OPMS: New Education Presentation

1/21/2011 (c) GSC OPMS - General Presentation 1

OPMS: New Education Presentation

Contains animations – use F5 key to view

The One Page Management System (OPMS)

A practical way to crystallize all ideas relating to a ‘Mission’ onto a single page,

with links to all needed details

Enables development of an effective Action Plan to accomplish the

Mission – starting with current ideas available with people involved

1/21/2011 (c) GSC 2OPMS - General Presentation


The heart of the matter:

In order to accomplish any Mission, we have to ensure the Mission is continuingly kept in mind – but we

have to focus on successfully doing the things that may “CONTRIBUTE

TO” that Mission


The OPMS: your entire Mission crystallized onto a single page!

Links to every aspect of your Mission!


Current Mission: “To design effective educational system (for India)”


The ‘SYSTEM TIE-LINE’ provides us a practical means to show how elements in various Dimensions may impact on the Mission and on the THINGS TO DO in our Action Planning’ – e.g. how do the various BARRIERS impact on the activities to be performed to accomplish the Mission?, etc, etc…

Linkage across Dimensions: How do the BARRIERS, etc, hinder or prevent accomplishment of THINGS TO DO (and the Mission)?

Linkage across Dimensions: How to develop appropriate THINGS TO DO that would

help us to overcome the BARRIERS, etc - that important issue becomes entirely

clear to us!

Use of ‘System Tie-LineUse of ‘System Tie-Line

Linkages should be developed between elements in the various dimensions of our OPMS in order to clarify our minds about our systems and how to develop effective action in them… shown later

The ‘SYSTEM TIE-LINE’ represents any or all the relationships inherent within the

system under consideration (more later)

This is a ‘2nd order’ ‘MODEL OF MODELS’ – it comprises of ALL the elements and

ALL the models arising during the course of any Mission into appropriate classes

that have been found useful through years of people working on Missions.

This Dimensions contains: THINGS TO DO to accomplish the Mission AND all the action models constructed using the elements in the THINGS TO DO list

All the BARRIERS, etc, that may hinder or prevent accomplishment of Mission AND all the action models constructed using those elements

Current Mission: “To design effective educational system (for India)” All aspects of ANY ‘Mission’ – no matter how large or ambitious, can be captured on a single page, with linkages to all all details!


THINGS TO DO

BARRIERS

More THINGS TO DO

Hinder specific

to overcome

We get a series of models like the following, which would help clarify how to accomplish desired objectives: the models are detailed in regard to which BARRIERS hinder which specific THINGS TO DO, and exactly what are the THINGS TO DO to overcome specific BARRIERS!

We get a whole series of such models linking up specific elements in the various dimensions of the OPMS to specific elements in other dimensions

The model means: “BARRIERS hinder specific THINGS TO DO – and we are enabled to identify more THINGS TO DO to overcome those BARRIERS”

Enable us to identify

Action Plans to develop the strengths required (but not currently available) to accomplish Mission

Action Plans to help prepare to avail the OPPORTUNITIES within

the ‘window of opportunity’!

Action Plans to overcome weaknesses that may hinder or prevent accomplishment

of our Mission!

On development, this general structure can become a detailed Action Plan to overcome Barriers confronted…

PERT and Gantt Charts to help view timelines for Activities and Events in

System

We are already familiar with PERT and Gantt Charts through ‘Project Planning Software’

Current Mission: “To design effective educational system (for India)”


Recap: As the linkages between various ‘fundamental dimensions’ are clarified, users find that all needed ‘subsystems’ within the

global system (which are seen below Systems Tie Line)

also become clear to them! (And OPMS helps develop and define these subsystems)

Fundamental Dimensions (above System Tie-Line)

‘Subsystems’(below System Tie-Line)

Current Mission (for example): “To enhance value we bring to our clients”


To tackle a problem using OPMS:

1. Convert problem to ‘Mission’ (illustrated later)

2. OPMS will ask you some ‘trigger questions’ about the Mission – respond to those questions with your available ideas – OPMS will create lists of your ideas (illustrated later)

3. Put those ideas together to create an Action Plan (illustrated later)

Problem: “Organization not sufficiently

profitable”

Mission:“To double organizational

profitability within two years!”


Problem:

Our Educational Systems not effective enough

Mission:“To develop (and implement)

effective educational systems - within --- years”

First, use ‘Idea Generation Tools’, which work by responding to specific ‘trigger questions’ about issue

under consideration

“What, in your opinion, are the THINGS TO DO to develop effective educational systems -

within --- years?”

E.g.: 1st Trigger Question:


(c) GS Chandy OPMS General Presentation 12

We illustrate the process in outline for an ‘individual Mission:

“To create effective educational systems for India’s real needs”

First, we try and find out something of what we know on the issue by responding with appropriate ‘elements’ to a Trigger Question about the Mission…(the elements as imagined by one specific individual based on his understand and his reading about education – everyone interested should articulate his/her own elements, and all those elements should be added to the Action Plan!)

