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Reference

Functions
Organizations by function
- Organization
  Improving organization performance.
- Operations
  Operational excellence, efficiency and quality.
- Technology
  Technology is redefining the world as we know it in every discipline.
Governance
Governance as a culture
- Ethics
  External Resources Discussions and articles on Ethics (with case studies) at Santa Clara University ISACA audit and governance for IT professionals Et…
Markets
Policy, trends and industry.
Media
Video and audio.
Sciences
Associated scientific research on organizational development.
- Psychology
  The social sciences produce a rich, kaleidoscope of research beneficial to organizations usable by far more than just Human Resource and Marketing departments.
  - Mission and Meaning
    Mission statements and personal meaning share a fundamental relation. Viktor Frankl said we are all born with genetic legacies along with the biological…
    - Meaning and Action
      All organisms have a great preference for action over passivity. After all, we are biological beings. We only learn passivity through training and conditioning.…
    - Meaning seated in irrationality
      Our sense of meaning, our life’s goal, is an individual exercise. No one can choose it for us. Likewise, rational argument alone cannot answer that purpose.…
    - Meaning is focused on the future
      Life is truly a journey. Many of us defer our enjoyment too long since we think only of the goal. It is also inextricably true that our life’s meaning is…
  - Hierarchy of Needs: Maslow
    Few psychological constructs are so universally recognized and studied outside their disciplines as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. What is less known about his…
    - Physicality
      Maslow considered physical needs as the most basic. Obviously if a person is hungry or cold, they have no time for higher conceptual arguments, friendship or…
    - Safety
      One of Maslow’s most surprising perceptions of self-actualizing individuals was their openness to new experiences to discover new things, to learn new ideas.…
    - Belonging
      Some psychologists postulate that there is no need for a separation of belonging and esteem; they are the same construct. We stand firmly with Maslow.…
    - Esteem
      Self-worth is by nature unassailable, there is nothing we can do to increase or decrease it. Nevertheless, Maslow stipulates that strength, achievement,…
    - Actualization
      Like any complex system, actualization is not only the sum of its stated components, but something more. That is the prevailing reason for disagreement with…
- Complex Systems
  The nature of complex systems.
  - Complex Systems
    The florist who opens her new shop in Ireland and then goes bankrupt because of a financial collapse in USA which causes a global recession is a good example…
  - Complexity
    Imagine for example, an organization that can efficiently build a world class car even while it discovers and branches out into other related market niches,…
  - Scale free networks
    Friedrich Hayek characterized complex systems with two main properties; the number of variables, and the connection between them. Hayek was describing the…
Archives
Archives by date and subject.
Library
Resource library
About
How to build self-sustaining value in your organization and career.
- Contact
  Contact Jim Leis
- Jim Leis
  Expertise in business development, turnarounds, marketing, and operational efficiency.
- Mission
  Increase value by increasing productivity, and innovation. Begin at the bottom.
Topics
Topical index.

