...Synopsis of Paradoxical Thinking and its Utilization In an Organization Muzit Mengesha National University MGT 605 - Organization Management and Leadership Professor Carrie Noah March 1st, 2015 Table of contents I. Introduction / Definition 3 II. A Company That Demonstrates Paradoxical Thinking 5 III. Can Paradoxical Thinking be learned 7 IV. Paradoxical Thinking, One of Eight Skills Related to Intelligence 8 V. Summary 9 VI. References 10 I. Introduction / Definition The main purpose of this paper is to define paradoxical thinking and explain its importance and applicability within organizations. After indicating the traditionally utilized cause-and-effect thinking, it will be evident cause-and-effect thinking may not be the best approach to solving managerial problems. After defining and explaining cause-and-effect thinking and posturing the idea cause-and-effect thinking can actually hinder mastery, the idea of paradoxical thinking will be defined...
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...------------------------------------------------- Paradoxical thinking for achieving mastery ------------------------------------------------- MGT 605 August 27, 2014 Jennifer Solis Professor McGrath Table of contents 1. Cover Page 2. Table of Contents 3. Major components a. Part 1 – Introduction/ Definition b. Part II – Provide an example of a company that demonstrates paradoxical thinking c. Part III– Discuss whether or not one can learn paradoxical thinking and discuss the reasons for your answer. d. Part IV – Paradoxical thinking is one of eight skills related to intelligence Discuss why it is probably the least used. e. Part V – Summarize your understanding of how management and leadership can utilize paradoxical thinking to improve the organization. 5. Reference page Paradoxical Thinking for Achieving Mastery Most colleges and universities teach cause and effect thinking at the expense of paradoxical thinking which might be a negative impact in these students life. By stating this we are not saying that the cause and effect teaching is bad, but it diminishes the opportunities of a student thinking outside of the box. Paradoxical thinking involves the ability to reverse...
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...Abstract Paradoxical thinking is looking at a problem from opposite perspectives. We live in a complex world which is full of paradoxes. Paradoxical thinking has contributed to many companies success. It is important for us to know about paradoxical thinking. This article analyzed that how Google applies paradoxical thinking in their interface, products and '20 percent program'. Then the article indicated that the key to learn paradoxical thinking is open in mind. Paradoxical Thinking Introduction Before we get started, we need to know what is paradoxical thinking. A paradox is a group of statements that are contradictory. And paradoxical thinking is looking at a problem or a situation from different or even opposite perspectives, and finding the same thing which is deep down in two opposite perspectives. (Westenholz, 1993) For example, in the 1830's, Faraday had observed that a current of electricity passing through a wire could cause the magnetized needle, which was located close to the wire, to move in a rotational direction. This was the basis of his electric motor. But he didn't stop with this. He twist his mind and found that moving magnets can cause electricity to flow. This is one of the most brilliant application of paradoxical thinking. Paradoxical thinking has helped plenty of companies to be successful. The following research on Google is trying to find out how they practice paradoxical thinking. Research on Google Company History Google Inc. is an American...
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...ARTICLE IN PRESS Long Range Planning -- (2010) ---e--- http://www.elsevier.com/locate/lrp Complex Business Models: Managing Strategic Paradoxes Simultaneously Wendy K. Smith, Andy Binns and Michael L. Tushman As our world becomes more global, fast paced and hypercompetitive, competitive advantage may increasingly depend on success in managing paradoxical strategies strategies associated with contradictory, yet integrated tensions. We identify several types of complex business models organizations will need to adopt if they are to host such paradoxical strategies. Managing complex business models effectively depends on leadership that can make dynamic decisions, build commitment to both overarching visions and agenda specific goals, learn actively at multiple levels, and engage conflict. Leaders can engage these functions through team-centric or leader-centric structures. Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Introduction By the late 1990’s, USA Today was the highest circulating national newspaper in the United States.1 CEO Tom Curley and his senior executive team had created a new category of newspapers by negotiating distribution deals with hotels and businesses to provide national news to educated and high-income business travelers, a demographic that yielded excellent advertising revenues. When widening access to the Internet and the emergence of novel news content channels such as Yahoo! and AOL promised to put the newspaper’s position under...
