knowquestion :: Stephen Bounds

If you haven't run across Activity-Based Work (or ABW) yet, in all probability you will soon.

This Jones Lang LaSalle report from 2012 provides a typical pro-ABW assessment. The report defines ABW this way:

ABW is a workplace strategy that provides people with a choice of settings for a variety of workplace activities. Rather than forcing individuals to undertake all their work at one

Peter Anthony-Glick has written a thoughtful post and blog wondering why KM staff sometimes actively resist the use of internal social collaboration tools.

My view is that the key capability KM generally lacks is a robust framework for evaluating proposed changes to organisational capabilities (whether that be a technology, process, or management change) and being able to usefully discuss what it is likely to achieve.

The purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.
-- Peter Drucker

Fair warning: This is a post about semantics. For those who feel that the words we choose to describe something are less important than the concepts they represent and the actions they entail, this is probably not a post for you.

In a recent post, William Powell put forward the theory that culture is chaotic. I commented, suggesting that complex adaptive systems were a more appropriate starting point and hoping to start a dialog.

Recently I read Steve Denning's article about moving away from hierarchical organisational structures. However, I found myself confused about the difference between heterarchy, and responsible autonomy, two alternate forms of polyarchy in opposition to the tradition of hierarchy.

Joan Williams recently wrote an important piece in HBR about the fact that men, and particularly younger men, are increasingly rejecting career paths that require an overcommitment of time to work. Faced with the option of "up or out", men are choosing "out":

Younger men increasingly want schedules that work around family needs — just as women have been demanding for years ...

For many years, the doctor-patient relationship was simple: they would make a diagnosis, tell you what should be done, and it was expected that you would passively comply (there's a good chap/lass). And why not? After all: they were the experts. What could a layman contribute to solving a problem when the learned doctors had done 10+ years of intensive study to become qualified?

As buzzwords like "agility" and "resilience" gain currency, there is increased interest in Scrum as a general business management tool. However, there is some skepticism since Scrum has historically been mainly used in aid of software development.

It's well established that paying for tasks people already find enjoyable may have the perverse effect of reducing their motivation to conduct those activities.

We know that misinformation, once established, can be surprisingly hard to correct. Now there is research into how you can most effectively debunk misinformation.

See Skeptical Science for more – with a great printable diagram of how you can put the findings to work.