Author: Don Philip Faithful<\/p>\n
The main components of systems theory that readers might remember are \u201cinputs,\u201d \u201cprocesses,\u201d and \u201coutputs.\u201d\u00a0 The part that tends to get neglected is \u201cfeedback mechanisms.\u201d\u00a0 These mechanisms tell the system the extent to which operations fit the environment.\u00a0 If there is lack of fitness, there is stress.\u00a0 One adaptive impulse is to make processes more complex and intelligent – i.e. sometimes described as the fight response.\u00a0 Another impulse is to give up and run away – i.e. the flight response.\u00a0 The development of an organism – or an organization for that matter – relies on adaptation.\u00a0 The concept of adaptation involves changes made by the organism.\u00a0 On the other hand, natural selection is more about the environment imposing a survivorship regime.\u00a0 Many companies seek out feedback from clients – perhaps by asking them to complete questionnaires.\u00a0 Clients therefore represent a kind of feedback mechanism.\u00a0 Although I entirely agree that clients can provide worthwhile guidance, it is sometimes difficult and impractical to obtain this type of feedback in relation to operational developments.\u00a0 For the moment, I will keep the idea of a feedback mechanism near the body of the organism.\u00a0 It is possible to take clients into account without necessarily approaching them to complete a questionnaire.\u00a0 Market alignment is about making operations (this includes employees) fit its business setting (this includes clients).<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
For me, one of the joys of reading disability literature is learning to appreciate the distinction between the person as an intellectual being and the body; between the body and the social and physical environments surrounding the body; between the environment of the body and its placement in society and history.\u00a0 In an organization there can be feedback mechanisms both within and outside the body.\u00a0 The concept of \u201coutside\u201d is not a polar extreme that is completely different from \u201cinside\u201d; but rather there is a gradient.\u00a0 A manager can perform an action with intention – i.e. premised on how the body should respond based on his or her intent.\u00a0 I believe that a person would have to be facing a serious illness to truly understand how even the simplest actions can be quite challenging when the body is not fully controllable – as in the case of a corporation – since there are many employees.\u00a0 One might have the idea of raising an arm; but whether or not that arm rises is a separate issue.\u00a0 In an organization, a concerted use of metrics is sometimes necessary to ensure that what one wishes to do is actually happening.\u00a0 We need to establish whether what we have done internally translates to the appropriate external behaviours.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Adaptation is built on effective locomotion.\u00a0 Consequently, for organizations where labour is distributed over many people, the first level of alignment involves matching internal resources with the immediate behaviours intended for the market.\u00a0 There is no assurance that these behaviours are achievable or have been achieved.\u00a0 This is not an issue of control per se but as I mentioned earlier a matter of adaptation.\u00a0 An organization gradually learns what it can do with its body; how the body behaves when the organization attempts to do things; what the body cannot do no matter how much it is forced.\u00a0 This feedback mechanism causes processes to become more complex and intelligent.\u00a0 If the body cannot overcome its incapacity, it might face the cold hands of selection – as the body is overwhelmed by the tasks confronting it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Before driving home today, I ordered something to eat.\u00a0 I am leaving out the name of the restaurant.\u00a0 Suffice to say, I asked for a Sausage McMuffin.\u00a0 I asked that instead of cheese, I would please have a slice of tomato.\u00a0 I already have difficulty finding things I can eat from this restaurant.\u00a0 So my way of being accommodating is to suggest alternatives.\u00a0 I left without my slice of tomato.\u00a0 I already brought my own drink because the place didn\u2019t sell anything that I can drink.\u00a0 I left thinking that I was running out of options.\u00a0 I would have to stop ordering food from this restaurant.\u00a0 I know there must be an analyst at the head office believing that patrons love fat, salt, oil, lactose, sugar, and caffeine.\u00a0 I am even picky about the cooking oil I use.\u00a0 In any event, this is an example of how a company can become gradually disassociated from a changing market.\u00a0 True enough when I was younger, I ate all sorts of junk food.\u00a0 However, people change.\u00a0 I guess this is the whole point.