable System Model (790 members)

Why don't management

consultants make use of systems thinking?

Benjamin Taylor asks this provocative question in

the VSM group and other places.

I was late onto Stafford Beer, myself, and



http://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2015/apr/29/ed-miliband-russell-brand-video-highlights

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2015/apr/29/ed-miliband-russell-brand-video-highlights

https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/1976279-5907968219280326656



Organisations are deeply systemic, at the service

/process, culture, and leadership levels.

Why then is so much management consultancy

designed and delivered in a deeply non-systemic

way?


6009277005030313986

Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety. It took me a

while too, to start to get the hang of it. Their

ideas are exciting though … and challenging.

Sadly though, so far as I can see, they still

represent no significant threat to the enduring

supremacy of the Daily Mail worldview.

Great Insiders (604

members)

“Sandy Pentland is an

MIT professor who studies the effects of

information flow on organizations and

communities. Looking at very large data sets,

Pentland has found that sharing information and

creating strong horizontal relationships improves

the effectiveness of everything from businesses

to governments to cities. His research suggests

that the collective intelligence of groups and

communities has little to do with the intelligence

of their individual members and much more to do

with the connections between them.”


6004357588915937280

Brian Hunt at Great Insiders, a discussion group

for internal change agents, draws attention to

General McChrystal, writing for Fast Company,

who tries to back up his point by contrasting two

totally incomparable case studies.

But let’s not carp. His point is one which, I

hazard, will have been familiar to and appreciated

by most members of this community for many

years.

Now … how many workplaces have you known

where the managers appeared to hold such a

belief, “that the collective intelligence of groups

and communities has … much more to do with

the connections between them”?

Deming Alliance incorporating Deming HR (364 members)

In his blog, Dave Gaster asks about … Seeking

EFFECTIVENESS following Austerity

A brief overview of too much focus on Efficiencies

and Cost Cutting, what's your view?


6014761142637907969

The title of Dave’s group puts me into a spin by

including both the name of the revered Dr

Deming and the accursed concept ‘HR’ .

His blog post and its associated discussion make

perfect sense. But they’re just ranting - as I am

often wont to do myself. It’s entirely

understandable, otherwise, how shall we vent our

frustration?

But it’s fruitless. No one that holds contrary

views is listening.

One HCM Global Community

(5322 members)

I found Hillary Roberts blog on this site.

I tend to ‘leak’ freely and reveal my prejudices

with intemperate language but I know that my

best insights come from the most unexpected

sources, so I try not to close any channels down.



https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/2011610-6014761142637907969?trk=groups-post-b-all-cmnts

https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/2011610-6014761142637907969?trk=groups-post-b-all-cmnts

https://www.linkedin.com/grp/post/4317867-6004357588915937280?trk=groups-post-b-title




“HR Business Partners (HRBPs) are responsible

for aligning people to strategy …

… we will showcase six topics that are top-of-

mind to HR Professionals … you will leave the

event with an arsenal of actionable strategies …

Our topics are:

HR Business Partner Development

HR Strategy

Total Rewards & Strategic Compensation

Business, HR, & Human Capital Metrics

Strategic Workforce Planning

Strategic Talent Management"

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hrbps-what-your-

top-priorities-2015-hillary-roberts

… but really … will you look at this! Strategy,

strategy, strategy. What can they mean by it?

I know they are only trying to alert those for

whom the management of capital is a primary

concern, that they should give proper attention to

their human assets … oh, no! Here am I being

drawn into the game!

Humans are beings, not assets or capital or

resources. Instead of constantly finding new

ways to reclassify people, can we not work on the

attitudes of their managers?

‘Human Capital Metrics’ for goodness sake!

Away from my continuing, head-on challenge with the mechanistic thinkers, from whose encampment

I sallied forth 3 decades ago, my journey has added and extended to the complexity of my

understanding. From the rather technical ‘systems’ approach of the Theory of Constraints, OD

stretched me deeper into psychology and Deming helped me to see that multiple perspectives are

more helpful than ever more specialised expertise. The concept of emergence, from the discipline of

complexity gives me hope and fuels my appetite for the effort I am making, with this edition of the

journal, to take advantage of the amazing connecting power of social media.

