It seems to me that society's habit to somehow looses it's ability to consider the real value of a "revolution" is as strong as ever...
I remember back in history class learning how in the 1840s railway mania gripped the UK as building a railway (like making a dot com company) was deemed somehow a magic ticket to get rich. Unfortunately for some three railway lines going the same way wasn't quite such a magic ticket to get rich.... nor was the sail powered loco... or the rocket powered one...
Not too much unlike the idea that the Internet, without applications, would make the travel agent that runs a website (lastminute.com) more valuable than British Airways (which was profitable at the time as far as I remember) who happen to own a fleet of jet aircraft...
Now if we consider 1:1 computing in developing countries and the empowerment that we could deliver to educating the children who are in amongst the worst imaginable circumstances to shape their own destiny, well, let's learn from the dot com revolution, it won't magically take care of itself. Some was the case with the railways. Before it could really work all the edges needed rounding off, everything needed sorted out (finance models and the introduction of shareholders for example had to change almost completely, management, the works...)
The revolutions do in the end of course change the world dramatically, perhaps not quite as quickly as expected, and perhaps after a bit of finishing work, perhaps in other ways... but in the end they do.
Saturday, 23 January 2010
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Amazing Similarities...
"As yet, however, we have but vaguely appreciated the importance of "the larger question fo increasing our national efficiency.""
Hmmm... national efficiency, resources coming in, not the visible outcomes we expect, could be Afghanistan 2009 for sure...
But that was FW Taylor writing in 1903. But there's plenty more similarities between the time that Taylor was writing and right here right now in Afghanistan (and other developing countries I assume). The family, extended and honour was more important. Most of the same kind of shops were all in the same place. Most workers were not used to working in managed environments.
To what extent does modern management theory originating from studies on western (or at least relatively secure and wealthy societies) where their parents were working in what we would recognize as a managed environment apply to a post conflict S. Asian society? To what extent are more humanist theories really relevant here?
What Taylor saw was mostly people whose skills had been passed down by rule of thumb through the family. Sounds familiar. Generally expertise / expectations were not really out there...
Even if someone is completely motivated; then how can he/she accomplish reasonable results if the benchmark is not really known, the job not really designed, and the person's efforts, for lack of experience, possibly quite misdirected...
Actually my unscientific guess would be if we could achieve Taylor / Ford level efficiency in Afghanistan we'd be flying high by comparison.
In my opinion much of what Taylor was criticized for afterwards was actually ignorance of what he really said, that the interests of the employee and employer must be in alignment, and the positive outcomes, must be shared. If we don't forget this, then there's every reason to believe that these methods could be a more mutually beneficial way forward superior to more humanistic thinking. Set against a backdrop of rote learning how can one expect the results you look for by applying mostly coaching models etc?
Go to many offices and one will find plenty of folks just sitting on MSN and there are plenty of staff assessment forms and all the rest of it. Taking what Taylor says, checking out how much one *should* expect, then sharing improved outcomes, the result would likely be better.
Given how close the outside environment there would be to what we see out here, is turning the clock back a moment the way to move forward faster?
Hmmm... national efficiency, resources coming in, not the visible outcomes we expect, could be Afghanistan 2009 for sure...
But that was FW Taylor writing in 1903. But there's plenty more similarities between the time that Taylor was writing and right here right now in Afghanistan (and other developing countries I assume). The family, extended and honour was more important. Most of the same kind of shops were all in the same place. Most workers were not used to working in managed environments.
To what extent does modern management theory originating from studies on western (or at least relatively secure and wealthy societies) where their parents were working in what we would recognize as a managed environment apply to a post conflict S. Asian society? To what extent are more humanist theories really relevant here?
What Taylor saw was mostly people whose skills had been passed down by rule of thumb through the family. Sounds familiar. Generally expertise / expectations were not really out there...
Even if someone is completely motivated; then how can he/she accomplish reasonable results if the benchmark is not really known, the job not really designed, and the person's efforts, for lack of experience, possibly quite misdirected...
Actually my unscientific guess would be if we could achieve Taylor / Ford level efficiency in Afghanistan we'd be flying high by comparison.
In my opinion much of what Taylor was criticized for afterwards was actually ignorance of what he really said, that the interests of the employee and employer must be in alignment, and the positive outcomes, must be shared. If we don't forget this, then there's every reason to believe that these methods could be a more mutually beneficial way forward superior to more humanistic thinking. Set against a backdrop of rote learning how can one expect the results you look for by applying mostly coaching models etc?
Go to many offices and one will find plenty of folks just sitting on MSN and there are plenty of staff assessment forms and all the rest of it. Taking what Taylor says, checking out how much one *should* expect, then sharing improved outcomes, the result would likely be better.
Given how close the outside environment there would be to what we see out here, is turning the clock back a moment the way to move forward faster?
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Dysfunctional?
Much has been made of the relative failure to accomplish basic work outcomes with the huge influx of international cash here in Afghanistan...
But what, oh what, is the basis for expecting efficiency and reasonable outcomes from given inputs here? Some people have cried that... let's rewind another step...
What exactly is the priority of society, what has it been? Work? No. Efficiency? No. Family, honor, pride, yes...
Imagine we in the west went to the western world and tried to achieve development 'milestones' of reducing divorce, teenage pregnancies, and the like... How far would we get, even with a huge influx of resources?
Heck, would we even know that much about how to manage any 'resource' to try and achieve milestones like that? Doesn't look like it... So many social care groups, family groups, churches, etc, and are we getting any closer to the 'milestones'?
Hell no... Before university I worked for Turning Point, at the time as I recall the UK's biggest social care provider. I was working mostly with learning disabilities, people effectively without family in many cases... It's a lot more rare that Afghanistan would be, in this regard, so dysfunctional...
It's frustrating to see a dysfunctional situation, in any guise... Here people complain all the time about how dirty Kabul is... then throw trash straight out the car window as they complain. But then don't we bemoan the status of our society as we sexualize materials for a younger and younger target audience and buy glossy magazines (or read it online) about the private lives of celebs?
But what, oh what, is the basis for expecting efficiency and reasonable outcomes from given inputs here? Some people have cried that... let's rewind another step...
What exactly is the priority of society, what has it been? Work? No. Efficiency? No. Family, honor, pride, yes...
Imagine we in the west went to the western world and tried to achieve development 'milestones' of reducing divorce, teenage pregnancies, and the like... How far would we get, even with a huge influx of resources?
Heck, would we even know that much about how to manage any 'resource' to try and achieve milestones like that? Doesn't look like it... So many social care groups, family groups, churches, etc, and are we getting any closer to the 'milestones'?
Hell no... Before university I worked for Turning Point, at the time as I recall the UK's biggest social care provider. I was working mostly with learning disabilities, people effectively without family in many cases... It's a lot more rare that Afghanistan would be, in this regard, so dysfunctional...
It's frustrating to see a dysfunctional situation, in any guise... Here people complain all the time about how dirty Kabul is... then throw trash straight out the car window as they complain. But then don't we bemoan the status of our society as we sexualize materials for a younger and younger target audience and buy glossy magazines (or read it online) about the private lives of celebs?
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