tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post4301554770131924915..comments2023-10-21T10:06:30.080-05:00Comments on Communication Nation: The connected companyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08940621620133180202noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-34779582226063983102012-11-09T13:26:01.356-06:002012-11-09T13:26:01.356-06:00Exactly :)Exactly :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940621620133180202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-82846970771921994662012-11-09T12:44:21.779-06:002012-11-09T12:44:21.779-06:00In short: You can be in control without controlli...In short: You can be in control without controlling.Ixtlanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04539006283906008409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-1395710805307781862012-07-30T10:57:13.123-05:002012-07-30T10:57:13.123-05:00I agree. Companies have become increasingly comple...I agree. Companies have become increasingly complex and this has lead to a lot of companies' downfall. I think another reason why the life expectancy for a company has decreased so much in recent years is because new companies take on too much overhead too quickly. You don't have to rent out 3,000 sq ft of office space to get going. Work out of a home office first. You don't need all the latest and greatest technology. Just get going with a basic PC or laptop.Jonathan Trenthttp://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/video-conferencing/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-22299620462696669062012-05-04T23:52:45.045-05:002012-05-04T23:52:45.045-05:00@Greg
I think another question might be how to cr...@Greg<br /><br />I think another question might be how to create the kind of culture within a smaller organization that cultivates the kind of flexibility and adaptability that is required to innovate and grow. Even small companies that have only been around a short time, already have the seeds of culture - it is prudent to design that culture in an intentional way so that core values and vision are essential elements of every decision. Too often small businesses fail to think strategically aout the culture they are creating, especially if the founder has trouble letting go of control and delegating to others. Companies have to value connectivity and organic growth over protecting company secrets and avoiding failure by playing it safe. Interesting discussion. Thanks for your comments.Dr. Jude A. Rathburnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06765511894174073128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-15934077600273679282012-02-28T14:07:39.960-06:002012-02-28T14:07:39.960-06:00Hi Greg,
That's a great question and deserves...Hi Greg,<br /><br />That's a great question and deserves a longer answer than I have time to give you today.<br /><br />Just like a city, any organization, large or small, must find a way to balance individual freedom and the common good.<br /><br />The greater the individual freedom, the greater the potential to adapt. Focusing on the common good requires that you put some constraints on individual autonomy. The "degree of constraint" will both focus the organization and limit its ability to adapt.<br /><br />It's a balancing act between being flexible enough to learn and consistent/efficient enough to move toward shared goals.<br /><br />Most of the time we err on the side of efficiency, so I would say that one thing you can do is, every time you are discussing a move to increase efficiency, you might want to ask, "what flexibility and adaptiveness are we losing as we make this step?"Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940621620133180202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-23137918928885267412012-02-28T12:57:09.483-06:002012-02-28T12:57:09.483-06:00Dave, "The Connected Company" was one of...Dave, "The Connected Company" was one of the more insightful articles on how to structure a successful company.<br /><br />Correct me if I'm wrong, but I just kept drawing comparisons between your concept of a company as a city and the concept of the Lean business. Both have to be organic, innovative, and most importantly adaptive. Control and decisions must be distributed in order to maintain agility.<br /><br />My question is this: rather than focusing on the larger companies such as Shell, what advice and structural suggestions do you have for the smaller companies that are still trying to define their presence in the market place and do not yet have an identificable culture? What steps can we small business owners put in place now in order to account for the dilemmas you mention prior to growth?<br /><br />Once again, such valuable information and thanks so much for sharing.<br /><br />Cheers,<br /><br />Greg - @gregsuchGreghttp://www.myfreeemailsearch.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-40312292700466104642011-04-12T09:23:18.173-05:002011-04-12T09:23:18.173-05:00organizations as living systems = http://www.dubbe...organizations as living systems = http://www.dubberly.com/articles/notes-on-the-role-of-leadership-and-language.htmlpaul pangarohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01571151383244535329noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-28319565034877443302011-03-20T15:00:39.628-05:002011-03-20T15:00:39.628-05:00Dave,
"The connected company" was an ex...Dave,<br /><br />"The connected company" was an excellent post and very thought provoking article. I'm currently Training & Development grad student and I've studied a bit on organizational development. I think that all training professionals should have a working knowledge of how companies really have functioned as machines historically and how we as professionals can contribute to the growth and evolution of this type of structure and extend the life expectancy and improve the internal functionality at the same time.<br /><br />Very good food for thought, thanks for sharing the post.<br /><br />Sabrina WarnerSabrina Warnernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-18379949307757765442011-03-20T14:58:41.375-05:002011-03-20T14:58:41.375-05:00Dave,