To do the action planning effectively, we create an Interpretive Structural Model with the elements

generated


Some responses to this trigger question:

• To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section• To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders - students, teachers, parents, others...• To ensure that the real stakeholders in education have a real voice• To ensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly

integrated into our action planning• To create educational systems meeting the real needs of those being educated• To ensure that truly passionate and committed teachers are available for every educational stream• To provide a proper place in society for good teachers• To pay teachers well, give them the kind of rewards they really want• To provide all needed avenues for teachers to develop themselves• To ensure that students at each level have a proper voice in the educational systems catering to their

specific needs• To develop effective professional education courses• To put into place, at an initial level, effective practical means for people to discuss and resolve issues• To ensure that teachers at each level have their proper voice in the actual actioning in the educational

system• To get stakeholders in education effectively together in various groups, to discuss educational issues and

how OPMS could help• To convince people at large that the conventional mode of prose discussion is not effective• To convince people that prose + structural graphics (p+sg) would be most useful to develop effective

Action Planning on this issue• To convince people that p+sg is in fact an essential requirement for making real headway on this complex

issue

There are various such trigger questions to elicit ideas about different aspects of a Mission, and literally thousands of elements may be generated in due course – but THINGS TO DO to accomplish the Mission should generally come first… (Illustrated here are elements generated by one individual, based on the thinking and reading he had done on the issue – you of course would generate an entirely different set of elements reflecting your own different background, etc).

1st Trigger Question: “What, in your opinion, are the THINGS TO DO ‘To create effective educational systems for India’s real needs?”

First, we need to find out the ‘elements’ that we need in our ‘system’. Here’s how to get hold of those!

Some more elements:

● To create a wide number of examples to get people interested in using OPMS on educational issues ● To implement OPMS intensively and extensively into various educational institutions● To get good teachers involved in designing effective teaching systems through the OPMS

ALL useful elements should be integrated into the Action Planning in order to get real commitment from all interested!


We shall now show a simple two-element Interpretive Structural Model, articulating the implicit linkage between two of the elements in the list:

Prose transation: “To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section MAY CONTRIBUTE to give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders” (In conventional circumstances, such relationships are left entirely ambiguous.)

To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders (B)

We now develop this starter model by adding various ‘elements’ to it… all these are also ‘perceptions’ to be validated.

“To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section” (A)

“To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders” (B)

The two elements are:

The OPMS then asks the users a couple of questions to elicit their perceptions of how these element may “contribute to” each other

In this case, the user felt element ‘A’ “may contribute to” element ‘B’ – so the model shown will reflect that perception……had the perception been the other way around, the model would obviously reflect this perception!

To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section (A)

On next slide, we add next element on list: “To ensure that the real stakeholders in education have a real voice” (C)

Arrows in this and the next such modeling slides stand for: “may (or should) contribute to”. (As one becomes more certain about the model being constructed, one can make the relationship more certain “CONTRIBUTES TO”).


“should contribute”

Some underlying issues: There may be considerable disagreement between different people about how various elements are perceived to “contribute” to each other. Effective discussion engendered in the Interactive Management and OPMS processes enable people to arrive at a true consensus.

This is a ‘representation’ of the mental model of the specific person who is considering the issue. (The mental model may be ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ – we claim that creating such models is useful to help find out how the mental models that are held by the person reflects his/her own reality. And other people could see the whole thing quite differently).

To ensure that the real stakeholders in education have a real voice” (C)



Prose transation: “To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section SHOULD CONTRIBUTE to ensure that the real stakeholders in ed. Should have a real voice, which in turn SHOULD CONTRIBUTE To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders”

To create educational systems meeting the real needs of those being educated

Add one more element

We should EACH time translate these models fully into prose – you’ll soon find reading these models much easier than standard prose!

Prose translation: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


We continue exploring the ‘deep logic’ hidden in the ‘structure’ of those elements in the system…





To create educational systems meeting the real needs of those being educated

Add yet one more element…

•To ensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly integrated into our action planning




•To ensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly integrated into our action planning

Remember it is very important to write up prose translations of all models created till you are entirely familiar with this new language of ‘structural graphics!


If ‘A’ ‘B’,

and if ‘B’ ‘C’,

then ‘A’ MUST ‘C’(where ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ are elements and stands for the specific transitive relationship under consideration)

This simple idea has huge impact – in This simple idea has huge impact – in regard to construction of these models regard to construction of these models as well as to their interpretation.as well as to their interpretation.

Models constructed using the above rule would be logically consistent AND, further, the construction of even very large models would also be quite efficient because of the transitivity of the single relationship used in each such structure.

The process helps the people easily perceive the logical inconsistencies that may be embedded in their thought processes!

