Summary and Thoughts: Drivers of world change as well as Change management and Change Leadership is said to have take place in the process of change that is happening now. Drivers of change series give us an opportunity to stimulate thought and create conversations around the world. There is no doubt that our environment has transformed for the better, transformed from a local phenomenon to a global one. We are now confronted with more pressing social, technological, economic, environmental and political change forcing us to shift to a local mindset to a global scale. Everything here seems to be a cycle and view is now on a big macro picture. “Think globally - act locally” - quoted from the rally cry of UN and other global environmental initiatives, coined in 1972 by philosopher and UN advisor Rene Dubos. This becomes more than an empty slogan but now an urgent statement.
Look around us. The material used on our infrastructure, waste we have created, food that we are eating ... In this increasingly interconnected world, what defines our environment? Increasing environmental pollution? Global warming disaster? Progressive, developed, local and national governments are taking the initiative and setting examples of sustainability from a governance standpoint. In Singapore, our government is gearing towards a eco-friendly approach towards individual practice and industrial level which is a step closer to building a sustainable world and imbuing social responsibilities to individual to save the earth. But to some extent, the main motive behind business is the profit margin and potential growth. After all, is this how businesses strive to survive in the market? I believe only big organizations are able to afford spending big bucks in their Research and Development (R&D) in working towards the sustainability aim.
Change in management and Changing Leadership
Summary and Thoughts: The second half of the class addressed the issues to it. Business should be working towards a continual and highly responsive change in the environment, but not by sticking to the traditional business operation model of freeze-unfreeze-refreeze that we had previously discussed in class. Organization must be open to new ideas and map out a clear sense of directions they are heading to. “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory” - W. Edwards Deming
The two dimensions of performance: Efficiency and Effectiveness are often used together. This in turn has narrowly based our thinking of performance – we have come to believe that efficiency and effectiveness is all there is to performance.
According to the article, while efficiency and effectiveness are necessary dimensions to define performance, they are not sufficient for long-term success. Without flexibility, processes become rigid to the time and place in which they operate. What is today, an effcient and effective process, can become stale and unproductive overnight. The answer to this is the ability to be flexibility that allow a business to sustain a long term survival. The challenge is never preparing for what you do know, it is preparing for what you don’t.
I feel that our prof can spend more time on the introductory remarks, as I find some of the concepts taught are very useful and adaptable to the change now. Lesson is interesting especially when videos are shown. Overall, I would rate 8/10.