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...to emulate. Outstanding entrepreneurs such as Stan Shih, who have taken the best managerial practices from the East and the West while avoiding the shortcomings, represent ideal “intermediate” role models. By employing such an “ambicultural” approach to management, Shih provides a model for both bridging cultures and instructing organizations in the East and West. In this essay, we discuss these linkages and some of the useful lessons for managers from both cultures. Indeed, “Chinese” as a way of thinking, with its emphasis on balance and self-other integration, offers the promise to bridge global divides and facilitate the formation of global-minded executives. T he global economic crisis has destroyed vast amounts of wealth— both public and private— and eliminated tens of millions of jobs. An estimated $34.4 trillion worldwide was erased between the autumn of 2008 and March 2009 (Liu, 2010); American households alone have lost some $11 trillion in wealth, according to a Federal Reserve report (Kalita, 2009). Since the beginning of 2008, the United States has shed more than eight million jobs, and in early 2009 the International Labor Organization projected the loss of as many as...
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...Beyond Sophisticated Stereotyping: Cultural Sensemaking in Context [and Executive Commentaries] Author(s): Joyce S. Osland, Allan Bird, June Delano and Mathew Jacob Source: The Academy of Management Executive (1993-2005), Vol. 14, No. 1, Themes: Forming Impressions and Giving Feedback (Feb., 2000), pp. 65-79 Published by: Academy of Management Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4165609 . Accessed: 05/08/2013 09:54 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. . Academy of Management is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Academy of Management Executive (1993-2005). http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 155.33.240.146 on Mon, 5 Aug 2013 09:54:15 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ? Academy of Management Executive, 2000, Vol. 14, No. 1 Beyond sophisticated stereotyping: Cultural sensemakingn i context Joyce S. Osland and Allan Bird Executive Overview Much of our cross-cultural training and research occurs within...
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...Neil. & Bennett, Debbie (1987). Designing and Running Training Events: Rules of Thumb for Trainers In Training Theory and Practice., Selected from Training Theory and Practice. Edited by Henderson, C Jr. & Reddy, W.B., (Eds.) University Associates. Cooper, Susan & Heenan, Cathy (1980) Co-Leading Selected from: Preparing, Designing, & Leading Workshops: a humanistic approach. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Goleman, Daniel. (1998, November-December) What Makes a Leader. Harvard Business Review. Required articles sent by e-mail upon request Beach, Patricia G. & Jennifer Joyce. (2009). Escape from flatland: Using polarity management to coach organizational leaders from a higher perspective. The International Journal of Coaching in Organizations. 7(2), 6483. (Based on Johnson’s model, the authors provide examples of polarity management in leadership) Keenan, Mary, J., Hurst, Joseph, B. & Karen Olnhausen. (1993). Polarity management for quality care: Self-direction and manager direction. Nursing Administration Quarterly. 18(1), 23-29. (A study of the individual group polarity in health care) Lang, Reg. (1999 May/June) Professional meets personal: Bringing the whole self to work. Plan Canada. (The article discusses the dimensions of the personal professional polarity as experienced by strategic planning consultants.) McNaught, Carmel. (2003) Innovation and change in higher education: Managing multiple polarities. Perspectives: Policy and practice in Higher Education, 7(3)...