Mistaken ideas are easily corrected through regular use of this process (assuming, of course, there is a basic desire to correct one’s own mistaken ideas)

Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) is based on a SINGLE transitive relationship running right through the model.

Going ‘one level deeper into the process’, it is also possible (I claim) to bring about effective change even in the minds of at least some of those people who do NOT have a basic desire to correct their own mistaken notions! This is a very sizable claim, and would require much more work to be done on it to justify it rigorously.

Logically, we are able to justify adding elements, in specific, appropriate positions to our starting two-element graphical structure (as we’ve done in the past few slides) because the relationship “CONTRIBUTES TO” is transitive, which means the following:


Using this algorithm, we’ve used the OPMS software to create a model comprising about 20-

odd elements (next slide). Time taken to create this model: about 20 minutes.

A diverse group of 8-10 people interested in the

issue of creating effective educational systems for India would take about 2-4 hours – sometimes

longer -to create a ‘consensus model’.


The model does not fit onto a single screen, so only a part of it is visible here. Next screens, we display the model in sections


TOPMOST LEVEL OF MODEL

SECOND LEVEL OF MODEL

THIRD LEVEL OF MODEL

FOURTH (LOWEST) LEVEL OF MODEL

“leads to”

Prose translation: “Fourth Level LEADS TO Third Level LEADS TO Second Level LEADS TO Topmost Level”



“may contribute”














“leads to”

Prose translation (from below): “To create a wide number of examples to get people interested in using OPMS on educational issues MAY CONTRIBUTE to put into place, at an initial level, effective practical means for people to discuss in resolve issues (in consensus)… …. ….” [IMPORTANT: Such prose translation should be done for all parts of all models!!! Soon, you’ll find you are very easily thinking in terms of these structural graphics].

Complete model constructed using the OPMS prototype software. Write to

[email protected] to find out how to get hold of the OPMS software!

mailto:[email protected]


The model illustrated in the previous slides is a representation of the ‘mental model’ of one person considering the

issues involved… To arrive at a realistic understanding of any group issue (such as this one), we shall need to take into

effective consideration the views of ALL involved, enable them to develop a

proper understanding of each other’s views, and from that understanding to

develop a realistic representation of the whole system…

Warfield’s ‘Interactive Management’, which is the foundation of OPMS, is designed to ensure effective

learning by all involved and the development of ‘consensus wisdom’ on all group issues.


Focus on ANY element in the structure:

WHY?

HOW?

Read DOWN the structure to find out the HOW of the focus element!

Read UP the structure to find out the WHY of the focus element!

The “HOW?”s and the “WHY?”s of every element are built into the model constructed with “contributes to” as its structural relationship!

We now explain one very important characteristic of any model predicated on the transitive relationship “contributes to” …

This property holds for EVERY element in the structure – check it out for yourself!


Some features of ISM• ANY transitive relationship may be modeled through ISM (a

single relationship per model) –• An ISM based on on “contributes to” clarifies the “HOWs?”

and the “WHYs?” of EACH and EVERY things done or to be done!

• ISM enables individuals and groups to explore the relationships between factors in their systems to any depth and degree of detail as required

• A simple model of, say 20-25 elements on 1 or two pages would be the equivalent of some 30-40 (or even more) pages if translated in full into standard prose: ISM enables huge compression of long prose passages!

• ISM is one of the powerful modeling techniques created by Warfield that help individuals and groups to explore complexity in systems.

The relationship “contributes to” is probably the single most important of all relationships that can help us arrive at a working understanding from scratch of the systems under consideration

Some important transitive relationships in systems:

“enhances”“supports”“is more/less important than”

“contributes to”“aggravates” (in case or problems/

difficulties encountered) “precedes” (PERT and Gantt Charts – well known in ‘Project Management Software’)

and a whole lot of others…


Any number of ideas can be easily added, if they’re relevant to the

Mission on “Education”!


John Warfield’s ‘Interactive Management’ comprises a whole set of methodologies to:

A.enable problem solvers to generate & clarify ideas along with

B. two powerful modeling tools to enable them to ‘structure’, or organise ideas generated. You’ve just seen ISM, one of the modeling tools.

We’ve just illustrated ‘Interpretive Structural Modeling’ (ISM)


Apart from ISM, Warfield has created another powerful modeling tool, ‘Field Representation and Profiling Method’ (FR) designed to help us put elements in a system into appropriate ‘similarity classes’ or ‘categories’ – which then help us explore the relationships (transitive and other) between elements and categories.

