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International Organizational Collaboration & Consulting
Summer, 2012: Dublin, Ireland
Instructors: Drs. Robert & Charlotte Barner
Course Summary
Course Purpose and Focus:
This course introduces participants to the processes and approaches that have been successfully used by both consultants and organizations to build and sustain organizational collaboration. The course is unique in providing students with access both to US-based approaches to collaboration and consulting, and approaches that work within international settings. The course has a unique design format, including one weekend in at the SMU North Campus followed by a week of activities in Dublin. This format will allow students ample time to explore Dublin and integrate a unique cross-cultural experience with classroom learning. The course also makes use of a variety of external speakers to provide students with several perspectives on the field of international collaboration & consulting.
This approach is based on the assumption that while many national cultures share a common interest in building collaborative work environments, the approaches and techniques that are used to build collaboration vary greatly by country and national culture. Simply put, what works for US domestic organizations is not always applicable to international organizations, or those based in other countries. Accordingly, the course is designed to provide students with maximum exposure to international best practices.
So what do we mean by “organizational collaboration”? Many organizations are seeking to move beyond the mediation of disputes and management of conflict to build leadership and team practices, systems, and work cultures that build a firm foundation for employee engagement and collaboration. We see this shift reflected in the fact that the ability to build organizational collaboration has become a core organizational competency for those organizations that are consistently cited as being “best places to work for” by Fortune Magazine and other rating organizations. Concurrently, the ability to foster organizational collaboration is becoming a core professional competency for those work professionals who wish to excel in leadership positions in customer service, product development, manufacturing, or project management, as well as for mediators, conflict managers, teambuilding facilitators, human resource professionals, and specialists in the areas of professional and organizational development.
What you will gain from participating in this course:
Course Materials: [Note to students: Don’t be intimidated by the size of these two texts. We will be using selected chapters from each]
Course Content & Format
Part 1: Understanding the US Perspective
Conducted at SMU’s Plano Campus
Saturday & Sunday: June 9 - 10, 2012
8:30am - 5:30pm
Students begin the course by spending one weekend (Saturday & Sunday; 15 contact hours) at the SMU N. Campus, developing foundation skills related to organizational collaboration and learning about best practices in organizational collaboration from leading consultants and major employers in the DFW area.
Course Agenda for Part 1
Context and Introduction
· The importance of organizational collaboration skills as a critical professional work competency
· The evolution of organizational collaboration: from Q-circles to present day
A foundational overview of key methods
· Open Space
· World Café
· Graphic Facilitation
· Future Search
· Appreciative Inquiry
· Visual Metaphors
· Collaborative Technology
Readings:
o From Handbook of Large Group Methods:
· Chapter 1: “That was then, but this is now”
· Pages 354-371: “After the dance”
o From The Change Handbook:
· Chapter 1: “The big picture; making sense of more than sixty methods”
· Chapter 2: “Selecting methods; the art of mastery”
· Chapter 3: “Preparing to mix and match methods”
· Chapter 4: “Sustainability of results”
· Chapter 5: “Appreciative inquiry: A positive revolution in Change”
· Chapter 9: Open Space Technology
· Chapter 14: “Appreciative Inquiry Summit
· Chapter 33: “Future Search”
· Chapter 35: “Search Conference”
· Chapter 61: “Visual recording and graphic facilitation: Helping people see what they mean”
· Chapter 63: “Visual Explorer”
· Chapter 61: “Visual recording and graphic facilitation: Helping people see what they mean”
· Chapter 65: “Visual Explorer”
Guest Speakers
Sunday:
Session Title: Managing Collaboration in a Complex International Organizational
Session Leader: William Mitchell; Senior Manager, Performance Planning; American Airlines
Session Abstract: During this informal session William will discuss some of the lessons learned as an HR leader in facilitating collaboration and team building, within an organization that spans international and cultural boundaries.
