Rol Fessenden <76234.3636@CompuServe.COM> picks up on my rate of change
thread and asks:
>...
>For example, retailers experience rapid rates of change, but basically the
>business processes are pretty stable. Computer companies also experience
>rapid change, and business processes historically have also been pretty
>stable. Now, computer companies are dealing with a rapidly changing
>marketplace. Business processes may be changing rapidly, and one would
>hope that the LOs among the computer companies would be trying to develop
>stable working processes, that is thinking, organizing, and collaborating.
>
>I think this is comparable to the second derivative in mathematics.
>Does this add anything?
My training in post-graduate work was in process control. In this world,
things are moving and the feed stock is subject to randon fluctuations in
quality. Immediate reaction is required to avoid ruining the whole set of
production. It appears chaotic when this happens, but the underlying
procedures are well-known and repeatable.
Similar situations are pictured in the control tower of an airport or in
the foreign exchange trading room of a bank. To the outside observer there
is chaotic activity, whereas everyone is performing their tasks as they
should.
So it is not only the rate of change, but the view of the situation. At a
higher level macro view, there appears to be peace. The earth is viewed as
round and blue and serene from the moon. A glass of water that has sat
open on the counter for a day looks clear, yet under a microscope it is
teeming with microbes.
The second order view (first derivative) can restore order in a changing
world, but so can "stepping back far enough to see the forest for the
trees". Both these techniques could prove very useful to systems thinking
practitioners and I use both to address real situations.
In fact, if you view change from a longer perspective as in "what has
changed in the last year or decade", the two techniques converge. FWIW...
IMHO...Keith
--Keith Cowan <72212.51@CompuServe.COM>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>