In an era of information overload, getting the right information remains a challenge for time-pressed executives. How do you keep tabs on what your competitors and employees are doing? How do you spot the next big idea and make the best judgments? How do you distinguish usable information from distracting noise? And how do you maintain focus on what’s critical?
Many management experts have assumed that better information systems and more data would solve the problem. Some have pushed for faster and more powerful information technologies. Others have put their faith in better dashboards, big data and social networking. But is better technology or more tools really the most promising way forward? Latest research of Davide Nicolini, Maja Korica and Keith Ruddle demonstrates that it is not.
Authors maintain that the capacity of senior executives to remain appropriately and effectively knowledgeable in order to perform their jobs is based on a personal and organizational capability to continually “stay in the know” by assembling and maintaining what authors call a “personal knowledge infrastructure.” And while information technologies may be part of this personal knowledge infrastructure, they are really just one of the components.
For further details, please, read the recent article in Sloan Management Review:
http://mitsmr.com/1K7AwZ4
Dr. Zoltan Csedo, Managing Partner of Innotica Group was invited to speak about the Chevening alumni experience at the 20th Anniversary Reception of the Hungarian Association of British Alumni, organized in the Old Banking Hall of British Embassy Budapest, yesterday.
Chevening is the UK government’s international awards scheme aimed at developing global leaders. Funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), Chevening offers a unique opportunity for future leaders, influencers, and decision-makers from all over the world to develop professionally and academically, network extensively, experience UK culture, and build lasting positive relationships with the UK.
The current 43,000 Chevening alumni from 160 countries is a very influential and highly regarded global network. More than three decades since the launch of the scholarship scheme, Chevening alumni are leaders worldwide across a wide range of fields including politics, business, civil society, and academia.
The increasing role of Chevening alumni networks in local decision-making and leadership raises the need for sharing best practices for further local alumni community development, as well as for formulating strategies in order to achieve synergies from regional cooperation between alumni associations and British Embassies, Dr. Csedo highlighted.
A detailed roadmap has been presented how to achieve regional leadership in Central and Eastern Europe. The valuable regional experience gained from projects involving the Visegrad Cooperation, and the strong support of Ministries of Foreign Affairs within Visegrad Four Countries, as well as UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office are excellent basis for future strategies.
Dr. Zoltan Csedo serves as Member of the Management Board of Hungarian Association of British Alumni, since 2008. Established in 1995, the association is the largest networking platform for British alumni in Central and Eastern Europe. Dr. Csedo kicked-off the highly successful regional networking projects of the association and continues to lead its international networking initiatives.
A widely accepted explanation for the failure of respected and well-managed companies is following: good managers focus on doing the very things they need to do to succeed — listen to customers, invest in the business, and build distinctive capabilities — while running the risk of ignoring rivals with “disruptive” innovations.
The Economist called the disruptive innovation concept “one of the most influential modern business ideas”. Other commentators have noted that the theory is so widely accepted that its predictive power is rarely questioned.
In a recent Sloan Management Review article, however, researchers argue: while the theory of disruptive innovation provides a generally useful warning about managerial myopia, it should only be applied when specific conditions are met, especially significant changes in technology, market structure, global scope, and vertical integration.
Given the evidence that the theory has limited predictive power, how should managers react to the appearance of potential new rivals?
Researchers propose a fairly straightforward diagnostic based on authenticated modes of analysis. First, managers should calculate the value of winning. Second, they should find ways to leverage existing capabilities. And finally, where practical, they should work collaboratively with other companies.
To read the original article in Sloan Management Review, please, click on the link below:
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-useful-is-the-theory-of-disruptiv...
The lean concept implies relentless attention to detail, commitment to data-driven experimentation, and charging workers with the ongoing task of increasing efficiency and eliminating waste in their jobs. But how can this be applied to knowledge work, which has strong tacit components, it is not repetitive and can’t be unambiguously defined?
Research reveals, however, that a substantial amount of knowledge assumed to be tacit doesn’t have to be; it can be articulated and captured in writing if the organization makes the effort to pull it out of people’s heads. Moreover, all knowledge work includes some activities that have nothing to do with applying judgment and can be streamlined by training employees to continually find and root out waste. Even when knowledge is genuinely tacit, creating systems and rules to guide workers’ interactions can lead to more-effective collaboration.
Turning a knowledge operation, which has far fewer repetitive, codifiable processes, into a lean system is not easy. But it can be done, and the system will be tough for a competitor to replicate. This is its real power.
Research defines the following tasks for a lean knowledge organization:
1. Continually rooting out waste should be an integral part of every knowledge worker’s job.
2. Strive to make tacit knowledge explicit.
3. Specify how workers should communicate with one another.
4. Use the scientific method to solve problems as soon as possible. The people who created the problem should fix it.
5. Remember, a lean system takes years to build.
6. Leaders must blaze the trail.
For more information, please, read the article on HBR website:
https://hbr.org/2011/10/lean-knowledge-work