I am surprised though, to have encountered a

group of thinkers, admirers of Ralph Stacey, who

are hostile of the concept of the learning

organisation and the application of systems

thinking to human systems. In fact the very

concept of human systems is seen as “reifying”

something which doesn’t exist.

An article by Chris Rodgers in the

Sunday Times (Management by

muddling through) triggered a

long string of exchanges in the

AMED LinkedIn pages, some very thoughtful and

thought provoking. In the end, I think a significant

gulf remained.

#LDInsight

Liam Moore alerted me to a group that meets on

Twitter (on Friday mornings under #LDinsight)

and in the real world. I will try to join in although




http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/Appointments/article1455402.ece

http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/Appointments/article1455402.ece

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hrbps-what-your-top-priorities-2015-hillary-roberts

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hrbps-what-your-top-priorities-2015-hillary-roberts


https://twitter.com/LnDConnect


I gather Peter Day is a systems thinker who can

be relied upon to ask interesting and insightful

questions on ‘In Business’ his programme on

BBC Radio 4

Evan Davies lives strictly in the world of

predictable cause and effect. How else could he

host the appalling Dragon’s Den? Sometimes a

systems thinker stumbles into his programme

‘The Bottom Line’, also on BBC Radio 4, and

confuses the hell out of him and his guests.

I really appreciate Tim Harford’s ‘More or Less’,

also on BBC Radio 4, and while I appreciate its

playful tone, I wonder about that. Such appalling

suffering arises from the misunderstanding and

misuse of statistics, measurement and data.

But it’s probably more helpful to be playful than to

be angry, (like Ben Goldacre).

,



http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006sz6t

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s609

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s609

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006sz6t

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qshd

http://www.theguardian.com/profile/bengoldacre


Introducing ImprovListen! Say Yes! Commit!

Book review by Ron East & Lin Grist

This book is presented as a practical guide to employing improvisation to

facilitate team development, creativity, and communication for

organizations, as well as the development of leadership skills. It is,

according to the authors, a resource for organizational managers,

facilitators, trainers, change agents and those interested in creativity

enhancement. The authors’ rationale for this practical guide is to respond

to “the speed of change and increasing uncertainty” (p 18) in the

organizational and business environment.

First, the authors orient the reader to facets of the improvisational experience, as well as describing their

own roots in improv comedy for the theatre. The ‘Impro System’ and Theatresports pedagogy of Keith

Johnstone, together with local practitioners in the Brighton improv community, provide the pedagogical basis

for this work, and many of the exercises draw on this theatrical experience by transferring it into an

organizational context. Certainly improv can facilitate an animated and engaged experience, but in our view

the theatrical base causes the work to lose focus. Improv exists in the workplace, in communication and

interaction, in imagining future opportunities, in facilitating change, and innovation. While we support the

authors’ intent and enthusiasm, as presented in the book, they have not really progressed beyond adapting

theatre improv for business.

Our concern is for the reader, taking this material and attempting to employ it in an organizational context

without considerable prior experience with improvisation as both participant and leader. The animation of

these exercises is crucial, and that only comes through trial and error. There appears to be an assumption

that facilitators/trainers already have some experience in improvisation, and indeed experienced consultants

do – they listen carefully to their clients and respond, based on their past experience and skills, ‘off the cuff’

to their clients – improvising in the moment for that specific situation. This book acts as a useful introduction

more than a practical how to.

It is divided into two parts – the first deals with managers and management team-building, and the second

with leadership. There are some good practical guidelines presented in the first part, and the initial chapters

are largely practice-based. The series of exercises outlined there focus on building trust among a group,

honing communication skills to unleash the individual’s creative and innovative juices, and how and when to

work most productively with their teams: “In today’s more complex organizations, where an individual may

work as a member of several teams, the ability to understand how and when to contribute is an important

skill”.(p 29). Providing a positive approach to the task at hand is useful and not always easy to achieve,

especially when a group or organization is managing a crisis, or has very tight deadlines.




While these are good generic improvisation exercises for enhancing communication, developing trust and

creativity, the book lacks the practicality of case examples. To see the exercises in a real-life context would

allow the reader to imagine how it might work in situations they are involved in. The exercises are clearly

outlined and easy to follow, however there is no follow-up that sets up the work in the ‘warming up/freeing up’

sessions for working through concrete issues in business situations. So people are warmed up but then how

do you build a team in an organizational setting? Unfortunately, briefly introducing aspects of psychology

and neuroscience, while trendy, betrays an under-researched description, and a lack of serious scholarship.

