Study Tour to the USA LO12481

Matthew Holmes (HOLMES_M@WMGMAIL.wmg.warwick.ac.uk)
Tue, 11 Feb 1997 11:45:30 -0000

Hello all.

+++++Looking for US organisations wishing to host a visit as a part
+++++
+++++of a Learning Organisations Study Tour
+++++

Following my introduction posting it has just occured to me that this
could well be a useful place for me to drum up some interest in a study
tour that I am currently arranging.

The tour is for a UK based study group comprising of academics and
industry representatives. We are seeking to develop a full understanding
of the roles of effective communication, education and training in the
initiation and support of business development programmes.

Our work to date has lead us to develop a range of change management
models and understanding of the underlying issues coupled with a number of
specific tools for effective communication and the development of
education programmes that relate specifically to the strategy and
developing needs of an organisation. We place strong emphasis on the
creation of organisational learning, the principles of networking and on
the development of multi-functional teams within organisations.

The studies have involved facilitation of change programmes within a
number of companies, the development and running of both company specific
and multi-company education programmes on such topics as the Management of
Change and Innovation Strategy and workshops to bring together the views
of academics from a wide range of disciplines.

The group consists of myself, representing the Business Process Resource
Centre at the University of Warwick; Sylvan Sitkey of the Continuing
Vocational Education programme also at the University of Warwick; Tony
Eccles a visiting professor at the London Business School; Ray Charlton of
Transition Partnerships a consultancy providing personal mastery
programmes for industry; Quentin Kopp, Personnel Director at Coats
Viyella; Joe Culkin of Raychem; and probably two or three others as yet
unidentified.

Recognising that a good deal of the research and work in this field is
being conducted in the USA we have created the opportunity to carry out a
study tour of the country. We are hoping to visit a number of companies
and academic organisations over a two week period beginning the 21st
April.

Similar study tours that have been conducted in the past have tended to be
organised along the lines of 'show and tell' with visitors spending a day
in the host companies being shown evidence of the tools and techniques in
use. We feel that there are two problems associated with this approach,
firstly that with a subject of this nature it is very difficult to
establish a true view of the organisations approach to business
development from a brief tour, and secondly that the host company can
stand to gain very little from the visitors. What we propose is that if
you are interested in taking part in this study tour we should work
together between now and April to develop a workshop approach to a visit
in which there is a greater opportunity for both parties to learn from
each other.

The two current suggestions are,

1. Study tour delegates and your company representatives involved in a one
or two day workshop to tackle a particular issue currently faced by your
business. This would give us an opportunity to understand the way in
which your organisation works, the means and lines of communication, how
models are used in change and what resources are made available to
encourage creativity. In return we will be able to offer our own
knowledge, skills and experience of change to help create a successful
outcome.

2. If your organisation is currently involved in a major change programme
a second possibility would be for the tour party to play the role of
advisors or consultants to the process. This would involve 1-2 days of
diagnostic interviews in which we would meet a number of relevant people
from within your organisation to discuss how the change process was
progressing. We would then review what we have seen against our own
models of how the change process and works and present these findings to
the management team responsible leading to discussion and perhaps a
clearer view of the way forward.

If you are interested in pursuing this further with either of these
suggestions or one of your own then please let me know. I am expecting to
hear from a number of organisations across the USA and will need to start
identifying the interested parties by the end of February, at the very
latest, so that I can begin to plan the tour. If you cannot reply in full
in that time scale and are interested then please feel free to drop me a
line to let me know that you wish to be included.

As a result of the tour we will be presenting a conference in the UK in
June and all participating organisations will receive an invitation to
attend and copies of the proceedings.

I apologise for the length of this posting and have tried to be as concise
as possible. I look forward to hearing from you.

Matthew Holmes
matthew.holmes@warwick.ac.uk
Warwick Manufacturing Group
University of Warwick, UK

-- 

Matthew Holmes <HOLMES_M@WMGMAIL.wmg.warwick.ac.uk>

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