Part 2: Gaining International Perspectives
Conducted at Trinity College, Dublin: June 17 - 23, 2012
The second part of the course involves 25 contact hours spread over 5 days in Dublin, Ireland, allowing students ample time for networking and exploring the Dublin area. This course section exposes students to methods and approaches for building organizational collaboration that are employed by European practitioners. In addition, it provides an overview of the issues that change agents face in attempting to build organizational collaboration within other national cultures and settings. International perspectives are provided by guest lecturers from the U.K and Western Europe. The focus for this part of the course is a review of relevant international case studies that are based on the collaborative methods introduced during the first part of this course.
Readings & Related Case Presentations:
Innovation at BBC; The Handbook of Large Group Methods (pp. 39-61)
World Religions engage critical global issues; The Handbook of Large Group Methods (pp. 301/313)
Graphic facilitation and large-scale social interventions, Supporting dialogue between cultures at a global, multicultural, interfaith event. Note: This is another case on the Parliament of World Religions, written from the perspective of a visual facilitator who took part in this experience (see attached article)
Training Indonesian facilitators to lead community planning for women and children; The Handbook of Large Group Methods (pp. 288-300)
Whole systems engagement through collaborative technology at World Vision – (The Handbook of Large Group Methods pp. 62-77)
From strategic planning to open space in East Africa; The Handbook of Large Group Methods (pp. 277-287)
The World Café in Singapore – World Café (see attached article)
Whole system engagement through collaborative technology at World Vision (The Handbook of Large Group Methods pp. 62-770)
Visualizing new futures with women of rural Ghana: Article can be found at this link:
http://leadbeyond.blogspot.com/2009/08/visualizing-new-futures-with-women-in.html And Jane Goodall Global Youth Summit http://cclve.blogspot.com/
(also includes a video clip)
Guest Speakers
Tuesday:
Session Title: Building Bridges to Global Collaboration – Tips, Tools & Techniques
Session Leader: Hamish A. Taylor; Principal, Shinergise Consulting
Session Abstract: Global Collaboration – Are you a follower or a leader? A clever cynic or a wise innovator? Risk taker or risk avoider? Understanding the motivation and manners in which team members interact with each other is of critical significance to building and developing successful collaborative innovation teams – so how do you do it? In this session I’ll leave the theory to the textbooks and focus on the practicality of getting people interacting, sharing ideas and co-developing uncommon solutions to common challenges. Driving cross-cultural and cross-functional communication is the sine qua non, the universal panacea recommended by all consultants, but sadly delivered by very few – this session shares with you practical solutions to age-old problems and will leave participants better equipped to build bridges where once barriers stood in the way.
Session Time: 3 hours
Wednesday:
Title: Collaboration in a Competitive World – From Tribal Conflict to International Joint Ventures
Session Leader: Dr. Ken Ideus, Director and Principal Consultant, Delta Partnership Ltd., London
Session Abstract: Whether competing for basic resources such as grazing rights or global energy resources, most parties exist in some form of competitive environment and at the same time are calling for collaboration. These two forces often cancel each other out leading to no movement, collapse, leading to conflict or block any communication leading to fragmentation and isolation. When the energy of these two forces are combined, however, the result is synergy and new found performance and development.
In this highly interactive session, Dr. Ideus will introduce three models, one a collaboration model he developed for use in international joint ventures, another “I-We-They” which explains why collaboration can be so difficult, even when the intentions are solid and a third which gives a quick yet accurate way of assessing key cultural differences between ethnic and organizational groups. The relevance of these models will be demonstrated through two case studies. One based on his work in the past three years in Southern Sudan and another based on recent experience in an international cross culture joint venture.
Session Time: 2 hours
Links
Webcast link for “I-We-They” http://www.delta-partnership.com//News/news6.asp
Web link for Delta Partnership Ltd.: www.delta-partnership.com
Thursday: June 30 All day tour excursion to Wicklow
Friday:
Session Title: Organizational Case Studies – Software Spectrum/Lucent Technologies
Session Leader: Maria Connor, Private Consultant
Session Abstract: This will be an open presentation with Q&A throughout, that will highlight two specific examples of global crisis management and organizational collaboration. The first will concentrate on a Process Challenge that occurred in the early 2000’s with a major international news agency. This issue almost cost the company circa $50m in revenue over 3 years. The second will concentrate on a Personality/People Challenge that occurred in 2006 following the acquisition of Lucent Technologies by Alcatel. This will particularly concentrate on the power of relationship management in an extremely diverse cultural environment.
