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Ongoing Discussion Announcement
February 2007

Contents...

Welcome First Timers

February 2007 Ongoing Discussion – Sheldon Rovin

OD Details

Future OD Dates

Systems Thinking Newsletter

Thinking Roadmap Seminars

Enterprise Thinking Seminar

Six Thinking Hats

Lateral Thinking

Managing Variation as a System

Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving and Decision Making

The New Economics Study Session


 

Aim and Stats


Aim

Now in our eighth year of operation, the aim of the "OD" sessions is to continue to foster an appreciation of Enterprise Thinking, as well as inthinking, within an emerging thinking network that is developing inside Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and beyond. Dates for future "OD" sessions along with additional "thinking" opportunities for 2007 can be found in this announcement.



OD Stats

For an update on OD statistics, last month's invitation was sent to 3508 inthinking partners. With the latest updates to our mailing list, this month's invitation is going out to 3606 partners in the U.S., as well as fellow inthinking partners in Australia, Austria, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Brazil, Canada, China, Dubai, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the U.K.. Taken together, these individuals represent over 600 organizations in this list of nations, from elementary schools and senior high schools to colleges and universities, from one-person consulting firms to United Technologies, GM, IBM, General Electric, NASA, and Philips Electronics. Among this list of invitees, participation in last month’s first 2007 OD conference call with Russell Ackoff included 68 partners from across the US and England as well (444 partners joined in throughout 2006, 402 thinking partners joined us throughout 2005).

In2:IN

Good afternoon from Canoga Park, California, home of United Technologies' Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.

With the passing of Valentine's Day and the coming of World Thinking Day on February 22nd, it's time to come together for a few hours of "thinking together." This month’s Ongoing Discussion is scheduled for Thursday, February 22nd and Friday, February 23rd, from 12-2pm Pacific Time on both days.

Click here for the February 2007 In2:InThinking Network newsletter.


  • Welcome First Timers
  • Your names have been added by virtue of your attendance in our series of Thinking Roadmap seminars and overviews, or attendance at the annual In2:InThinking Network Forum, or through a personal request, from you or a friend. Welcome to our thinking networks.

    Click the link below to send me the name and email address of anyone you would like to have added to the mailing list, or let me know if you would like to be removed.

    Contact Bill Bellows
  • February 2007 Ongoing Discussion – Sheldon Rovin
  • Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne's Enterprise Thinking Network welcomes Sheldon Rovin as our second Thought Leader for 2007 in a preview of his keynote appearance at the upcoming In2:InThinking Network's Forum in April. Sheldon is Emeritus Professor of Healthcare Systems at the Wharton School of Business and past Director of Healthcare Executive Management Programs at Wharton Executive Education and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics. He is also Emeritus Professor and past chair of the Department of Dental Care Systems, School of Dental Medicine; all positions at the University of Pennsylvania. Among the programs Sheldon directed at the Wharton School are the Johnson & Johnson-Wharton Fellows Program in Management for Nurse Executives, the SmithKline Beecham Executive Management Program for Directors of Hospital Pharmacy, the Wyeth Ayerst-Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics Program in Management, and the Wyeth Ayerst–APM Executive Management program for Chairs of Medicine. Sheldon is a diplomat of the American Board of Oral Pathology and holds DDS and MS degrees from the University of Michigan.

    Students of Russell Ackoff will recognize Sheldon's name for his co-authorship role on two recent books – Redesigning Society and Beating the System: Using Creativity to Outsmart Bureaucracies. His writings include over ninety journal articles and book chapters, and nine books, including Medicine and Business: Bridging the Gap and Managing Hospitals: Lessons from the Johnson & Johnson-Wharton Fellows Program in Management for Nurse Executives.

    Sheldon's Thought Piece offers his insights on "Boundary-less thinking," which he defines as "thinking beyond the boundaries or constraints, usually self-imposed, that inhibit change, are often used to justify cherished, but unfounded practices and beliefs, maintain a tight grip on the status quo, and keep organizations functioning sub-optimally." Consider how these unfounded practices and beliefs lend themselves to an ever-growing list of "Ackoff’s f-Laws," the focus of last month’s OD sessions.

    What if, by comparison, our organizations fostered the openness of thinking that allowed underlying assumptions to be examined? If such an examination is fundamental to technical analyses, as simple as using the appropriate assumptions for calculating heat transfer coefficients, then why not also examine the assumptions behind the thinking used to manage and lead our organizations? We might then realize the implications of "driving change" and see the connection to driving both cars and cattle. Might we then see more of a focus on leading change, if not transformation? In doing so, we would be reminded of Deming's Second Theorem – that our organizations are "being ruined by best efforts, not guided with Profound Knowledge." In this month's Thought Piece, Sheldon adds,

    "In the face of an emergent, uncertain world, our boundary-less thinker realizes the folly of trying to achieve certainty by planning to the nth degree....How do we challenge our assumptions if we're not sure what they are? This is the task of the boundary-less thinker - to think without the constraints of habit, the self-imposed boundaries, to challenge dogma, to surface the underlying, unwitting assumptions that drive behavior, to question authority when it’s apparent it needs to be questioned and to act reflectively, not reflexively."

    In addition to this month's Thought Piece from Sheldon, here's a link to an interview he participated in with Russ Ackoff in 2005. The topic was "Questioning Authority." Along with the Thought Piece, this interview will help prepare you for a conversation with Sheldon on the boundary-less thinking our organizations are in need of.