\u00a0 The changes in people are structurally \u201cinvisible\u201d to this organization except at the revenue level.\u00a0 So the company is not accumulating intellectual capital in relation to its day-to-day interactions with people.\u00a0 Operations are not being used as a source of guidance.\u00a0 The company will prosper or perish by egghead initiatives promoted by suits and cheerleaders.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Market alignment is a discussion of systems theory within an organizational context that can be quite close to operational concerns.\u00a0 Operations, whether it is something simple like a line-up or more sophisticated like a restaurant or transit system, can only be designed and controlled by the organization up to a point.\u00a0 In many respects, clients albeit indirectly have the final say over design and control.\u00a0 Without a feedback mechanism and a means to dynamically respond to its signals, the organization might not adapt to the surrounding environment, potentially giving rise to the organization\u2019s disassociation and subsequent termination.\u00a0 Human resources literature routinely covers the issue of \u201cchange\u201d – how to make organizations more capable of changing with the times.\u00a0 However, change is actually about market alignment – of becoming more aligned with a fluid market.\u00a0 The concept of alignment is important because it provides a basis for operational metrification:\u00a0 it makes \u201coperational intelligence\u201d something as tangible as \u201cbusiness intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I will share the fact that I spend a significant portion of my day analyzing employee performance data.\u00a0 But I never let the idea of \u201cperformance\u201d turn to a preconception of \u201cconformance.\u201d\u00a0 Conformance means that the data agrees with instrumental design.\u00a0 Performance means that the data agrees with the market.\u00a0 According to this distinction, a company that produces elastic bands might have great success doing so since this is what is meant to do by design; whether or not the market wants to purchase elastic bands in the manner provided by the company is a separate issue.\u00a0 (The company has been offering individually wrapped elastic bands – each band with its own colourful wrap – and with a little fortune printed on the wrap like a fortune cookie.)\u00a0 I need to state plainly that my company does not produce elastic bands.\u00a0 I am just giving an extreme example to make a conceptual point.\u00a0 Getting a company to begin its life by doing something contrived in a meeting isn\u2019t too difficult; but gradually getting the apparatus to move towards market alignment takes much more effort and certainly an enormous amount of supporting data.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
In effect, I am part of the organism\u2019s feedback mechanism – the part that makes the organism more prepared for its market.\u00a0 I am quick to point out that I don\u2019t actually have any management responsibilities; this is a fact that I think sometimes confuses people.\u00a0 I don\u2019t direct employees.\u00a0 I tell managers what their employees are doing and what these employees seem to be accomplishing or failing to accomplish.\u00a0 I also discuss placement and positioning – the extent to which people seem to be strategically positioned to deal with the needs of the market.\u00a0 This means that I am not just looking at employees but also the market.\u00a0 I am sensitive to the hazards of a \u201cconformance regime\u201d – sometimes described as \u201cperformance management.\u201d\u00a0 As I have described my duties, it should be apparent that many companies have at least one or several people like me.\u00a0 Consequently, I occupy a kind of profession.\u00a0 The difference in my case is probably the scale of my use data particularly in relation to the market.\u00a0 Alignment for me involves time intervals.\u00a0 I track alignment at each interval.\u00a0 Also, I make use of predictive analytics which for me includes algorithms and pattern recognition techniques.\u00a0 My conceptualization of market alignment represents a highly analytical perspective on systems theory making great use of data on a continuous basis; this is because the market is a moving target. \u00a0Learning to adapt to the market requires inventiveness, a willingness to experiment, and commitment to long-term analysis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Go to Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Author: Don Philip Faithful The main components of systems theory that readers might remember are \u201cinputs,\u201d \u201cprocesses,\u201d and \u201coutputs.\u201d\u00a0 The part that tends to get […] Read More<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aiproblog.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}