The great benefits of Field Representation are seen in a live workshop, where participants create FRs from their own ideas and put them to practical use. Here we illustrate FR

by three different models:

i)A very simple FR to illustrate the basic idea (in some detail);

ii)A real FR created in a live workshop;

iii)A rather complex FR – a ‘model of models’


Here’s a random list of some diverse Missions: • To become a top level software designer

• To double organizational turnover within one year• “Garibi hatao!” – (The famous ‘anti-poverty’ slogan of Indira

Gandhi’s government – the slogan was excellent, but the initiative as a whole failed rather miserably)

• To master my math syllabus and thereby get excellent results in my math exams

• To get myself a satisfying and well-paying job• “To create an effective system of governance to meet India’s

needs”• To align individuals in the organization to the organization’s goals• To qualify myself for the best job opportunities available• To launch a new product in the US market in 2008• To set up my own consulting business• To become the global leader in software by 2015• “To ensure 90% true literacy in India within 10 years”• “To remove our great shame of 40% malnourished children

in India – by 2015”

Our first example of FR follows…We shall show a Field

Representation created from this random list with a view to bring

some ‘system order’ into it…


The first step of the FR process involves inserting the ‘elements’ into categories/’similarity classes’

A: Dimension 1 ● To become a top-level software designer

We start by inserting the first element into a blank ‘Dimension’, as illustrated below…

…and then we ask ‘modeling questions’, as shown, next …

First ‘Modeling question’, for creating Field Representations will be shown…

First element inserted in Dimension 1


In your opinion, is

“To double organizational turnover within 1 year” (element ‘2’)

similar to (/in the same category as)

“to become a top-level software designer” (element ‘1’)

[keeping in mind the kind of organizational structures that may be needed to accomplish the specific Mission]

?


NOTE: The phrase “[keeping in mind the kind of org. structures that may be needed to accomplish the specific Mission] is important: we would have got a quite different FR if that phrase had been, for instance, “[keeping in mind the success/failure associated with the various Missions]”


In your opinion, is

“To double organizational turnover within 1 year” (element ‘2’)


“to become a top-level software designer” (element ‘1’)

[keeping in mind the kind of organizational structures that may be needed to accomplish the specific Mission]

?

Response Is “NO”, so this element goes into a different category as shown, …


Here’s how the Field Representation looks at this point:

A: Dimension 1 B: Dimension 2 ● to become a top-level ● To double organizational software designer turnover within 1 year

In your opinion, is

“Garibi Hatao!” (element ‘3’)


“to become a top-level software designer” (element ‘1’) [keeping in mind the kind of organizational structures that may be

needed to accomplish the specific Mission]

?

In your opinion, is

“Garibi Hatao!” (element ‘3’)


“To double org. turnover within 1 year” (element ‘2’) [keeping in mind the kind of organizational structures that may be


?

Next modeling question:Response again: “NO”, so a new dimension is created…

A: Dimension 1 B: Dimension 2 ● to become a top-level ● To double org.

software designer turnover within 1 year

C: Dimension 3 ● Garibi Hatao!

A: Dimension 1 ● To become a top-level software designer

Next modeling question:

If the response to a modeling question is “NO”, the question is asked again w.r.t. an element in the next Dimension, or a new Dimension is created and the element in question is inserted there. If the response

is “YES”, then the element is inserted in the same Dimension…

Second element in Dimension 2

Response: “NO”, so new question asked…


A: Dimension 1 B: Dimension 2 ● To become a top-level ● To double org.

software designer turnover within 1 year

C: Dimension 3 ● Garibi Hatao!

In your opinion, is

“To master my math syllabus and thereby to do well in my math exams” (element ‘4’)


“To become a top-level software designer” (element ‘2’) [keeping in mind the kind of organizational structures that may be


?

Next modeling questions:

Response “YES” – so the new element is inserted into DIM. 1

● To master my math syllabus and thereby to do very well in my math exams

and so on…

… the resulting FR is shown on next slide…


FR: “ System of ‘Types of Missions’ ”

A: Dimension 1• To become a top-level…• To master my math syllabus• To get myself a satisfying and

well-paid job• …

B: Dimension 2• To double organizational turnover…• To get over the ‘attrition problem’• To align individuals in organization…• To launch a new product in US market

C: Dimension 3O “Garibi Hatao!”

O “To create an effective system of governance for India’s needs”

O “To develop an effective educational system for our needs”

O “……”

Important!The titles of the categories are arrived at only after all elements are appropriately inserted into blank categories (see next…)

System Tie-Line


FR: “ System of ‘Types of Missions’ ”

A: Individual Missions• To become a top-level…• To master my math syllabus• To get myself a satisfying and


B: Organizational Missions• To double organizational turnover…• To get over the ‘attrition problem’• To align individuals in organization…• To launch a new product in US market

C: Societal MissionsO “Garibi Hatao!”