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...adaptions”. This is vital to the survival and performance of organizations. Firms should maintain a balance between exploration and exploitation. There has been scant attention to what makes an individual ambidexterious. Several reasons warrant the examination of entrepreneur ambidexterity in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs): 1. Small business have limited resource endowments. Since exploration and exploitation compete for scarce resources, attention and organizational routines, the situation is likely to heighten the paradoxes facing entrepreneurs. 2. Most SMEs are owned and managed by one individual or a very small group of individuals: the owner-manager makes virtually all the strategic decisions. Ambidexterity: 1. Literally: the ability to use both hands with equal ease. 2. In management: used to refer to an organization’s ability to do two seemingly paradoxical things simultaneously: * To explore and exploit * Be efficient and be flexible * Align and adapt Distinction between exploration and exploitation (March): * Exploration: includes things like research, variation, risk-taking, experimentation, play, flexibility, discovery, innovation. * Exploitation: includes thing like improvement, choice, production, efficiency, implementation, execution. According to March, organizational ambidexterity has been traditionally viewed as an organization-level construct that manifests itself in an organization’s explorative...
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...Normality of the future: Trend diagnosis for strategic foresight (Liebl 2010) Table of contents 1. Summary of the article 3 2. Analysis of the strength and weakness of the argument 5 2.1 Strengths 5 2.2 Weakness 6 3. Implications for the top management 7 4. Conclusion 8 Appendix A 10 Appendix B 11 1. Summary of the article “In strategy it is important to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things” (Musashi 2009). * This article focuses on trend diagnosis for strategic foresight in its entirety. The author scrutinizes that although trend is an imperative concept in the strategic issue management, the interpretation of trend in strategic foresight is ambiguous. This paper conceptualizes, from a strategic point of view, trend as an innovation (socio-cultural) and elaborate the implications with respect to strategic issue diagnosis. (Liebl 2010) * * * * * The figure above (Liebl 2010) depicts an elaborate framework for conceptualizing trends. The strategic trend diagnosis has to deal with two different aspects of innovation: invention and diffusion. The invention aspect of a trend is identifying “The New” results from a transgression of contextual boundaries whereas the diffusion is a process of normalization (Normality and Abnormality) – i.e., a new socio-cultural practice becomes a social convention and...
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...on the assumption that it is better or more correct than the previous approach. Over the years, the management bromides have included management by objectives, quality circles, total quality management, re-engineering, and now the learning organization and systems thinking. But all these implemented as techniques produce the same results: short term gains followed by long term disillusionment and dissolution. What is going on here? Could conventional management wisdom be wrong? Richard Farson thinks so, and I think he’s right. Farson’s unconventional approach to leadership operates from a different set of assumptions than the traditional rational model. In his view, human behavior and its organizational manifestation are replete with complexities and paradoxes. Because of this, approaches that simplify behavior and offer a series of prescriptive steps to success are doomed to ultimate failure because they do not comprehend the absurdity of the situation. Some Definitions A paradox is a seeming absurdity. The natural human inclination when confronted with a paradox is to seek to resolve it. Farson’s approach is to embrace the absurdity and to seek to understand the truth contained therein. By embracing paradox, one sees the organization and its members for what they are: complex,...
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...Title of the Article/Published Scientific Paper Quality Management in a Changing Organizational Environment: Looking for New Conversation Tools Statement of the Article/Paper’s Research Problem A lot of criticisms have been lodged about Total Quality management on its ability in providing sustained competitive advantage. While some major organizations like IBM, Xerox and GE, to name a few, swear that TQM has offered them significant sustained competitive advantage; the big players with TQM in North America and Europe have been experiencing the complete opposite. A closer look at some of the commentaries, especially those pointing to organizational failures will indicate that poor knowledge about quality and its management were the principal causes of the failures (Suarez, 1992). Van Allen (1994) also indicated that inadequate leadership, rather than any inherent defects in the TQM model, are the sources of the poor results achieved with TQM in many organizations. While the principle of TQM about complete change of culture must have been in the minds of every member of the organization, there is no doubt that it is easier said than done. What if we don’t need to reinvent the wheel? What if the system will run like a well oiled machine but the drivers are not up for it? Goals, Purpose, and Significance of the Article/Paper The overall objective of this paper is to provide a background for conversation on quality management research and the operational management...
