Sunday, January 20, 2008
Taking our future and confidence into our own hands, not according to Management School templates.
Labour has turned the UK into a Soviet tractor.
To get something different we need to understand systems dynamics.
An arresting image penned by Simon Caulkin, the management correspondent of The Observer. LibDems will find a lot of comfort and stimulation in his weekly pieces.
His New Years bracketing articles could be seen as a submission to our new Leadership team. ‘Tear up the (management) Textbook’ he says and gives examples that may give us pause. See his article today (Jan 20 2008) where he says (about the horrors of Labour style centralised command-and control management)
We have a Party Reform commission looking at how we LibDems could structure our organisation to face the modern world. I suggest that at the very least the members of the Commission ( remember all submissions must be in by February 8th) should look for some inspiration at the writings of Caulkin over the years, even if he is memorably rude about the profession (Management School Director) of our Commission chair. Basically most management theorists have the wrong end of the stick but some real world organisations offer exciting ideas for action
What is our self-confidence and how do we build on it? Lets have some ideas for the commission… and Systems Dynamics may be one tool for doing this.
To get something different we need to understand systems dynamics.
An arresting image penned by Simon Caulkin, the management correspondent of The Observer. LibDems will find a lot of comfort and stimulation in his weekly pieces.
His New Years bracketing articles could be seen as a submission to our new Leadership team. ‘Tear up the (management) Textbook’ he says and gives examples that may give us pause. See his article today (Jan 20 2008) where he says (about the horrors of Labour style centralised command-and control management)
…. the most graphic description of the dark places such trends lead to came from a trade union official representing NHS Direct staff. He recounted how - against a background of rising call numbers - to cut costs NHS Direct first downsized and restructured its call centres to bring in more non-nursing staff, then launched a drive to standardise shift patterns and other working practices. The vehicle was a central, computerised scheduling system that 'manages' everything from shift patterns and annual leave to tea breaks.
This leaves local managers with little discretion - but it does allow countrywide performance comparisons against health department targets.
'So we have the worst of all worlds - disengaged workforce, fed-up line managers, and management by targets driven by computer software!'
If I'd set out to write a list of everything wrong with modern management, I couldn't have done better.
We have a Party Reform commission looking at how we LibDems could structure our organisation to face the modern world. I suggest that at the very least the members of the Commission ( remember all submissions must be in by February 8th) should look for some inspiration at the writings of Caulkin over the years, even if he is memorably rude about the profession (Management School Director) of our Commission chair. Basically most management theorists have the wrong end of the stick but some real world organisations offer exciting ideas for action
There are plenty more examples of organisations whose success has come from turning the orthodoxies upside down: always radically decentralising responsibility and leadership, and generating their own distinctive certainties…. . Much of their secret lies in their self-confidence as organisations, reflected in management frameworks that allow them to control their own destiny…
(Caulkin 30 Dec 2007)
What is our self-confidence and how do we build on it? Lets have some ideas for the commission… and Systems Dynamics may be one tool for doing this.
Labels: Caulkin, management, party direction, systemic
Comments:
No wonder the NHS is deteriorating.
Look at the company New Labour decided to partner with to help "reform" it!
http://www.stopunum.com/a-false-sense-of-security/
http://www.stopunum.com/unum-wealth-care/
The British Government has also implemented the use of a non-medical Unum developed "bio-psycho-social" model to "evaluate" eligibility to claim critical, and in many cases last resort, incapacity benefits for chronically ill and disabled British citizens.
It looks like the next group to "get shoved" on the Unum "pathway" will be the mentally ill.
"Pathways to Work?" Perhaps we will have another Unum "initiative" called "Pathways to Heaven through Work" for our old age pensioners.
And that's not where this absurd Unum "influence" and extremely unhealthy British Government "affair" ends.
University education and national exclusive "rehabilitation" certification appears also part of the Unum "package"
Very sadly, it looks like some in Parliament have seriously lost their way.