O “To create an effective system of governance for India’s needs”

O “To develop an effective educational system for our needs”

O “……”

System Tie-Line

The ‘SYSTEM TIE-LINE’ stands for any of the relationships that may be inherent in the system under consideration

On examining the ‘system’ with just the three dimensions that have developed here, we are now able to perceive that a couple more dimensions are required to render this into a truly useful and usable ‘system’…


FR: “ System of ‘Types of Missions’ ”A: Individual Missions• To become a top-level…• To master my math syllabus• To get myself a satisfying and



C: Societal MissionsO “Garibi Hatao!”O “To create an effective system of governance for India’s needs”O “To develop an effective educational system for our needs” O “……”

System Tie-Line

TD: Type of organization E: Resources reqd. Required o ~~~~~~~~~~~~

O Self-organization o ~~~~~~~~~~~~ O Incorporated Company o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

O Government or non-governmental organisation

Two more dimensions needed to create a useful ‘system’

…i.e., the FR process has enabled us to create a

useful representation of a ‘system’ from a mere

random list!

Earlier, it was just a random list – now, it is beginning to represent a ‘system’…


• Individual Missions• Organizational Missions• Societal Missions

IMPORTANT: The appropriate titles of the Dimensions of this Field Representation came to light only AFTER all elements

were inserted into those Dimensions via an appropriate ‘modeling question’!

D: Type of organization E: Resources reqd. Required o ~~~~~~~~~~~~

O Self-organization o ~~~~~~~~~~~~ O Incorporated Company o ~~~~~~~~~~~~~



A: Individual Missions• To become a top level software designer• To master my math syllabus and thereby get excellent results

in my math exams• To get myself a satisfying and well-paying job• To qualify myself for the best job opportunities that become

available• To set up my own consulting business• To become more effective at what I do• To learn to use PowerPoint effectively• …


B: Organizational Missions• To obtain needed financing for a major project• To align individuals in the organization to the organization’s

goals• To double turnover, with adequate profitability, within 2

years• To double organizational turnover within one year• To get over the ‘attrition problem’• To launch a new product in the US market in 2008• To become a global leader in software services by 2015• To obtain needed financing to market globally• …OPMS has been successfully applied to large number

of ‘individual Missions’, and also to several organizational Missions’


C: Societal Missions• “Garibi hatao!” (Indira Gandhi’s famous slogan, which has alas never been

effectively worked on)

• “To create an effective system of governance to meet India’s needs”

• “To develop an effective educational system for India’s needs”• “To ensure 90% true literacy in India within 10 years”• “To become one of the ‘least corrupt’ nations in the world within

10 years (instead of being one of the ‘more corrupt’ nations)” • “To remove the great shame of 40% Indian children

malnourished by 2015• …

Thus far, we’ve not worked much on ‘Societal Missions’

“To accomplish any societal Mission would demand we work with government and groups involved in

societal issues…


Original list of diverse Missions• To become a top level software designer• To double organizational turnover within one year• “Garibi hatao!”• To master my math syllabus and thereby get excellent results in my math

exams• To get myself a satisfying and well-paying job• “To create an effective system of governance to meet India’s needs”• To align individuals in the organization to the organization’s goals• To qualify myself for the best job opportunities available• To launch a new product in the US market in 2008• To set up my own consulting business• To become a global leader in software services by 2015• “To ensure 90% true literacy in India within 10 years”• To align individuals in the organization to the organization’s goals

We claim that a significant enhancement in understanding develops through FR categorization – just review that Field Representation! (Reviewed, next slide)


FR: “ Systems required to handle different kinds of Missions”

A: Individual Missions• To become a top-level…S• To master my math syllabus• To get myself a satisfying and



C: Societal MissionsO “Garibi Hatao!”O “To create an effective system of governance for India’s needs”O “To develop an effective educational system for our needs” O “……”

System Tie-Line

TD: Type of organization E: Resources reqd. Required O Self- organization o ---------------------- O Incorporated Company o ----------------------


Effective use of the ‘System Tie-Line’ will bring out the full power of this ‘system

representation’

‘System Tie-line’ represents any or all the relationships inherent in the ‘system’ we wish to

create or improve

There are a couple more useful operations relating to ordering the dimensions and elements within them, shown later


So, let’s recap WHY we do this ‘categorization’• The mind is able to get a better ‘overview’ picture of the whole by looking at a

few categories rather than looking at a large number of disparate elements• We can better understand the relationships between the factors in the system

when we look at those categories rather than at the disparate elements in the list (some relationships illustrated later)

• By creating such a Field Representation of ‘Missions’, we are enabled to understand the ‘structures’ of the kind of systems needed to accomplish each type of Mission. When the System Tie-Line is put to use, we get a pretty comprehensive picture of the relationships within the entire system considered.

• The human mind has learnt over millennia to categorize factors in a system in ways that are useful to enable understanding of the systems confronted. The Field Representation process just utilizes this existing, well-developed human skill and thereby provides us a practical means to create ‘graphical pictures’ of systems that encompass all dimensions of the system under consideration.

