Re: Strategy & Mission

[DBrownOWD@aol.com]

Good morning Gordon,

You are so astute in seeing the lack of theory.   Any transformational 
strategy must begin with some theory.   This is where, I believe, system thinking 
ties heavily into the quality thinking.   In illustrating system thinking , you 
can observe a series of events.   Many people see the series of events as just 
isolated events.   The system thinker looks for patterns within and by 
compiling the events.

These patterns that are made up of isolated events are then tied into 
processes and/or systems.   The processes and systems are viewed by some mental model 
or theory that ties into the organization's mission and vision.

For example,   let's say we have a value within our vision and mission that 
employees will take pride in their work.   The theory or mental model could be 
team based management and empowered work teams.   How would we take this 
theory and apply it to our systems and processes and eventrually into our day to 
day activities?

This takes a theory or mental model and penetrates it through the entire 
system.   (I often use the term mental model because for some reason the word 
theory turns some business people off.   They immediately think of some boring 
business theory class they had in their early college days, I guess:-)!!

Donna Brown

Donna K. Brown, Ph.D.
President
Oak Wood Associates Ltd.
3038 Indian Springs Road
Maumee, OH 43537
419-867-8287     Fax 419-867-8278
dbrownowd@aol.com    Web: www.oakwoodltd.com