The second part, on leadership, has a much

more theoretical flavor. It discusses the

formal leadership of the team leader and the

informal leadership that may shift between

and among the group as ideas develop –

depending on their skill and knowledge base

and issue at hand. How does improvisation

contribute to leadership? In our view there is

little offered that can be employed in a

practical context. There are no descriptions

of actual experiences, with no real evidence-

based support for the exercises. It is difficult

to feel confident about undertaking these

exercises, without a sense of the direction of

travel. Yes improv is about exploring

uncharted territory – but there needs to be

some frame of reference.

Overall, the book provides a good basic introduction, with some useful tips, and a bibliography, citing where

to learn more if improv is an intervention that the reader would like to add to their consultancy toolkit, but it

does not entirely live up to the authors’ stated intent . The authors rightly claim that there is little UK specific

research about improv and organizational change, and this text is a welcome addition. However, it is

important to point out that there is a growing body of research with direct applications to innovation and

creativity in business already available to consultants and facilitators in the UK.

Book detailsFirst published by Harry and Julia Improv, 2015

http://www.harryandjuliaimprov.co.uk/

Paperback 135 pages

£12.50 from Amazon. ISBN: 978-1-326-12489-4



http://www.amazon.co.uk/LISTEN-SAY-COMMIT-Harry-Puckering/dp/1326128493

http://www.harryandjuliaimprov.co.uk/


About the reviewersRon East: has expertise and experience in both the academic and professional communities on 2

continents as teacher and researcher; Ron has a career background in the professional theatre, including

acting, directing, playwriting, dramaturgy, training; all employing an improvisational base. An MA from the

University of Toronto, and PhD (ABD), University of Guelph, his thesis is: Imagination, Brain Function, and

Creative Practice. Ron trained with Jacques Lecoq, and is a certified instructor in physical theatre. An actor

at Stratford Shakespearean Festival, and across Canada, in the U.S. and Europe, Ron has operated a

theatre production company, creating sixteen original plays. He operated a professional theatre school in

Toronto and London, England. Writing his second book, Ron presented a research paper entitled ‘Altered

States’ at both Oxford University, and at the National Humanities Congress in Ottawa, Canada this spring.

Lin Grist, AMED member and principal of Chrysalis Consulting, brings experience from both Canada and

the UK, advising client on both sides of the pond has given her a cultural sensitivity and flexibility that leads

her to approach issues and challenges from an international experience and knowledge base. Her clients

have ranged from investment banks to community organizations. Her practice includes large group

interventions, like Open Space; small group facilitation,; training & team building, strategic planning,

organizational development and capacity building processes. More recently, as a trained NLP coach, she

has added personal and corporate coaching and organizational creativity workshops to her portfolio.

She has a life-long passion for theatre and the arts and has worked with a number of theatre companies and

theatre schools in Canada and in Europe to help them develop financially stable futures and over time has

introduced her learning from artists into her organizational development work in other sectors.




Kindred cultureDesign Attitude

Book review by David McAraIn his study of what he calls,

‘Design Attitude’, Kamil

Michlewski’s sees designers as

a tribe with a particular

worldview and culture.

This worldview seems to me, to

be based upon a set of values,

likely to be shared by readers

of e-O&P, if I may presume to

speak for them. Our readers,

AMED members and designers

observe and inquire, with

curiosity and respect.

The author takes an interesting position as observer and studies, as an anthropologist might, “the tribe

consisting of professional designers.” He sets out, “from an embedded outsider’s perspective,” to describe

their culture and to capture “larger social themes not immediately apparent to the designers themselves.”

His observations of “the distinctive aspects of the professional culture of designers that form ‘design attitude’”

are drawn from 10 years of observing and speaking with designers as they work.

I am intrigued and puzzled by the way he explicitly positions himself as an outsider. He values the qualities

he associates with ‘design attitude’ and laments their scarcity but doesn’t seem to feel these qualities might

be available to him, as if he is admiring a gifted artist or the graceful flight of birds.

