The document discusses open systems and collaboration as emerging solutions for organizations. [1] Open systems reject bureaucracy and encourage participation, diversity, and new rules. [2] Due to new technologies, the ability to communicate, engage participants, and see spontaneous action is widespread. [3] The success of smaller, more innovative companies shows that larger organizations should decentralize to better adapt to changing environments.

1. Open Systems and Collaboration
To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in
your private heart is true for all men - that is genius. Emerson
Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the
world are the ones who do. Steve Jobs
Seemingly limitless levels of energy and extraordinary results occur when individuals
have the motivation and confidence to perform at high levels. The challenge for
organizations and individuals is to create an environment conducive to these results. It
has been found that work environments like this exist based on a few key factors:
• Strong Leadership: Leaders like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs
have a sense of passion and commitment that makes their organizations
successful even in adverse times .They also have a vision for their organizations
that is communicated and followed by their staff.
• Allow employees to succeed: People generally want to do a great job and take
pride in their work. Sometimes it is necessary for companies to cut bureaucracy.
They need to get out of the way and let their employees shine.
• Be aware of the environmental, technical, business, and political climate:
Leveraging changes in the environment in which a business operates can result
in dramatic improvements in performance.
A fundamental reality of change is that there is comfort, and sometimes success, in
stability and regularity. Can we really convince stakeholders that change will be
beneficial? Organizations simply fail to recognize that old paradigms and structures are
no longer working. They refuse to understand the environment, accept feedback, and
react to change. Many of our largest and seemingly most powerful corporations have
either experienced no growth or failed over the last ten years. Companies like Kodak,
Best Buy, AOL, and print magazines, who failed to change or adapt to changing
circumstances, markets, and environments, serve as examples of why a willingness to
change can be vital to an organization.
The reality of the poor performance of many organizations is virtually ignored in every
discussion of opportunities in both the public and private sectors. What is even more
distressing is that it is the structure of these organizations that produces much of
the results rather than the specific strategies or efforts. In particular, the presumed
advantages of bigness, such as economies of scale, spreading expertise, and
marketing synergies, have simply shown little evidence of success in recent years. Why
is this phenomenon so apparent and why have some organizations shown progress and
success?
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2. The emerging solution is the implementation of Open Systems and collaboration. Open
Systems, in general, reject bureaucracy, authority, hierarchy, and closed decision
making. They encourage participation, diversity, new rules, and, to some extent, chaos.
Specifically, they are derived from a scientific term that relates to continuous interaction
to receive, exchange, and process information. In contrast, the traditional, bureaucratic
system works with a fixed set of rules. It does not adapt to changing circumstances, and
it relies on clear authority and decision making.
Due to the ubiquity of new technologies like Google, Facebook, and smart phones, the
ability to find information, engage participants, communicate, and see spontaneous
action and decision making is at everyone’s fingertips. For example, Google paid
search allows ad testing, live results, and multiple landing pages. Content, ads,
conversions, and offers can be simultaneously changed to produce better results. In
contrast, traditional advertising measures audience, but it is very weak at measuring
behavior.
What is equally frustrating is that are realistic new models of success and we simply
need to follow them? They are based on simply increasing communication ,
understanding and exploring new perspectives .
1. Organizations need more cooperation.
Businesses are learning to partner and listen to both their suppliers and customers.
Testing and feedback are beginning to replace bureaucracy and the “we have always
done it that way” attitude. Focus is turning to develop new answers and “Win-Win”
solutions.
Since Katrina where every agency went their own selfish way, the cooperation in
emergencies among agencies has improved dramatically. Even New Orleans has
evidenced the great improvement in education by integrating the entire process and
involving the entire community
2. The most difficult opportunities can be to pursue proven winners which can require
some difficult choices.
One of the clearest management tools for success is the 80-20 rule . The tough
economy has produced a great opportunity to reduce proliferation of products that just
aren’t producing. The selection of bands, products and colors in cosmetics is simply
nuts and confuses the customer more than it helps. It took a crises for GM to realize it
did not need duplicate Buick, Pontiac and Oldsmobile products, models, dealers and
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3. advertising to basically sell the same car. Have we really lost anything in the last few
years without the endless proliferation credit card offerings that no one needed. . No
one wants to admit that much of the success of Costco is focusing on the best price for
the things that sell rather than proliferating skus.
3. The success of smaller, more innovative companies shows that many
organizations should get smaller (or act smaller) in order to really deal with
today’s environment.
Reducing organizational layers and creating professional cultures is a start. Boards and
management need to split up organizations by spinning off or creating more
independent groups. That may be what’s really necessary to maximize the potential of
both individuals and organizations.
In large, layered organizations, testing and failure, which are critical parts of innovation,
are more often punished than rewarded. Even sound risk taking is reduced due to the
fear of repercussion. For example, it has been proven that more football teams in
certain situations should run a play on fourth down rather than punt, but they seldom do
it. In short, we ignore the advice “you can’t score if you don’t take a shot.”
Finally, large organizations are often taken by surprise by the impact of the
environment. On a number of different levels, factors like global warming, aging of the
population, product life cycles, technology changes, and the Internet are highly
predictable. Plans to capitalize on these predictable changes are frequently missing
from the strategies of many large organizations.
4. The greatest need for change is a commitment to Open Systems and
collaborative models.
One of the biggest outcomes from open systems is the collaborative decision model. As
decisions become more complex, the need for diversity, internationalism, innovation,
and expertise is expanded.
For example, in discussing many issues the nature and presumed cause of problems
are elaborately explained. However there is little talk of the solutions. As one sales
consultant argues, “We all know the adage....features tell, benefits sell. Why do so
many of us still speak in terms of features and not benefits? The prospect doesn't care
what your product or service does, they only care about what it does for them.”
These new paradigms: cooperation, betting on success, smaller can be better, and
open collaborative systems offer great hope for our governments and corporations.
While they involve new approaches to problems, the solutions are generally available.
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4. In the 1960’s we lived by the mantra “if you aren’t part of the solution you are part of the
problem.” We simply need to allow our population to be effective. Once education and
opportunities are provided, organizations need to subscribe to the Open Systems model
by getting out of the way and allowing their employees to innovate.
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