Talking About Organizations Podcast

What a treat! Joining us for this Special Episode from the fascinating 'Connections in Action' workshop at the University of Warwick are Katharina Dittrich and Brian Pentland (aka Doctor Decade)! To our great delight, Doctor Decade provided the live intro music for this episode and even performed one of his songs (Ruts in the Road)!

This is a summary of Episode 20, where we held two discussions broadly grouped under the umbrella title of High Reliability in practice. Broadly focused on the 1993 classic research by Karl Weick and Karlene Roberts which asked how do complex, high risk organizations manage to work safely and reliably, our discussion in Episode 20 featured an appearance by a very special guest! Basically, Weick and Roberts went aboard a US Navy Nimitz class aircraft carrier to collect data and observe how the flight deck crew launches and recovers aircraft. When they came aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, guess who was there to welcome them? Commanding officer Rear Admiral Tom Mercer! Thanks to Ralph we managed to get in touch with Tom and he joined us for part one of the discussion, so definitely listen to that if you haven’t yet.

Discover practical insights into high reliability in organizations, from building a collective mind for performance to navigating complex operations. Explore the balance between bureaucratic rigidity and operational flexibility, revealing how creativity can thrive within structured environments. Hear about the vital role of continuous learning and mentorship in fostering collaboration, alongside personal anecdotes from high-stakes military training. Delve into the importance of shared norms and communication as essential components for ensuring safety and efficiency.

Retired Rear Admiral Tom Mercer, former commanding officer of the USS Carl Vinson, shares his wealth of experience in managing high-reliability organizations. He discusses the critical leadership lessons learned from his diverse naval journey, including the complexities of commanding large crews and the high-stakes art of underway replenishment. Mercer emphasizes the importance of teamwork and effective communication in high-pressure environments, along with fostering a transparent culture that encourages open dialogue and operational reliability.

Join Miranda and Ralph as they summarise our discussion of Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning by James March. This is an excellent little segment to introduce new people to the ideas developed in this classic text, as well as to help add structure to our discussion in the main episode. As a bonus, you will also get a special emphasis from Miranda on socialisation, and some useful tips from Ralph on employee learning!

In the second half of our discussion we carry on with the examination of March's model of knowledge exploration and exploitation. Expect more up-close analysis as well as some implications of this way of looking at organizational learning.

For this episode, we read the widely cited article, “Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning,” published in 1991 in the journal Organization Science. In the paper, James March considered the relationships between exploration of new ways of doing things and the exploitation of accepted, standard practices for organizational learning. He did so in order to show that learning in organizations is still possible even in the presence of causal ambiguity. While the paper has been criticized for its very simplistic model of organizational learning and lack of empirical data, a strong point of the paper may be the general insight in provides about collective learning under ambiguous conditions.What are the trade-offs and challenges associated with balancing exploitation and exploration? What does it mean for organizational learning? Read the paper and listen to your intrepid podcasters, as we grapple with March’s ideas in Episode 19.

Once again joined by the lovely Arianna, we summarize Episode 18 on Gig Economy and Algorithmic Management.

In the second part of our discussion we delve deeper into how management by algorithms impacts individual employees, what are the principles and potential implications of the proliferation of algorithmic management on industrial relations, and whether this can be justifiably called 'Taylorism on Steroids'. Our Special Guest, Arianna Tassinari, brings a unique industrial relations flavour to this episode and contributes many excellent points we would probably not surface in our own accord. So listen to this! It is a real gem!

In this episode we are joined by the wonderful Arianna Tassinari to discuss a recent Financial Times article by Sarah O'Connor on gig economy, algorithmic management and labour relations! Gig economy, as well as its benefits and limitations, has been subject to much debate in social policy and labour relations lately. Facilitated by management via algorithms, gig economy can be seen as symptomatic of another reincarnation of scientific management (initially outlined by F.W. Taylor - see Episode 1). Some notable differences/evolutions include separation of people by means of technology, as well as uncertain conditions of employment. Join us as we (possibly) contribute to the current debate and attempt to make clearer sense of the relevant key concepts leveraging our collective experience and knowledge. This episode is a direct inspiration for a later series of LIVE episodes from our very first event (Episode 30).