Both of these are completely dependent on the relationships that we take the time to create in our work lives. These are two of the most critical elements of running any international company.
We will discuss how important it is to create and maintain relationships throughout a company, especially with divisions that have dependencies on you/you have dependencies on them. Also, how to respect and understand diverse cultures
Session Time: 1 Hour
Saturday:
Session Title: From Past to Future - The Saville Enquiry and Beyond
Session Leader: Ann Carr; Dialogue Practitioner; Belfast, Northern Ireland
Session Abstract: This engaging session will begin early Saturday morning as we take a train from Dublin to Belfast, where we will be greeted by Ann Carr, our presenter and host. Ann will conduct a presentation covering some of the major factors that have instrumental in resolving political and religious conflicts in Northern Ireland, and will also talk about the ongoing and substantial work which takes place every day in to assist the transformation process from conflict to stability She will introduce us to some of the leaders in Community Dialogue, a grassroots peacemaking organization that she helped to establish in 1997, and in which she has since been heavily involved. Our class will also have the opportunity to tour some of the areas of Belfast that have been most affected by the conflict
After the session students will once again board the train back to Dublin for a final night at Trinity College and Dublin.
Session Time: All Day
Basis for Course Grades:
During this workshop I would like for you to become very familiar with at least one of the collaborative consulting methods that we will be reviewing. To that end, during the first weekend in Plano you will be asked to divide into teams of two (with one team of 3 if there are an odd number of students). Each team will be asked to select one of the following cases. Note that 8 of these cases come from The Handbook of Large Group Methods, while 2 others are based on the attached articles.
Working with your partner(s) I would like you to use the time between June 13 and June 24 to deliver a presentation on this subject to the class. Understand that in doing this I am not expecting you to become experts on a given area of methodology, but rather to establish a clear voice and perspective on the topic.
While in Dublin your team will have 60 minutes to present on the following elements, and an additional 30 minutes to facilitate a class discussion on the case. I suggest that in preparation for this you create 5 to 8 thought-provoking questions that could be used to open up discussion on this topic. Please don’t waste a lot of time making a fancy PowerPoint presentation – a simple Word document or whiteboard presentation would be fine. Should you decide to use handouts, I would ask that you make copies of these in advance to take to Ireland in order to eliminate the possibility of encountering resource or time constraints on that end. For planning purposes I would generate 18 copies of your handout package.
I would also encourage you to think of a delivery format that would encourage the rest of the class to participate in, and react to, your presentation. You are also free to determine whether you wish to base your presentations merely on the two course texts, or whether you wish to employ articles or materials in addition to these resources.
Grades will be based on the following factors:
ORGANIZING YOUR CASE PRESENTATION
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Purpose & Outcomes |
Summarize the purpose and intended outcomes of the consulting project |
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Consulting Process & Methodology |
Summarize the primary steps that were involved in carrying out the consulting project and the core methodology (appreciative inquiry, future summit, etc.) that formed the basis of the project |
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Application |
Identify those aspects of the project that did, or did not, follow the standard guidelines that have been developed for that methodology. For example, if the project that you presenting was based on an application of an AI summit, did the consultant use an approach that was somewhat different from the steps and guidelines that are typically followed for an AI summit |
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Outcomes |
To what degree did the project meet its intended outcomes? What factors contributed to its success or failure? |
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The Experience |
Describe what the experience was like for participants, and for the consultant. How did everyone appear to feel about going through this process? |
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Transferability |
Do you feel that this approach would be readily transferable to other cultures? Why |
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Caveats |
If someone else were attempting to apply this consulting method what caveats would you provide, in terms of managing time, complexity, resources, stakeholders, etc.? |
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Lessons Learned |
What were the “lessoned learned” that you think that any international consultant could take away from a review of this case that might be applicable
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About the Instructors
Mobile: 214-621-1514
Dr. Robert Barner is the Associate Director of Executive Education and a full-time faculty member within the Annette Simmons Caldwell School Education and Human Development at Southern Methodist University. Prior to joining SMU Dr Barner held senior-level corporate HR positions at several companies, with three of these positions supporting global operations. These roles included responsibilities for career planning, executive development and coaching, the assessment and development of high-potential leaders, and talent management. Dr. Barner’s work experience also includes management consulting to such companies as GTE, AT&T, Harris, Disney, TXU, Honeywell, and United Technologies.