"The connected company" was an ex...Dave,<br /><br />"The connected company" was an excellent post and very thought provoking article. I'm currently Training & Development grad student and I've studied a bit on organizational development. I think that all training professionals should have a working knowledge of how companies really have functioned as machines historically and how we as professionals can contribute to the growth and evolution of this type of structure and extend the life expectancy and improve the internal functionality at the same time.<br /><br />Very good food for thought, thanks for sharing the post.<br /><br />Sabrina WarnerSabrina Warnerhttp://rutraining.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-57486379552002611422011-03-12T13:15:25.370-06:002011-03-12T13:15:25.370-06:00Hi, Dave:
Everytime I drop in into your blog I ha...Hi, Dave:<br /><br />Everytime I drop in into your blog I have a good time at gathering "food for thought". Your article "The connected company" is excellent.<br /><br />In my opinion, the city example may well be the right one for existing large companies, but for start-ups, my domain as you know, I prefer the organism type of comparison.<br /><br />We miss you in Madrid.<br /><br />RodolfoRodolfohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10086860497319403849noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-61597428843570994752011-03-10T07:17:47.715-06:002011-03-10T07:17:47.715-06:00Spiral Dynamics explains this phenomenon from a tr...Spiral Dynamics explains this phenomenon from a tribe behavior perspective. All groups, not just companies, are moving towards more organism-like systems. The top-down system was necessary and useful at a certain stage of survival, and now we're out-growing it. <br />Great post, very nice insight.Alex Cequeahttp://www.thespeakerpoint.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-56887779232106073092011-03-03T03:59:43.247-06:002011-03-03T03:59:43.247-06:00What are you classing as a company?
Because I...What are you classing as a company? <br /><br />Because I've had online businesses that only last a couple of months. I wouldn't class that as a company but if things like that ares put into the statistics, it will drive the figures down.Danielhttp://www.mlltelecom.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-8001297062754108002011-02-22T10:20:20.983-06:002011-02-22T10:20:20.983-06:00Accidentally deleted this comment this morning. Pa...Accidentally deleted this comment this morning. Pasted and copied from my email here. Sorry Pawan!<br /><br />Aparna has left a new comment on your post "The connected company": <br /><br />Wow Dave, what a luminous post is this....actually its very true and also that people like you have to come ahead and look for the health of the companies. We have to bemore worried fore the health n life of a company equally as we are worried for the bottom line. I'm sure many more similar posts will come from you. At least this post of yours will force many professionals like me to contribute in our own little way to be thoughful for the life span of our companies and while doing so, various input would be required from people like you.<br /><br />Brilliant stuff, Congrats!!<br /><br />PawanAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940621620133180202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-34445723074086887102011-02-21T20:06:22.899-06:002011-02-21T20:06:22.899-06:00I think this is great Dave! I think it is VERY tim...I think this is great Dave! I think it is VERY timely too as companies have moved away from producing physical goods and now produce digital information. This changes everything and I think your ideas can be very fruitfull in regards to large companies changing. I think it is obvious that it is harder to change a car factory to a helicopter factory that to change from selling music CDs to movie DVDs. Also, I think it would be great to have leaders running the companies NOT trying to control everything which ultimately are impossible to control. Its a very different way of looking at things. In the science field there are things called emergent systems.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-60494109703295016452011-02-18T16:46:43.093-06:002011-02-18T16:46:43.093-06:00For those who want to continue the conversation I ...For those who want to continue the conversation I have set up an email discussion group <a href="http://groups.google.com/group/connectedcompany" rel="nofollow">here</a>.<br /><br />I hope you will join us there!<br /><br />Rawn, there's a more recent study by the same group <a href="http://www.cybaea.net/Blogs/Journal/Employee-productivity-revisited.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> which seems to confirm the initial findings.<br /><br />Still, the point is that as companies grow their productivity tends to decrease. The idea that the rule doesn't apply to health care doesn't surprise me, since health care costs (at least in the US) are <a href="http://larrywillmore.net/blog/2011/02/01/health-care-costs-and-gdp/" rel="nofollow">highly inflated</a>. I expect you might find a similar "productivity" law in <a href="http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2010/09/whos-behind-us-higher-education-bubble.html" rel="nofollow">higher education</a>.<br /><br />To be clear, I'm not trying to say that companies can gain productivity as they grow. And I'm not saying that every company needs to undergo radical change. I just think that we can do better.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08940621620133180202noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-39596576995351690072011-02-18T01:04:35.819-06:002011-02-18T01:04:35.819-06:00Very engaging story, but ...