• Conjecture: The FR process can lead to a simpler - more effective, more understandable - way of creating ‘ontology maps’ than the conventional means

• Most importantly, such representations, effectively used, are models that satisfy this fundamental law of systems:“Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety” (explained, next slide)


Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety:

(‘Simple Simon’ version)

“The dimensions of a proposed solution to any problem should match the dimensions of the problem itself”

A great many of our individual, organizational and societal systems are designed without the designers having kept this fundamental law in mind – which explains why so many of our systems do not perform optimally or even may fail catastrophically

Take a look at the news of ANY day (including today), and you will see scores (even hundreds!) of examples to validate the claim just made – and to demonstrate the desperate need of society to have accessible practical means to ensure that our systems are designed to satisfy Ashby’s Law!

Formal (non-mathematical) definition:“The variety in the control system must be equal to or larger than the

variety of the perturbations in order to achieve control"


We illustrate Field Representation (FR) method once again – now with a structure

created from the elements in a list of elements created for a Mission “To develop an effective educational system for India’s

needs”

(The Field appears on two slides as it does not fit into one screen)


Field Representation: “System to develop and put into place effective Educational Systems for India at every level in every field

SYSTEM

TIELINE

A : STAKEHOLDERS IN EDUCATION● To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section(1) ● To get stakeholders in education effectively together in various groups, to discuss educational issues and how OPMS could help(14)B : GIVE STAKEHOLDERS THEIR PROPER VOICE!● To ensure that real stakeholders in education have a real voice(2)● To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders - students, teachers, parents, others...(3) ● To ensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly integrated into our action planning(4) ● To ensure that students at each level have a proper voice in the educational systems catering to their specific needs(10) ● To ensure that teachers at each level have their proper voice in the actual

actioning in the educational system(13) C : EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS● To create educational systems meeting the real needs of those being educated and of society(5)● To develop effective professional education courses(11) ● To initiate specific educational institutions into using OPMS for their specific interests of various kinds(19) ● To implement OPMS intensively and extensively into various educational institutions(20) ● To get good teachers involved in designing effective teaching systems through the OPMS(21)

Page 1


D : DEVELOPING PASSIONATE, COMMITTED TEACHERS● To ensure that truly passionate and committed teachers are available for

every educational stream(6) E : PLACE OF TEACHERS IN SOCIETY● To provide a proper place in society for good teachers(7) ● To pay teachers well, give them the kind of rewards they really want(8)

● To provide all needed avenues for teachers to develop themselves(9) F : PRACTICAL MEANS FOR PEOPLE TO DISCUSS AND RESOLVE ISSUES● To put into place, at an initial level, effective practical means for people to discuss and resolve issues(12) ● To convince people at large that the conventional mode of prose discussion is not effective(15) ● To convince people that prose + structural graphics (p+sg) would be most useful to develop effective Action Planning on this issue(16) ● To convince people that p+sg is in fact an essential requirement for making

real headway on this complex issue(17) G : CREATE OPMS EXAMPLE PORTFOLIO (for educational issues)● To create a wide number of examples to get people interested in using OPMS on

educational issues(18)

SYSTEM

TIELINE

Field Representation: “System to develop and put into place effective Educational Systems for India at every level in every field (contd.)

Page 2

Page 1


Field Representation: “System to develop and put into place effective Educational Systems for India at every level in every field

SYSTEM

TIELINE

A : STAKEHOLDERS IN EDUCATION● To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section(1) ● To get stakeholders in education effectively together in various groups, to discuss educational issues and how OPMS could help(14)B : GIVE STAKEHOLDERS THEIR PROPER VOICE!● To ensure that real stakeholders in education have a real voice(2)● To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders - students, teachers, parents, others...(3) ● To ensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly integrated into our action planning(4) ● To ensure that students at each level have a proper voice in the educational systems catering to their specific needs(10) ● To ensure that teachers at each level have their proper voice in the actual

‘actioning’ in the educational system(13) C : EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS● To create educational systems meeting the real needs of those being educated and of society(5)● To develop effective professional education courses(11) ● To initiate specific educational institutions into using OPMS for their specific interests of various kinds(19) ● To implement OPMS intensively and extensively into various educational institutions(20) ● To get good teachers involved in designing effective teaching systems through the OPMS(21)

Let’s now look at a few things that we can do with this Field Representation

We can create ‘relational sketches’ showing how one factor in a system may affect others (in the same or other dimensions)…

Now watch the linkages developing in the Field Representation below!

In prose: “To ensure that teachers AND students at each level have a proper voice in the educational systems SHOULD HELP to give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders…”

In prose: “To ensure that teachers and students at each level have a proper voice in the educational systems SHOULD HELP to give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders WHICH IN TURN SHOULD ENSURE all good ideas provided by different groups are properly integrated into our action planning…”

A huge number of such relationships can be traced through the Field. (The elements are also related across different dimensions). The more such real relationships are traced through the system, the better the user will come to understand the Field AND the system(s) that it represents!