Dr. Barner has published over thirty articles in such journals as the OD Practitioner, Journal of Organizational Change Management, Team Performance Management, the Journal for Quality & Participation, and Career Development International. Dr. Barner is the author of six books, with foreign language translations in German, Norwegian, and Estonian. His most recent book, Accelerating the Development of Your Leaders, was published by Pfeiffer/Wiley in February, 2011. Dr. Barner has also contributed to seven text anthologies, including three that are used in college curricula. Most recently he has written two chapters for the Oxford Handbook of Reciprocal Adult Development and Learning (Carol Hoare, editor; Oxford University Press, 2011). Dr. Barner currently serves as a reviewer for the Journal for Organizational Change Management and is currently a reviewer for the Journal of Management Development.
Dr. Barner has presented to international conferences on the subjects of executive coaching, team building, and talent management strategy, including the 2006 and 2008, and 2010 OD Network Conferences, the 2009 International Conference on Collaboration and Innovation, sponsored by Purdue University, and the 2010 SW HR Conference. He holds Masters and Doctorate degrees in Organization Development from Fielding Graduate University, and Bachelor degrees in Education and Psychology from Florida Atlantic University.
Mobile: 972-679-2173
Dr. Charlotte Barner has over 20 years of experience in the area of human and organizational learning and development. She is faculty member and student advisor for the Organizational Dynamics concentration within the Annette Simmons Caldwell School Education and Human Development at Southern Methodist University’s Master’s of Liberal Studies (MLS) program. Charlotte was brought into the MLS program to create this new concentration in Q1 2010.
Prior to joining SMU, Charlotte held senior corporate leadership positions responsible for creating and implementing development strategies and systems. Most recently, she established and led an Organizational Effectiveness function for one of North America's top sales and marketing companies with clients such as AT&T, Best Buy, Cadbury, Disney (3 international divisions), HP, iTunes, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart, as well as the all of North America’s major movie and gaming producers. In addition, Charlotte was previously president and partner of a long-term, US-based consulting corporation serving clients such as AT&T, Disney, GTE, Harris Corporation, Honeywell, and United Technologies.
Dr. Barner has authored articles in professional journals over the years,
including co-authoring a three-part job-search series in Wall Street
Journal’s National Business Employment Weekly. Most recently, she
co-authored the chapter “The relationship between mindfulness, openness to
experience, and transformational learning” in the Handbook of Reciprocal Adult
Development & Learning, Oxford Press (in press, August 2011). She has served as
primary editor on several books and academic papers. Finally, Charlotte
continues to present at regional and national HR and OD conferences.
Charlotte Barner’s doctorate is in Human & Organizational Learning from The George Washington University. Her master of education in Curriculum Design & Instructional Technologies is with honors from George Mason University, and her undergraduate degree in Business & Human Resources Administration is from Barry University.
Guest Speakers – SMU Plano Campus
William Mitchell
Information Not Yet Available
Guest Speakers – Trinity Campus, Dublin
Ken Ideus, Ed.D.
Dr. Ideus is the Director and Principle Consultant for Delta Partnership Ltd., in London. Ken has over 20 years of professional leadership development and business experience across several sectors including telecommunications market research, entertainment, banking and energy. In 1996, having followed a corporate career for several years culminating as Head of Leadership Development for BP, Ken founded Delta Partnership Ltd., a leadership consultancy based in London. Familiar with various cultural and business settings, he has extensive experience in the Middle East, Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. In addition to his corporate work, Dr. Ideus has been involved for the past three years in the nation building process in Southern Sudan. His experience in post conflict environments such as Angola and now Southern Sudan combined with the highly competitive arena of business based joint ventures have given him unique insights into how collaboration happens on the ground.