Did you happen to re...Very engaging story, but ...<br /><br />Did you happen to read the Update section at the base of the Cybaea journal's finding? It links to a second article titled <a href="http://www.cybaea.net/Blogs/Journal/employee_productivity_sector.html" rel="nofollow">3/2 rule revisited</a>. <br /><br />The key point from that one is that it isn't as hugely drastic as 3/2 as it said after they looked at a larger sample and separated the industries. There still is a drop by size, but the "scary" part is much more muted if not nullified.<br /><br />When looking across all industries and companies, rather than "if you grow by 3x, it will drop productivity by 1/2", it is more of a 10% drop vs. 52%. If you grow by <b>10x</b>, their calculation would result in a <b>20%</b> drop. By a <b>100x</b> it would be a <b>37% drop</b>. That is enormous growth by any standard. <br /><br />Those numbers are still disturbing and they still support the declining scale issue. <br /><br />However, <b>it starts to look much better if you don't lump all companies across all industries into the same pile</b>. When you look at the per industry charts it is much smaller, flat or even growing in industries like healthcare, technology, services and industrial goods. Financial sector and Conglomerates were the worst offenders. The Financial sector is the only one with sufficient data that bears out the problem of 3x employee size growth might lead to ~50% drop.<br /><br />In healthcare sector, growing by 3x leads to 3% <i>increase</i> in productivity. Not much of a gain at all, but it isn't dropping. In technology companies, growing by 3x leads to a 2.6% drop in productivity. <br /><br />If you ask most companies, they'd be willing to risk the increase in overall revenue, profit and market impact at the risk of so little of a loss in productivity.<br /><br />Hey, I'm just going by their data and calculations.Rawn Shahhttp://blogs.forbes.com/rawnshah/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-28439186009077148752011-02-16T10:44:36.280-06:002011-02-16T10:44:36.280-06:00Brillant!Brillant!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14323294025557717823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-57125612918905363082011-02-15T19:39:49.861-06:002011-02-15T19:39:49.861-06:00Interesting post but I believe you are comparing a...Interesting post but I believe you are comparing apples to oranges in your analysis. Yes, cities seem to endure but neighborhoods in the cities have a much shorter lifespan than the city they are in. Paris has been around since 52 B.C. but you can bet that the neighborhoods have changed greatly in the last two millennium.<br /><br />A more appropriate comparison is between cities and industries/professions. The profession of law has been around much longer than any law firms that exist in the profession. The same can be said for engineering and the firms that make up engineering. You may want to examine what makes a profession endure to determine the role of communication and connectivity.<br /><br />I also tried Googling the exact number of cities in the world. There was no definite answer but I can safely assume that there are at least over 100,000 distinct cities in the total history of humanity. Thus, when you compute the average lifespan of a city you may find it averaging much less than the large numbers you quote. Even so, I believe that you will find a rough parity between the longevity of cities and the longevity of industries/professions.<br /><br />Again, you have some interesting points but I think that Eric Beinhocker has covered similar concepts in his masterful <i>Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics</i>.Billhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00815239887747838141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-51819453041429390522011-02-15T14:45:44.108-06:002011-02-15T14:45:44.108-06:00This sounds a lot like "Power to the Edge&quo...This sounds a lot like "Power to the Edge" (free book at www.dodccrp.org/files/Alberts_Power.pdf)Peter Bakkerhttps://peterbakker.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-45639749950286439722011-02-14T00:03:22.781-06:002011-02-14T00:03:22.781-06:00I've enjoyed the post and the discussion thus ...I've enjoyed the post and the discussion thus far very much!<br /><br /><b>Social Business</b><br />For social businesses, the value is in the connections, and it is the untapped value that is recognized by identifying gaps and opportunities between groups/divisions/products/offerings/partners/clients... and having a network that is aware enough to do something about it.<br /><br />A very recent example of this was my becoming aware of a business opportunity surfacing in my network that I thought might be interesting to another portion of my network, and making them aware. in the past, this might have involved clipping an article out of a newspaper and mailing it (doesn’t that seem quaint now?) -- now, it’s an electronic notification, and in the (near) future it could be the self-aware machine learning network that surfaces these opportunities, prioritizes them, and shares them during an appropriate context sensitive time.