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...he is attaining perfection, his attempt to form an allegiance to a certain ideology will ultimately only incite his rage for individuality further, resulting in destruction. This is clearly indicative of the Arab Spring and the resulting rise of ISIS. Tired of the ruling dictators and wanting individualism and freedom of thought, the people in countries like Tunisia, Egypt and Syria rose up against their tyrannical governments, eventually overthrowing them. However, their rage to remain individualistic and maintain their own beliefs only caused more violence and destruction, because of which religious conformity has risen. This has provided a platform for a terrorist organization like ISIS to exploit the conforming nature of the people for their own uses. Therefore, due to his innate tendency for paradoxical thinking, mankind’s quest for individuality conflicts with his desire to conform, further proving his imperfectness and his inability to come up with a perfect belief that can guarantee equality and prosperity for everyone. Therefore, as man is imperfect and incapable of creating a perfect ideology, attempting to conform to a belief, and trying to eliminate prejudices is simply futile and impossible. Thus, the only way for humanity to truly progress and live in harmony is to not conform, but simply believe in certain ideologies, simultaneously embracing the differences of each other. In other words, humanity needs to be together, not the same. ...
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...effectively and on time. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics records that the average American spends more than half the day between work and spending time at home with children, however half of the day is wasted. The Bureau also outlines how lateness, stress and multitasking can have a negative effect on workplace productivity. If time is managed properly, one can achieve greater success. As such this report seeks to demonstrate that time management is key in maximizing productivity and output at school and the world of work. High among the list of those things that steal time from completing tasks is procrastination. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as the act or habit of delaying or putting off a task. A lot of time is spent thinking about what is to be done but this is not followed by any meaningful action. Valuable time is spent worrying and pondering about what is to be done and this in itself takes energy which could have been redirected into carrying out these said same tasks. The lines “I’ll do it later and “I have time” have become all too familiar to those who wish to shy away from the task at hand. For these persons ‘later’ becomes tomorrow and tomorrow, next week and eventually the time that they had disappears. This time then proves to be an asset when they come to the realization that it’s gone but sadly this time cannot be regained. These persons must now...
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...request distinctive arrangements - what worked a year prior strength now be not the best approach. Very frequently, avoidable errors transform what could have been an extraordinary business into a likewise ran. Perceiving and conquering the normal pitfalls connected with development is vital if your business is to keep on developing and flourish. Vitally, you have to guarantee that the strides you take today don't themselves make extra issues for what's to come. Compelling administration will offer you benefit as much as possible from the open doors, some assistance with creating practical development for what's to come. 1. staying aware of the business sector 2. Planning ahead 3. Cash flow and financial management 4... Critical thinking 5. The right system 6. Skills and attitude 7. Welcoming change How technology has changed workplace communication It’s been a common lament among business people dissatisfied with the technology that has become the norm in their daily lives. Instead, today’s communication depends on conference calls and emails chains that make it challenging to get to know your partners. Regularly revisiting and updating your business plan can help remind you of the changing market conditions and the need to respond to them. But with so many workers worldwide now working in virtual teams, many business relationships do...
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...efficient city or State would use fewer resources and create less waste Clean: an efficient city or State would develop without polluting Green: a green city or State could enhance greenery, waterways and natural heritage This way, we can ensure both economic growth and a good living environment for ourselves and for generations to come 2 And... What is sustainable development in Rome? The word “sustainable” is often over used and it is not without irony that it can be applied to Rome, Italy. Considering modern Rome in line with sustainable development would be paradoxical. Even if Rome does not want to emulate Tokyo or Vancouver, it has centuries of accumulated experiences, materials, traces, and memories to share, so it would be a mistake to start from scratch and replace Rome with a sanitized “green city”. However, to make Rome more “sustainable” Romans should start thinking in “sustainable” ways 3 There’s a lot of work to do in Rome... If “sustainability” means providing the needs of the present without compromising the patrimony of future generations, then there is a lot to do in Rome. Romans should try to remove the blight associated with the city: Thousands of vehicles Crazy traffic Fighting this does not mean Inefficient public transportation system fighting Rome any more Disorganized waste than curing a disease means Almost zero recycling killing the patient Other environmental problems 4...
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