Ken received his Doctorate Education with a specialization in corporate education from Boston University. He also holds a Master of Arts degree in education from Alaska Pacific University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Dana College in sociology combined with psychology. Formerly a board member of the European Foundation for Management Development, he was chair of their International Projects Committee for 8 years. He is an active member of the Royal Institute for International Affairs, a member of the Royal Commonwealth Society, the European Mentoring and Coaching Council and is a charter member of the European based Association for Coaching.
Past and Current Clients include:
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Shell |
HSBC |
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HBOS |
Universal Studios |
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ACNielsen |
BP |
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Hess |
Centrica |
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Zurich Insurance |
Sonangol (Angola National Oil Co.) |
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Government of Southern Sudan |
Unilever |
Hamish A.Taylor
Mr. Hamish A. Taylor, was educated at Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh (B.Sc.(Hons) Chemistry) his first choice was to select between Operational Management at Procter & Gamble or International B2B Marketing at Unilever – he chose the latter and became immersed in the world of Fragrances and flavours. He moved from Edinburgh, Scotland to Kent, England where quite literally his career started down the toilet – assessing the fragrances and compiling product claims of the European toilet cleaner market! Things quickly looked up when less than 18 months later Hamish was asked to spend four months in Japan building and developing the local Marketing function and there began a career changing experience that was eventually to see Hamish and his family return to Japan a further twice. In total the Taylors spent over seven years in Yokohama, with the birth of his daughter in nearby Kamakura one of the most memorable experiences. Based in Yokohama, Hamish travelled extensively round Asia-Pacific recruiting, developing and motivating a highly successful Regional Marketing and Innovation function. After his third secondment to Japan ended in 2002, Hamish and his family again relocated, this time to Morristown, New Jersey and from there he assumed global responsibility for his company’s global business with Procter & Gamble which grew from $10m sales in 2001 to $70m sales just four years later.
Working with international clients such as Unilever, SC Johnson, Shiseido, Kao and P&G, Hamish and his colleagues created the distinctive fragrance signatures for familiar consumer products – including Sunsilk, Dove, Pantene, Joy and other well known brands; the consumer focused brand insight driven innovation process was a true example of B2B2C Marketing. Moreover the team was both geographically dispersed, multi-functional and multi-cultural with global teams working literally round the clock to speed up the collaborative innovation process. One typical project saw Consumer Research in the UK, Perfumery Development in Paris, New York and Sao Paolo supported by Marketing in New Jersey and Sales in Bangkok and clients in Cincinnati – without great communication and organisational trust the efforts would have been completely wasted.
In 2007 Hamish returned to his native Scotland and established his own consultancy company, Shinergise Partners, a name grounded in the Japanese experience with “shin” translating as “new”. With the tag-line “Creating New Energy. Delivering New Results.” he and his associates have worked with multi-nationals including divisions of P&G, Intel, Inverness Medical Innovations and The Swire Group to deliver step-change performance programmes in organisational development and team dynamics. Since 2008, Hamish has worked with fellow innovation collaborators at The Center for Creative Leadership on further developing the Visual Explorer and Leadership Metaphor Explorer (LME) tools originally created by David Magellan Horth and Chuck Palus. With a remit to synchronise, evolve and integrate the tools, the CCL-Shinergise team are working on a new on-line platform under the working title D!GiTAL EXPLORER™
www.shinergise.com Tel: +44 771 700 6782 or +44 1577 865545
Skype: shinergise
Maria Connor
Maria Connor started out her career in 1985 with a national computer peripheral distribution company as a secretary. Within 2 years she had become the Sales Manager and was appointed a director of the company shortly afterwards. During this period, she successfully launched the first Postscript printer in Ireland and made Star printers the number one selling printer in the country with over 25% share of the market. In 1992, one of her customers was setting up the first computer Superstore in the country and asked Maria to join him, running the sales teams. Within 9 months, a second store was opened and Maria took over as Branch Manager and successfully ran this store for 4 years. Realising her skill for operations management and problem solving, the directors offered her a new role back in HQ of Product Development, Training and Staff Development Manager. During this period, she successfully launched several new stores and franchise operations, negotiated terms & conditions with key suppliers, developed warehouse efficiencies, coordinated purchasing for 12 stores, set prices & controlled margins.