    Contact Sheldon Rovin
  • OD Details
  • Please join us for one or all of the hours of this month’s OD. As always, you are invited to participate for as long, or as short, as you can in one or both of these sessions...

    Option Time (Pacific Time)
    1 – Thursday, February 22nd - 12:00-1:00pm
    2 – Thursday, February 22nd - 1:00-2:00pm
    3 – Friday, February 23rd - 12:00-1:00pm
    4 – Friday, February 23rd - 1:00-2:00pm

    The agenda for each option will be:
    Timing: Topic
    Opening 10 minutes: Call in & Introductions
    Next 45 minutes: Ongoing Discussion
    Last 5 minutes: Farewells and Close

    Please reply to this note by noon Pacific Time on Wednesday, February 21st to confirm your plans to participate in one (or more) of these options. If you do plan to attend, please complete the OD PARTICIPATION SURVEY by using the link below...

    SURVEY

    Those of you connecting in Canoga Park can join in from conference rooms 205 and 206 in building 1 at Canoga. Telecon lines (including a pass code and a security code) have been arranged for those who cannot join us at Canoga and are provided upon completion of the participant survey.

    As always, please forward this announcement to anyone we missed who would also like to participate.

    Regards...
    Bill

    Site Lead
    Enterprise Thinking Network
    Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

  • Future OD Dates
  • Mark your calendars - future Ongoing Discussion sessions will be held on the following dates, from 12-1pm and 1-2pm Pacific Time.

    Month, Dates and Thought Leader
    March 22-23: Andrew Johnson
    April 26-27: TBD
    May 17-18: Chris Soderquist
    June 28-89: Rick Searfoss
    July 26-27: TBD
    August 23-24: TBD

  • Systems Thinking Newsletter
  • Now available online for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne employees...

    The Systems Thinker is an electronic newsletter made available monthly (on a subscription basis) by Pegasus Communications. Each issue provides articles and case studies on systems thinking concepts and is available only electronically (as a .pdf file). Tools and techniques for use in the Learning Organization are regularly included in this valuable publication. Featured authors include thought leaders and consultants well known in organizational learning and change management circles.

    The current edition of the SYSTEMS THINKER, as well as archived issues from February 2003 through January 2007, is available for reading and printing by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne employees here.

    Network friends outside of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne can learn more about this newsletter AND read a variety of sample issues and articles online. Individual and site licenses are available.

  • Thinking Roadmap Seminars
  • Opportunities within Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne (PWR)

    The following in-house "Thinking Roadmap" workshops are open to employees of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, as well as suppliers, customers, family members, and "members of the community." This schedule includes the next available offerings for the listed seminars in Canoga Park, CA. Contact Bill Bellows for additional seminar information or to register for any of these upcoming sessions.

  • Enterprise Thinking Seminar
  • Registration Fee - there is NO fee to attend.
    Pre-requisite – there are NO pre-requisites.
    Format - two 4.5-hour sessions over two days

    Schedule for Enterprise Thinking classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

    Class # CP-547
    Part 1 - 22-Feb-07 - 7:00-11:30am
    Part 2 - 23-Feb-07 - 7:00-11:30am

    Class # CP-549
    Part 1 - 22-Mar-07 - 7:00-11:30am
    Part 2 - 23-Mar-07 - 7:00-11:30am

    Class # CP-551
    Part 1 - 16-Apr-07 - 12:00-4:30pm
    Part 2 - 17-Apr-07 - 7:00-11:30am

    Sign-up for Enterprise Thinking
  • Six Thinking Hats
  • Registration Fee - $165, charged back to participant's department for PWR employees and paid by check for "members of the community."
    Pre-requisite - attended Enterprise Thinking within the past 12 to 14 months.
    Format - one 8-hour session.

    Schedule for Six Thinking Hats classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

    New dates TBD

    Sign-up for Six Thinking Hats
  • Lateral Thinking
  • Lateral Thinking

    Registration Fee - $130, charged back to participant's department for PWR employees and paid by check for "members of the community."
    Pre-requisite – attended Enterprise Thinking within the past 12 to 14 months.
    Format - two 7-hour sessions over two weeks.

    Schedule for Lateral Thinking classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

    New dates TBD

    Sign-up for Lateral Thinking
  • Managing Variation as a System
  • Registration Fee - there is NO fee to attend.
    Pre-requisite – there are NO pre-requisites.
    Format - three 3-hour sessions over three days

    Schedule for Managing Variation as a System classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

    New dates TBD

    Sign-up for Managing Variation as a System
  • Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving and Decision Making
  • Registration Fee - $330, charged back to participant's department for PWR employees and paid by check for "members of the community."
    Pre-requisite – attended Enterprise Thinking within the past 12 to 14 months.
    Format - three 7-hour sessions over three weeks.

    Suggestion: If you are unable to attend all three sessions in a given monthly series, we encourage you to attend the first session and then attend the second and third in any order during a future monthly series.

    Schedule for Kepner-Tregoe classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

    New dates TBD

    Sign-up for Kepner-Tregoe Problem Solving & Decision Making Seminar
  • The New Economics Study Session
  • Registration Fee - there is NO fee to attend.
    Pre-requisite – there are NO pre-requisites.
    Format - seven 2-hour sessions over three weeks

    Schedule for The New Economics Study Session classes in Canoga Park, CA for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne

    New dates TBD

    Sign-up for announcements of the next TNE Study Session
    :: 818-586-6579

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    Enterprise Thinking Network | c/o Bill Bellows | Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne | PO Box 7922 Mail Code AA14 | Canoga Park | CA | 91309