In prose: “To ensure that teachers and students at each level have a proper voice in the educational systems SHOULD HELP to give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders WHICH IN TURN SHOULD ENSURE all good ideas provided by different groups are properly integrated into our action planning WHICH IN TURN SHOULD HELP to create educational systems that meet the real needs of those being educated…”


D : DEVELOPING PASSIONATE, COMMITTED TEACHERS● To ensure that truly passionate and committed teachers are available for

every educational stream(6) E : PLACE OF TEACHERS IN SOCIETY● To provide a proper place in society for good teachers(7) ● To pay teachers well, give them the kind of rewards they really want(8)

● To provide all needed avenues for teachers to develop themselves(9) F : PRACTICAL MEANS FOR PEOPLE TO DISCUSS AND RESOLVE ISSUES● To put into place, at an initial level, effective practical means for people to discuss and resolve issues(12) ● To convince people at large that the conventional mode of prose discussion is not effective(15) ● To convince people that prose + structural graphics (p+sg) would be most useful to develop effective Action Planning on this issue(16) ● To convince people that p+sg is in fact an essential requirement for making

real headway on this complex issue(17) G : CREATE OPMS EXAMPLE PORTFOLIO (for educational issues)● To create a wide number of examples to get people interested in using OPMS on

educational issues(18)

SYSTEM

TIELINE

Field Representation: “System to develop and put into place effective Educational Systems for India at every level in every field (contd.)

Not shown: There are plenty of relationships to be traced here, too, on next part of the Field Representation…

Page 2Our workshops demonstrate the construction and applications of FR Method in considerable detail!


A : STAKEHOLDERS IN EDUCATION

B : GIVE STAKEHOLDERS THEIR PROPER VOICE!

C : EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS

D : DEVELOPING PASSIONATE, COMMITTED TEACHERS

E : PLACE OF TEACHERS IN SOCIETY

F : PRACTICAL MEANS FOR PEOPLE TO DISCUSS AND RESOLVE ISSUES

G : CREATE OPMS EXAMPLE PORTFOLIO (for educational issues)

Here’s something else we can do with the FR: We can create an ISM with the TITLES of the Dimensions

in the Field Representation. (We look once more at the titles…)

Next slide, we illustrate the ISM created with the titles of these dimensions (using a transitive relationship that’s a bit more complex than straight ‘contribution’)

Titles of Field Dimensions:


G: CREATE OPMS EXAMPLE PORTFOLIO (for educational issues)

E: ● Proper PLACE OF TEACHERS IN SOCIETYD: ● DEVELOPING PASSIONATE, COMMITTED TEACHERS

F: PRACTICAL MEANS FOR PEOPLE TO DISCUSS AND RESOLVE ISSUES

B: GIVE ALL STAKEHOLDERS THEIR PROPER VOICE!

C: EFFECTIVE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS

ISM created from ‘Dimensions of Education Field Representation’

“should help provide stimulus for”

The explanatory and clarificatory power of the FR is huge – but one has to use it regularly to understand its value to help us understand our systems…We can also create ISMs using the elements within each

of the Dimensions of the Field Representation – this enables us to explore within each Dimension or aspect of the system(s) under consideration (Illustrated, next slide)

A: DEFINE STAKEHOLDERS IN EDUCATION


To ensure that real stakeholders in education have a real voice in the system

● To ensure that teachers at each level have their proper voice in the actual ‘actioning’ in the educational system

● To ensure that students at each level have a proper voice in the educational systems catering to their specific needs

● To enable all stakeholders (parents, management, others) have their proper voice

To ensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly integrated into our action planning

To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders…


ISM from elements in Dimension B: “Give Stakeholders Their Proper Voice!”


Why all this ‘structuring’?

• Each such ‘structuring’ exercise enables us better understand the relationships within the system(s) under consideration

• Better understanding of the relationships between elements (and dimensions) of the system leads us to better understanding of system behaviour

• Better understanding of system behaviour helps us to design better systems or to improve the systems we already have

We show again that quite complex Field Representation: The ‘One Page Management System’ (OPMS).



The ‘SYSTEM TIE-LINE’ provides us a practical means to show how elements in various Dimensions may impact on the Mission and on the THINGS TO DO in our Action Planning’ – e.g. how do the various BARRIERS impact on the activities to be performed to accomplish the Mission?, etc, etc…

Any Mission – individual, organizational or societal

Fundamental Dimensions

Subsystems - below System

Tie Line

It’s a ‘MODEL OF MODELS’ – comprised of ALL the elements

and ALL the models arising during the course of any Mission.

As noted,OPMS is in fact a formalization of the intuitive way that we have been solving our problems over millennia

Claim: This is actually a formalization of the practical means people have been using over millennia to tackle

their complex problems…


OPMS is designed to help people do ‘qualitative problem solving’ – to help them arrive at

a clear and correct understanding of the systems

they work with!