The book is divided into three sections, starting with context. He opens with what he means by design and

the design profession. Then he offers a short and interesting chapter on the nature of culture which started

me thinking about the interplay of different cultures: the distinctions between and the overlap of the cultures

of professions, organisations, societies, nationalities and so on. The first part concludes with ‘The Making of

a Designer,’ a detailed look at the education, formation, psychology, management and skills of designers in

which he highlights something of a gulf between technical and aesthetic approaches to design, with

regrettably little overlap.

In the second section, the ‘Five Aspects of Design Attitude’ are introduced in a chapter each. They include:

embracing uncertainty and ambiguity

engaging deep empathy




embracing the power of the five senses

playfully bringing things to life and

creating new meaning from complexity.

Do you see what I mean about aligning with AMED / e-O&P values? I find this a lovely checklist for design

attitude but I wonder if the author might have found a way to make more use of the ideas himself, in the

design of his book. Although its presentation is clean and attractive, with many engaging, hand-sketched

illustrations, I found it a rather long and linear read, with little evidence of empathy or playfulness.

The final part considers how design attitude plays out in the world, how it influences the way organisations

work, their products and its direct impact on what they are like. The author makes it plain that he finds the

contribution positive, leaving me puzzling still why he doesn’t embrace it for his own.

I feel he could have made more of the ‘power of the senses’. Given that sight is the only one of the five

directly available in a book, he might have looked to Edward Tufte for inspiration. Tufte campaigns against

wasted ink and cumbersome PowerPoint presentations designed to persuade, transmitting prefabricated and

simplistic points of view. With great passion, he highlights the importance of exploiting to the full our

amazing capacity for making sense of complex visual data and for responding appropriately to the

information it contains.

Perhaps I do Kamil an injustice. Looking again at his blog, I found this excellent visual summary of the book.

For my part, I align myself with the tribe known as systems thinkers. We have found that exploring the way

the parts join up is more rewarding than exhaustive study of the parts themselves. We believe that

examining reality in all its complexity serves better than imposing a false simplicity to make things

‘manageable’. Such exploration often uncovers counter-intuitive insights where tiny interventions can give

rise to results out of all proportion and yet, communicating these insights proves challenging as they seem to

threaten established positions.

Design thinking, like systems thinking, was hailed as a transforming innovation not that long ago. Both of

these ways of seeing the world are not new but long-established ideas. I find them congruent, both seeking

to understand complexity, sensitive to the limits of orthodoxy and both demanding something like a profound

change of heart, before their value can be appreciated fully. The analysts may study the behaviours and

articulate the methods but they somehow fall short of capturing the fundamental essence of the change

being proposed. Perhaps the use of the word ‘attitude’ comes closer to this ideal.

I am always interested in the transformation of paradigms and attitudes. Perhaps Kamil’s academic

approach will illuminate the concept of ‘design attitude’ and make it more accessible to the analytically-

minded.

About the bookPublished by Gower, March 2015, 262 pages including 38 black and white illustrations, available in hardback

from Gower at £36 or Amazon and also in electronic formats. ISBN: 978-1-4724-2119-7



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Design-Attitude-Kamil-Michlewski/dp/1472421183/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1426167235&sr=8-5&keywords=design+attitude

http://www.gowerpublishing.com/isbn/9781472421180

https://desattitude.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/design-attitude_final-01-e1413489566785.jpg

http://designattitude.org/

http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/


About the authorKamil Michlewski is passionate about bringing sound thinking and heart to organisational challenges. He

believes that the best results are achieved by highly motivated teams through a combination of bold, original

approaches and a large dose of tenacity. Having spent the last 14 years in the United Kingdom working with

global brands, he has developed a global outlook. Working closely with companies such as Sony, Unilever,

Nestle, France Telecom, Electronic Arts, Argos and Visa he has delivered large projects in the area of

branding and strategic marketing.

He may be contacted through his blog: http://designattitude.org/

About the reviewerDavid McAra is a recovering engineer, systems thinker and promoter of organisational learning. He is a

member of AMED Council and of the e-O&P Editorial Board. His main interest, at present, is searching for

communities and individuals who remain optimistic about the future in the face of the slow adoption of the

radical ideas which might be changing the world. He is also interested in learning about the flaws in these

same radical ideas.

He may be contacted at: [email protected].



mailto:[email protected]

http://designattitude.org/


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