No one in their right mind would trust in such a troubled outlaw branded insurance company, one which is about to face numerous RICO Act trials in America, to "help" reform such critical and fundamental health and social services.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VVqCSmHnIPE
[The BBC Investigation]
http://www.stopunum.com/open-letter-to-all-lords-and-mp-s-houses-of-parliament-london/
http://www.stopunum.com/a-sicko-12-step-rehab-programme/
http://www.stopunum.com/news/
For the British people to be convinced to scrap the NHS through the incompetence of some, who have been seriously mislead and as a result appear to have wasted millions of pounds in taxpayers money trusting in a few ex DWP employees [now employed by Unum] and such a ruthless, unscrupulous, immoral organization, which appears to hold such a foreign and frightening "social agenda" for the United Kingdom - would be tragic.
It would be extremely profitable for the Unum Corporation to see the end of the NHS and instead, the implementation of a two tier American SICKO private "wealth-care" system. Have a look at how the American "wealth-care" system REALLY WORKS and then think very seriously again.
http://www.stopunum.com/the-american-sicko-system/
Support the Goals of StopUnum.com
Fascism will come wrapped in a flag and carrying a Bible. ~ Sinclair Lewis 1935
Look at the company New Labour decided to partner with to help "reform" it!
http://www.stopunum.com/a-false-sense-of-security/
http://www.stopunum.com/unum-wealth-care/
The British Government has also implemented the use of a non-medical Unum developed "bio-psycho-social" model to "evaluate" eligibility to claim critical, and in many cases last resort, incapacity benefits for chronically ill and disabled British citizens.
It looks like the next group to "get shoved" on the Unum "pathway" will be the mentally ill.
"Pathways to Work?" Perhaps we will have another Unum "initiative" called "Pathways to Heaven through Work" for our old age pensioners.
And that's not where this absurd Unum "influence" and extremely unhealthy British Government "affair" ends.
University education and national exclusive "rehabilitation" certification appears also part of the Unum "package"
Very sadly, it looks like some in Parliament have seriously lost their way.
No one in their right mind would trust in such a troubled outlaw branded insurance company, one which is about to face numerous RICO Act trials in America, to "help" reform such critical and fundamental health and social services.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VVqCSmHnIPE
[The BBC Investigation]
http://www.stopunum.com/open-letter-to-all-lords-and-mp-s-houses-of-parliament-london/
http://www.stopunum.com/a-sicko-12-step-rehab-programme/
http://www.stopunum.com/news/
For the British people to be convinced to scrap the NHS through the incompetence of some, who have been seriously mislead and as a result appear to have wasted millions of pounds in taxpayers money trusting in a few ex DWP employees [now employed by Unum] and such a ruthless, unscrupulous, immoral organization, which appears to hold such a foreign and frightening "social agenda" for the United Kingdom - would be tragic.
It would be extremely profitable for the Unum Corporation to see the end of the NHS and instead, the implementation of a two tier American SICKO private "wealth-care" system. Have a look at how the American "wealth-care" system REALLY WORKS and then think very seriously again.
http://www.stopunum.com/the-american-sicko-system/
Support the Goals of StopUnum.com
Fascism will come wrapped in a flag and carrying a Bible. ~ Sinclair Lewis 1935
# posted by 
: 8:04 pm, January 20, 2008
: 8:04 pm, January 20, 2008
See the following:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=400071§ioncode=26
for an excellent account of how obsession with target setting in education has wrecked Britain's education system as viewed from the posituion of university teachers.
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storyCode=400071§ioncode=26
for an excellent account of how obsession with target setting in education has wrecked Britain's education system as viewed from the posituion of university teachers.
Hello,
Can anyone be able to access stopunum.com. The site always says that will be back on line soon.is someone trying to prevent us to access it?
I want to expose UNUM criminal entity. They accused me of FRAUD while I was diagnosed with a painful neuro-muscular condition that has no cure. The bastards harassed me for several years even cutting off my benefits regardless of the reassessment process. I want to expose the denial of medical care made to the doctors at UNUM request. I got a few people that I want to expose as they even went to poison my dog.
More to come,
Abused Virginian
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Can anyone be able to access stopunum.com. The site always says that will be back on line soon.is someone trying to prevent us to access it?
I want to expose UNUM criminal entity. They accused me of FRAUD while I was diagnosed with a painful neuro-muscular condition that has no cure. The bastards harassed me for several years even cutting off my benefits regardless of the reassessment process. I want to expose the denial of medical care made to the doctors at UNUM request. I got a few people that I want to expose as they even went to poison my dog.