OPMS ties in perfectly with all the sound quantitative tools

that we have available!

It does involve a sizable amount of work formally to create a comprehensive OPMS for any Mission –

but the benefits are huge!

OPMS ensures that our quantitative models when we make them would be accurate AND effective

Useful background:

In a great many instances, we do NOT need to create the full OPMS for a Mission – just

starting to use the process will bring about all the clarity we need to act effectively…


Good ideas are very ‘slippery’ and difficult to work with

All too often, they just disappear from the mind, leaving behind only a thought or vague regret that there was something worthwhile to do still remaining undone …

At other times, one just cannot get hold of the needed resources to DO what’s needed to start., and one gives up on the idea…

There are any number of reasons why ideas fail. Here is a way to ensure your ideas will really get going…

The ‘One Page Management System’ (OPMS)

More useful background:


To handle any idea effectively, one needs to understand clearly and effectively act on the following simple fact:

Every idea is dependent on a host of other ideas!.

The OPMS is designed to enable you to handle that crucial fact!

More useful background:

•Grab hold of all good ideas available about the problem or issue – continuingly

• Record and clarify the ideas generated - continuingly• Put the ideas together in the right kind of usable order – continuingly – create effective action planning

• Modify ideas to reflect the environmental reality – continuingly

• Integrate every relevant issue that might come up - continuingly


•Grab hold of all good ideas available! Record (and clarify) those ideas! Idea Generation tools

Put the ideas together into an effective Action Plan!

• Interpretive Structural Modeling

• Field Representation Method

Integrate everything to create a picture of a true system!

One Page Management System (OPMS)

How is all this accomplished?Here is what the OPMS helps you do:

These are powerful modeling tools (invented by the late John N. Warfield)

This unique modeling tool enables you to create a powerful ‘model of models’ to integrate all

that’s done during any Mission

Not at all known to conventional management science

Not much known to conventional management science

Well known and used in management science


OPMS Process Deliverables - details of how are handled in in our workshops

• Identification of an agreed Mission – Mission – relating to an relating to an individual or groupindividual or group

• Lists of ideasLists of ideas covering various aspects of the Mission• Initiation of an agreed Action Planagreed Action Plan to accomplish the

Mission • Practical meansPractical means to overcome BARRIERS, DIFFICULTIES

THREATS, WEAKNESSES and avail of OPPORTUNITIES • ReportsReports to monitor ‘What & Why – Who – When - How What & Why – Who – When - How

MuchMuch’ • Design of all needed sub-systems: marketing system, sub-systems: marketing system,

planning system, information systems – whatever the planning system, information systems – whatever the subsystems that may be required for the Mission! subsystems that may be required for the Mission!

• Significant enhancement of attitudes, behaviour and Significant enhancement of attitudes, behaviour and performance of individuals at each levelperformance of individuals at each level

And all of this starts with the simple idea of finding out how ‘factor A’ “CONTRIBUTES TO” ‘factor B’, and so on …OPMS™ Learning & Application Programs:

• OPMS ‘Insight’ (Starters)• OPMS ‘Action Planning’ (For Junior to Middle Level )• OPMS ‘Collaborate’ (For Middle to Senior Level )• OPMS ‘Mentor’ (For Senior Level)• Facilitator Training (for consultants) - 5 Days + 3 months project work + 5 days• OPMS™ software• OPMS Spin-offs• Customised versions of OPMS

For more information about OPMS, contact:Sampath Menon, General Manager, Resource Development Center, Hyderabad: 500082Tel.: +91-9642484928 [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]


Thank you!


If ‘A’ ‘B’,

and if ‘B’ ‘C’,

then ‘A’ MUST ‘C’(where ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ are elements and stands for the specific transitive relationship under consideration)

This simple idea has huge impact – in This simple idea has huge impact – in regard to construction of these models regard to construction of these models

as well as to their interpretation.as well as to their interpretation. ISM is ISM is the best way available to ensure the best way available to ensure

effective Action Planningeffective Action Planning

Actually seeing these graphical models helps the people easily perceive the logical inconsistencies that may be embedded in their thought processes!

Mistaken ideas are easily corrected through regular use of this process (assuming, of course, there is a basic desire to correct

one’s own mistaken ideas)

Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) is based on a SINGLE transitive relationship running right through

the model.

Logically, we are able to justify adding elements, in specific, appropriate positions to our starting three-element

graphical structure (as we’ve done in the past few slides) because the relationship “CONTRIBUTES TO” is transitive, which means

the following:

Models constructed using the above rule would be logically quite consistent AND, further, the

construction of even very large models would also be quite efficient because of the transitivity of the single

relationship used in each such structure.

Back


To work hard

To work smart

To work smart

To work hard

“could contribute”X

XX

Back

X

XX

“may not contribute

Documents

OPMS: New Education Presentation