Category: Culture

Posted on

Has science reached its limits of growth?

The science ecosystem has been restructured regularly during my career, and I often wonder to what effect.

Effective science, and effective research thrives when there is

  • social space for personal initiative and creativity,
  • time for ideas to grow to maturity,
  •  openness to debate and criticism,
  • hospitality towards innovation, and
  •  respect for specialized expertise.

I have regularly reflected on these words written by John Ziman 30 years ago, and on advice I received early in my management career – “you cannot, and should not try to manage the research – your job is to manage the environment in which you people do their science.”

I recently re-read ” Prometheus Bound: Science in a dynamic steady state” written in 1994 by Ziman, and was intrigued by how much the context in which science is conducted has changed in 30 years, yet the substance hasn’t. Continue reading “Has science reached its limits of growth?”

Posted on

Chronic Problems in Organisations

  • No shared vision and values
  • No strategic path
  • Poor alignment: bad alignment between structure and shared values, between mission and systems; the structure and systems of the organisation poorly serve and reinforce the strategic paths.
  • Wrong style: the management philosophy is either incongruent with shared vision and values or the style inconsistently embodies the vision and values of the mission statement.
  • Poor skills
  • Low trust: staff has low trust, a depleted emotional bank account, and that low trust results in closed communication, little problem – solving or poor cooperation and teamwork.
  • No self-integrity: values do not equal habits; there is no correlation between what I value and believe and what I do.

Source:  SR COVEY (1990)  Principle – Centred Leadership, London: Simon and Schuster.  Pp.165-171

Posted on

Promoting Creativity

Creativity is recognised as a cornerstone to ongoing, successful innovation. It doesn’t just happen.

How can a manager foster creativity?

Gleeson et.al. (1999) propose five principles for promoting creativity in R&D.  As they point out, these “are simple principles, indeed stunningly so, given the complexity of the creative process and of the institutional cultures within which R&D operates”.  The five principles are:

  • Goals:  Creativity is fostered by setting both creativity and productivity goals but not by prescribing R&D processes to attain them.
  • Bounded Freedom:  Creativity is affected by the psychic balance experienced by the researcher or field participant between what she/he seeks to achieve and what the organisation or group desires her/him to achieve.
  • Recognition:  Creativity is enhanced by reward and recognition, as long as it is experienced as an appreciative and/or informational event and not as a means to control or manipulate.
  • Social Interaction:  Appropriate peer and social interaction is an essential prerequisite to creativity.
  • Leadership:  The development and communication of insightful organisational visions and leadership help foster creativity.

Gleeson, T., Russell, G. and Woods, E. (1999), Creative Research Environments.  Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation: Canberra, Australia Report No. 99/128

.

Posted on

How to promote creativity in a research organisation

Five simple principles apply

Gleeson et.al. (1999) propose five principles for promoting creativity in R&D.  As they point out, these “are simple principles, indeed stunningly so, given the complexity of the creative process and of the institutional cultures within which R&D operates”.  The five principles are:

  • Goals:  Creativity is fostered by setting both creativity and productivity goals but not by prescribing R&D processes to attain them.
  • Bounded Freedom:  Creativity is affected by the psychic balance experienced by the researcher or field participant between what she/he seeks to achieve and what the organisation or group desires her/him to achieve.
  • Recognition:  Creativity is enhanced by reward and recognition, as long as it is experienced as an appreciative and/or informational event and not as a means to control or manipulate.
  • Social Interaction:  Appropriate peer and social interaction is an essential prerequisite to creativity.
  • Leadership:  The development and communication of insightful organisational visions and leadership help foster creativity.
Continue reading “How to promote creativity in a research organisation”