More to come,
Abused Virginian
# posted by : 3:14 pm, July 17, 2008
: 3:14 pm, July 17, 2008Sunday, December 16, 2007
Healthy relationships and our political future
Very interesting points by Liberal Revolution (Lessons from identity politics).
The conclusion – be ourselves, act normally.
Good advice this for relationships of many kinds (marriages, ‘significant otherhood’, membership of political groups, even 'blogger swarms').
Looking at my friends and family over the years one indicator of a rocky relationship stands out. It is when one or more of the partners spend much of their time trying to second guess in advance what the other partner wants, moulding their behaviour and statements on these guesses and suppressing their own personalities .
This goes way beyond being sensitive to the others. It leads to a kind of stunting, in which the partners forget to bring the richness of their own lives and experiences to the life of the relationship. At worse one dominating partner can manipulate and diminish the other by being slippery in response to the guesses, forcing the other always to be off-balance. This enforces a lowering of mental health well-being for all in the relationship.
In any political party there are many many relationships. Can we build up a culture where we value richness and assertiveness and so support mentally healthy interactions?
The advantage for the LibDems is that our natural way of thinking does in fact tend to support healthy approaches (we don’t always live up to this of course). So we have much to gain personally and politically from being ourselves and acting normally
The conclusion – be ourselves, act normally.
Good advice this for relationships of many kinds (marriages, ‘significant otherhood’, membership of political groups, even 'blogger swarms').
Looking at my friends and family over the years one indicator of a rocky relationship stands out. It is when one or more of the partners spend much of their time trying to second guess in advance what the other partner wants, moulding their behaviour and statements on these guesses and suppressing their own personalities .
This goes way beyond being sensitive to the others. It leads to a kind of stunting, in which the partners forget to bring the richness of their own lives and experiences to the life of the relationship. At worse one dominating partner can manipulate and diminish the other by being slippery in response to the guesses, forcing the other always to be off-balance. This enforces a lowering of mental health well-being for all in the relationship.
In any political party there are many many relationships. Can we build up a culture where we value richness and assertiveness and so support mentally healthy interactions?
The advantage for the LibDems is that our natural way of thinking does in fact tend to support healthy approaches (we don’t always live up to this of course). So we have much to gain personally and politically from being ourselves and acting normally
Labels: ideas, mental health, party direction, relationships
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Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The Spirit of Haida Gwaii - a reflection for this party?
Reading about the hustings at Friends House reminded me of the ‘Spirit of Haida Gwaii’.
This is a famous statue by the Haida artist Bill Reid. It shows a canoe filled with the traditional characters of Haida mythology, crammed together uneasily in the same boat; cantankerous, argumentative, lively, sometimes uneasy at the company they keep, but in the same boat paddling more or less together. Is the canoe just marking time or is it going forwards into an adventurous future?
The words ‘Haida Gwaii’ mean ‘Islands of the People’ in the language of the Haida First Nation of what is 'now' Queen Charlotte's Island, BC, Canada.
Not a bad visualisation of a party such as ours perhaps? On the diversity, on the hard work, and on the need to move on…
The bronze statue is outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC and is featured on the Canadian $20 note.
A walkround of the version in the Ottawa Museum of Civilisation is here.
Won’t speculate on which characters map onto which prominent LibDems… (though there is one familair looking face) but we do need them all in all their richness.
The imagery came to mind as I first heard of the Haida stories at a Quaker Meeting in Friends House many years ago.
This is a famous statue by the Haida artist Bill Reid. It shows a canoe filled with the traditional characters of Haida mythology, crammed together uneasily in the same boat; cantankerous, argumentative, lively, sometimes uneasy at the company they keep, but in the same boat paddling more or less together. Is the canoe just marking time or is it going forwards into an adventurous future?
The words ‘Haida Gwaii’ mean ‘Islands of the People’ in the language of the Haida First Nation of what is 'now' Queen Charlotte's Island, BC, Canada.
Not a bad visualisation of a party such as ours perhaps? On the diversity, on the hard work, and on the need to move on…
The bronze statue is outside the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC and is featured on the Canadian $20 note.
A walkround of the version in the Ottawa Museum of Civilisation is here.
Won’t speculate on which characters map onto which prominent LibDems… (though there is one familair looking face) but we do need them all in all their richness.
The imagery came to mind as I first heard of the Haida stories at a Quaker Meeting in Friends House many years ago.
Labels: Haida Gwaii, party direction
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