Application

Governance
- Ethical structure
  Regulation will always remain an ineffective method of encouraging ethical behavior. After all, detailed behavioral rules don't ensure happy, resourceful…
- What Is Governance?
  We govern ourselves as we hope organizations govern; from the heart. We develop rules and processes that buttress our beliefs and although we may allow our…
- Ethics
  Ethics is a cultural phenomenon, not a regulated one.
  - Man’s Search for Meaning
    Man’s search for meaning is elemental. Once determined, all is possible. It is the secret to a fulfilled and purposeful life. Without it, we are empty or…
  - Do Organizations have a Soul?
    We often think of our human souls. It is not common to entertain the concept that organizations have one. And if morale and team spirit is really more a…
  - Spiritual Intelligence
    Your spiritual center has an Inner Voice that freely comments on your life throughout the day. It is an interesting exercise to record this voice on paper…
  - Individual, Systemic and Bureaucratic Ethics
    Lately it is popular to view business professionals as immoral and greedy, or more systemically that capitalism especially rewards questionable character. It…
  - A Sense of Worth
    Self Worth can not be earned or given. The concept of increasing self worth or low esteem is hurtful and should be disregarded.
  - Are you a Gossip?
    The Golden Rule is a great motto to live by when Managing a team. It\'s also imperative for team members.
  - Memories and Being Alive
    Take time each day to savor being alive
  - Tao Te Ching on the Three Guiding Principles
    Allow your Inner Voice to help you do the right thing.
- Compensation
  - End Performance Reviews
    Performance Reviews, as employed, do more harm than good. We should either improved them or get rid of them.
- Education
  Education, like technology, plays an integral in every aspect. Think of it as atmosphere as opposed to process.
  - Personal and Professional Finance
    Personal and professional finance can become very involved. But finance is built on relatively few very sound and easy to understand principles. Understand…
  - Active Engagement is the Best Learning Tool
    Knowledge has two facets: embedding information by the sender, and engagement by the receiver.
  - Job Security
    Emotional and educational support, connections, healthful relationships, and positive environments are all methods we employ to care for our children,…
  - My Personal Discoveries exploring Creativity
    When I decided to take a sabbatical with my 3 year old son and do some writing, one of the things I was looking forward to was exploring my right brain. I made…
  - Practical Implications of the Biology of Creativity
    We all know creativity is a right brain activity. What else do we know?
  - Sunk Cost
    Costs that can not be recovered after they are spent. Most ‘expenses’ are sunk costs. Disregard them during future decision-making.
  - Opportunity Cost
    The cost of passing up the next best choice when making a decision is one many disciplines misapply.
- Culture
  - Meeting Etiquette
    Simple rules of meeting etiquette.
  - Rules of Effective Meetings
    How do you run an effective meeting? Follow these simple rules and be a stickler enforcing them.
  - Emotional Intelligence
    A 15 minute test is more predictive of life success than any other indicator including education and IQ.
  - Solution vs Blame Orientation
    Especially in dire situations, we must consciously choose to be part of the solution, or part of the problem. Emotions often run high when a department, or…
Functions
Organizational functions
- Management Decentralization Trends
  Everyone has the innate ability to innovate, create, fail, and adapt if only the rules allow it. Given the proper combinations of elements, reliability and…
- Organization
  The body is our physical structure, maintained by exercise and discipline. In an organization, the extension of the body is the organizational structure…
  - Management Decentralization Trends
    Everyone has the innate ability to innovate, create, fail, and adapt if only the rules allow it. Given the proper combinations of elements, reliability and…
  - Organizational Development and Productivity Questionnaire
    Productive, profitable organizations don’t just have a common sense of direction, inter-departmental team goals with an enterprise wide understanding of…
  - Command and Control Hierarchies
    Organizations are notoriously hierarchical or top-down given principally two age-old models; the family and the military. Both are instructive models in their…
  - Process vs. Project
    Insulate major projects from employees who have daily process jobs that require their full attention; they will only neglect the projects which should have…
  - Is Arnold Schwarzenegger Keeping You Down?
    We don\'t have to believe we will be the best to get engaged in something. Don\'t let the superstars keep you from trying.
  - Innovation
    - Failure
      Failure: The secret to Success
    - The Story of Reason
      We have the image of the left and right brains. We have the image of the logical hero. We have the separation of instinct and corpus callosum. How can any…
    - Competition in Education
      Perhaps competition has been misapplied in education more than anywhere else. Most competitions in education become denigrations of competition, when they are…
    - Competition, Coaching and Talent
      Too much attention has been given the concept of the visionary leader, and not nearly enough to having the right person doing the right job on the right team,…
    - Characteristics of a Competitor
      The most effective coach I ever met said that until competitors learned to play on a team, they could never be very good at competing by (with) themselves.…
    - Competition, Cooperation, Losing and Learning
      Competition and cooperation are integrally linked. There is perhaps no better forum for teaching cooperation and sharing than in team competition. Key…
    - Misconceptions of Competition
      Competition teaches people to share and empathize. Anyone who has heard a runner talk about their fallen competitor, or witnessed a team mate sacrifice…
    - What is Competition
      Two themes must remain central to any discussion or application of competition. Competition is first and foremost a method of self-improvement. Second,…
    - On Competition
      Competition is the vehicle of evolution and creativity. It is also the structure under which collaboration and cooperation is best forged. Competition is…
    - Creativity
      Creativity must play a central role in organizations, especially in an age of globalization and technological advance. But creativity necessarily brings…
  - Measurement
    There can be no management, leadership or efficiency, no organization, without effective measurement. The mission flounders and the culture flags.
    - Charts, ABC and Benchmarks
      The foundation of accounting systems is key to low ongoing maintenance, key information, and efficiency. It is always more efficient to reconstitute the…
    - Cost Centers
      Do not just allow cost centers to reflect current operational practice. Order them and measure them with two other important concepts in mind; according to…
    - Manage IT Costs and Culture
      Organizations typically leverage less than 50% of current technology. With such a powerful vehicle running at half speed, IT must remain the highest priority…
    - Accounting 101
      Regardless of your position, accounting is a compulsory personal and professional skill
  - Structure
    Structure, or skeleton, defines the organism.
    - Knowledge brokering
      Knowledge brokering is more productively viewed as a structural need than an innovation strategy, tacked onto existing functional processes. As a component of…
    - Management Decentralization Trends
      Everyone has the innate ability to innovate, create, fail, and adapt if only the rules allow it. Given the proper combinations of elements, reliability and…
    - A new application of Maslow
      Maslow transformed marketing. But his Hierarchy of Needs can also instruct organizational structure.
    - Alternatives to address Departmental Inefficiency
      As organizations grow, alternatives exist to mitigate the inefficiencies of departmental hierarchies. Most of them, including adding people, don't address all…
    - Organizational Implications of Creativity
      Creativity is not born in a boardroom or a meeting. Brainstorming is vastly over rated. There is nothing quite so laborious and ineffective as ten people…

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