In 1997 Maria was headhunted by Dallas-HQ’d international software company Software Spectrum. She started in the role of Product Operations Manager for the EMEA region and within 2 years had also added two more departments to her role – Sales Support Team and Vendor Licensing & Management Team. During this time she successfully implemented the EMEA segment of an ERP system which linked her to the global HQ, and was involved in many project type activities. In 2001, Maria was offered the role of EMEA Project Manager. This initially involved the deployment, training and support of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System in the EMEA region, which then developed into a Cost Reduction Initiative, achieving significant savings for the company.
In 2004 Maria took a new challenge with Lucent Technologies working in their EMEA Finance Shared Services Centre and managing three departments: Intercompany Accounts Payable and Receivable, Business Process and Administration. Significant achievements here included Cash Collection from $668 to $20m over 14 months, performance metric analysis for entire Shared Services, implementation of major global tools to enhance efficiency of EMEA operation.
At the end of 2007, having been acquired by Alcatel, the Dublin office closed down and Maria was offered the role of Program Director for the Asia/Pacific region based in Shanghai. She turned this down to stay in Ireland.
Originally from England, Maria has lived in Dublin, Ireland for over 30 years and considers it to be home.
Anne Carr, Dialogue Practitioner, Belfast, Northern Ireland
My peace building work in Northern Ireland started with my involvement in a parents group striving to develop a planned shared primary school where all our children, regardless of creed, culture or race could be educated together and through appropriate teaching methods suiting the individual child, have every opportunity to reach their full potential. This was the first integrated primary school developed outside the Belfast area and we had to fund the school through voluntary donations for two years until the government considered it viable and started to provide financial support. That was 1986 and today, twenty five years later, we have a state of the art newly built integrated primary school, All Children’s, at the foot of the Mourne Mountains in Newcastle. Co. Down, welcoming children from all backgrounds and celebrating the diversity they bring to the classroom.
A few years later I called a further parent’s meeting and the campaign to create a second level college began and three years later Shimna College, a post primary integrated college for 11 – 18 year olds, was born. I was involved with the Women Together for Peace organisation for 11 years from 1990, co-ordinating years of campaigning for the violence in Northern Ireland to end so that we could begin the dialogue process which would help to build trust and diminish myth and misunderstanding.
In 1997 I was the first Local Councillor ever elected for the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition to Down District Council. I was involved in the negotiations which led to the creation of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement and campaigned for the full implementation of the Agreement in the difficult years which followed.
I helped to establish Community Dialogue in 1997 and since then have been involved in the organisation in a variety of ways. I have been a member of the Executive Committee and was employed as a development worker from 2001 – 2007. I was employed until June 2009 as temporary co-ordinator to oversee the implementation of the new “2 Steps into Dialogue” Project. I have been organising and facilitating deep and difficult dialogue processes throughout these years, around the contentious issues which divide us. I have worked right across our community divides, in our prison and on the ground with those involved in paramilitary organisations, community activists and people in great fear.
I am currently working with Shankill Women’s Centre, funded by the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, to develop a new women’s network which engages women from across the patchwork of divides in North Belfast, an area deeply ravaged by the conflict. This will be the first network across this broad area which brings women together in dialogue to work constructively to address the many and varied issues arising from the legacy of the conflict.
Every day, I seek out opportunities to dialogue, to encourage all our people to understand that it is only when we have had the difficult conversations which challenge assumptions and give voice to our most hidden fears that we will be able to work constructively together to create a future that we can all buy into and a society that we can all truly call home.
I am motivated and driven by the need to create a safe society for every child born, where they can be themselves without fear and where relationships across all our borders, both physical and in the mind, are strong and built on a foundation of real understanding.
I was delighted to receive the 2008 Northern Ireland Community Relations Council Award for exceptional achievement in the field of community relations. This followed an award I received from the Baha’i community in Northern Ireland, in 1999, as part of the Century of Light celebrations, for significant achievement in the field of peace building.
Anne Carr
Dialogue Practitioner
Belfast, Northern Ireland
January 2011