<br /><br />from one of my posts in the Social Business Jam:<br /><br /><i>“the great value that is created in a social business is by discontiguous / disparate nodes (people or processes where there is a gap that is understood by those affected. in a world where c naturally follows b, which of course follows a, there's limited value to exploit between a and b. in contrast, there could be huge value in linking a with 6.02x10^23 because the network understands there's a connection, and the social business-enabled system can adapt to provide that connection. <br /><br />where standardization and automation have done much to accelerate the creation of mass produced things, mass personalization can be reached as individuals, teams and companies dynamically identify value and work to realize it. incremental improvement of structured processes, while still having its place, will not yield the step-change benefits that those that employ social businesses practices will reap.“</i><br /><br /><a href="http://www-01.ibm.com/software/info/social_business_jam/" rel="nofollow">Social Business Jam</a><br /><br /><b>Architecture of Social</b><br />Like many others, the following concepts deeply resonated with me -- <br /><br />“design for emergence”, for managing growth, etc.<br />“design for connection” -- this is precisely what microblogging and social bookmarking can allow... the serendipitous connection between people who by happenstance sense and see what’s happening in each other’s activity stream. I can forsee a time when systems, especially when you see how the machine learning exhibited by the Watson computer that will compete on Jeopardy! this week, will be smart enough to alert individuals in a context sensitive way to information that is relevant to what they are doing, while they are doing it. The links, for example, that I’ve peppered through this response would be made available to me via a Tweetdeck or similar such approach, just as I needed them.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/will-watson-win-jeopardy.html" rel="nofollow">Nova’s Will Watson Win Jeopardy</a><br /><br />I liked what Mike Lachapelle had to say about Paolo Soleri’s The Omega Seed, and Arcology. When thinking about designing human spaces, Tom Peters concept of “the little BIG things” -- the quality of a spectacularly clean bathroom, springs to mind, precisely because it helps to create a place where people want to be, and feel valued to be there.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.tompeters.com/dispatches/011251.php" rel="nofollow">the little BIG things</a><br /><br />Project for Public Spaces, after analyzing what makes a public space successful, concluded that there are four key qualities, the place is accessible, comfortable, sociable and people engage in activities there. The Place Diagram developed by the Project for Public Spaces helps one judge a place. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.pps.org/articles/grplacefeat/" rel="nofollow">Project for Public Spaces</a><br /><br />Dave’s post has got me thinking about refactoring/designing a “place diagram” that is representative of how to identify a great company -- one that has a fighting chance of enduring well beyond the average.Michael Martinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04334654352021705217noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-78361601619108702972011-02-13T11:37:49.724-06:002011-02-13T11:37:49.724-06:00Great synthesis of ideas in a very accessible and ...Great synthesis of ideas in a very accessible and compelling presentation. I hope you'll take Tim up on his offer to grow this into a book. Seems like you could follow your own prescription about starting small and providing jumping off points ... and it's clear you're already watching, listening and adapting.<br /><br />I see many elements here that reflect some of the insights of <a href="http://www.pps.org/articles/wwhyte/" rel="nofollow">William Whyte</a>, and his classic work on the Social Life of Small Urban Spaces. I have no doubt you are well aware of that work, but given your reference to social technologies, I wanted to recommend more recent, related research that may not yet be quite as famous: Keith Hampton, Oren Livio and Lauren Session's study of <a href="http://www.mysocialnetwork.net/downloads/joc.html" rel="nofollow">The Social Life of Wireless Urban Spaces: Internet Use, Social Networks, and the Public Realm</a> (<i>Journal of Communication</i> 60(4), 701-722. 2010). An associated photo essay, and other potentially relevant studies, can be found on <a href="http://www.mysocialnetwork.net/pub.html" rel="nofollow">Keith Hampton's publication page</a>.Joe McCarthyhttp://gumption.