IDEALIZED DESIGN PROJECT
Russ Ackoff's 80th birthday will be celebrated at Villanova University on March 5, 6, 7. As a gift to him, as well as to Eric Trist, Fred Emery, Hasan Ozbekhan, C. West Churchman, Donald Schon and many others who have contributed to systems/development theory, we plan to run an idealized design exercise. Our purpose will be to integrate the many pieces of the systems/development puzzle found in various parts of the world into an effective whole, one capable of helping facilitate a global transition to the paradigm traditionally advocated by our work, the paradigm that focuses on realization of the positive potential of individuals, organizations, and societies.
Recently a number of extremely popular books have appeared saying that the time for this transition has come. The books have discussed in detail what should happen and why it should happen. Their weak point has been how it should happen. This is where we can contribute. Most of the people in our circle have understood the what and the why for many years now. That is the reason we are S3ers and the friends of S3. But we also understand the how far better than most. We have change models to share that are based on sound logic, sound research, and long experience. We can play a very important role in the transition.
But first, we need to get our own act together. We need to address the following issues:
1. How can we best communicate amongst ourselves; how can we effectively include others who want to contribute in our communications network?
2. How do we best train new systems/development theory enthusiasts; what is the best vehicle; are there a variety of vehicles?
3. How can we most effectively include and integrate contributions from the industrial sector, from the government sector in our work?
4. What is the best way to utilize our expertise; should we build an international speakers bureau; should we form an international consulting firm?
5. What is the best way to link the schools and other organizations world-wide that are teaching systems/development theory and practice so they can support each other; what is the best use of technology in this effort?
6. Finally, how do we integrate all of the above into an effective whole, how do we integrate it in that way which best allows us to make a difference?
Not an easy challenge. But, then, that's nothing new to us. We can meet it if we pool our talents and resources and work together. The logisitics of the effort, at least innitially, will be as follows. We will begin the exercise now. We will break into teams that will generate idealized versions of the different pieces. Suggestions concerning the development of additional pieces will be welcome. Each team will have a facilitator who will take the lead in terms of synthesizing contributions. Team membership will, of course, be voluntary.
The exercise will be open to anyone seriously interested. We will send this letter out to all S3ers and attendants of the last celebration, then ask them to send it on to others they think might be interested from any sector. We will ask everyone to send in their address, phone number, and E-mail address if we don't already have them.
We will ask everyone to identify the team they want to join. We will designate team facilitators. These people will be initially responsible for coming up with an idealized mission statement for the system being designed and an idealized list of characteristics necessary to support the mission statement. This will be done in any way the facilitator sees fit. The team will proceed from there, elaborating on the mission statement and characteristics and, hopefully, getting into design elements for the systems addressed. Teams will, of course, have access to anyone on any othe team they need access to for information.
Hopefully, by the time we are ready to celebrate Russ' 80th, we will be prepared, as teams, to present our designs and to begin integrating. Hopefully, by that time, some integration will already have occurred. By the end of the sessions we want to be on our way to a comprehensive whole, and to have future action steps spelled out.
Nothing big. That's all we want. So let's do it. I can't imagine a nicer gift for Russ and for the others. I can't imagine a nicer way for us to pull together. And I can't imagine a group more capable of accomplishing this task.
The first step, then, is to send in your team preference (1-5), and to forward a copy of this letter to others who might be interested in participating in such an exercise. All initial correspondence should he sent to:
William F. Roth, Ph.D.
6223 Hilltop Road
Orefield, PA 18069
U.S.A.
Or by E-mail to Bill's attention:
E-mail wwroth@nni.com
Take care,
Bill Roth, Head Process Facilitator
Jamshid Gharajedaghi, President, INTERACT
Matt Liberatore, Associate Dean, Dept. of Commerce and Finance