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-16210452516990762272011-02-12T13:22:25.670-06:002011-02-12T13:22:25.670-06:00Great article. Got me thinking about thinking abou...Great article. Got me thinking about thinking about going back to reading the two Gareth Morgan books that have been gathering dust for 10 years!Andi Robertshttp://www.masterfacilitator.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-82900700981832171622011-02-12T10:49:28.997-06:002011-02-12T10:49:28.997-06:00Yes, yes, yes. And if you are going to turn it int...Yes, yes, yes. And if you are going to turn it into a book, I volunteer to contribute some thoughts, as I find quite many connections in your post to my proposal on what a company is. Based on systems theory (Luhmann) I started reading the studies of US researcher Harrison White, of whom I recommend to read "Markets from Networks" and "Identity and Control". A fundamental thought I found there, is, that networks (or the connected company) are not only the future of organisations but their very origin! If you read the statistical studies you referred to with that in mind, I bet you'll find that the immortal corporations where able to maintain and rejuvenate their networks - just like cities. <br />However, as has been stated above, a company by its very nature is a reduction of complexity. So how does that fit? I propose to think of companies as entities carved out of the network/ecosystem, which is essentially us, the world. Now the question is, how do you carve out such an entity? My proposal: by communication or more precisely by discoursive practices. In that model a corporation - as well as a non-profit, or a political party, or an university - is composed of its discourses and it exists as long as its discourses exist, or less scientifical: as long people speak about the company. As proof of concept I propose to apply that thinking to truely almost immortal entities: brands. Strong brands do not die, even if the companies that produce them cease to exist. Even a brand as Enron, surely no love brand still marks a relevant position in certain discourses. It serves as an address to which you can attach all things you do not want to see in a company. A discoursive model of the company also helps to understand how it is possible to manage a decentralized, heterarchical entity, not by command and control but by discourse. As long as you offer a valid strategic narrative the stakeholder of the company will relate to it and keep the company alive. And even if the company fails to deliver, its members might loose the job a company A, but if they are good at what they do, you can be sure that they will be able to use their skills within another company. Finally, a probable explanation for more and more short lived companies might be owed to the dynamics (speed) and diversity of modern societies. It might not be the weight, under which they collapsed but the inability to establish a management model that enables and encourages their employees to adapt to quickly changing discourses whereas the immortals either are an essential part of "old" discourses or found a way to enhance their connectedness - thing GE or Apple.Sascha Stoltenowhttp://sascha_stoltenow@yahoo.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-9612644645695715042011-02-11T10:39:37.423-06:002011-02-11T10:39:37.423-06:00Excellent post and completely agree. Companies hav...Excellent post and completely agree. Companies have to move beyond simplified mechanistic thinking and accept and embrace the complexity and chaos of the real world. Business needs to stop clinging to the comfort of the over simplified symbols of reality and accept the complexity that really exists.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15650481.post-2756016502430270802011-02-11T08:28:16.649-06:002011-02-11T08:28:16.649-06:00I've proposed (arguably) more comprehensive so...I've proposed (arguably) more comprehensive solutions to decentralizing companies and governments. I like your setup of the issues and high level goals.<br /><br />The first key to promoting more egalitarian decentralized organizations is to make them financially egalitarian. This article details the financial system for how partners can buy-in, sell-out or even secede/abandon completely the partnership.<br /><br />http://www.naturalfinance.net/2011/01/communal-equity-accounting-re.html<br /><br />The other key to decentralization is recognizing that while functional areas need supervision does not imply the need for a hierarchical pyramid of supervision headed by a single individual. What I call natural governance focuses on setting up functional responsibility silos chaotically through partnership democratic approval, along with elected partner delegates supervising/regulating the function.<br /><br />http://www.naturalfinance.net/2011/01/natural-governance.htmlPascal J.https://www.blogger.com/profile/04550838631823938140noreply@blogger.com