PODCAST · education
Reflections on Management
by Tom Galvin
Reflections on Management blends theory with practical insight of Dr. Tom Galvin - a career military officer turned scholar-practitioner - to offer a series of in-depth reflections on how key management ideas play out in practice. What is the actual meaning of competitive advantage? How do organizations deal with death? Why is change inherently paradoxical? Tune in to hear Tom reflect on these, and numerous other questions by drawing on his long and eventful career as senior military leader!
Episodes
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S7E10 - Owning and Appraising Knowledge (Knowledge Management, Conclusion)
In this episode, I address a couple of critical points that drive what information is retained and what is withheld -- Who owns the information and who determines its value? And do our methods of establishing ownership and appraising knowledge make sense?
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S7E09 - Process Models and Other Oversimplifications (Knowledge Management, Part 9)
In this episode, I present the process-based meta-narrative that addresses organizational actions. Going beyond the simple models of flowcharts or sequences of steps, these metanarratives capture the ranges of possible outcomes and the paths to get there.
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S7E08 -- The Drama of Decision Making (Knowledge Management, Part 8)
In this episode, I present the preference-based meta-narrative that helps explain the way that decision makers deal with complexity -- both in terms of developing and selecting alternatives and in terms of the emotions that the decision generates.
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S7E07 - Sequencing Activity into Streams (Knowledge Management, Part 7)
In this episode, I present the stream meta-narrative that helps capture sequences of interdependent processes that naturally flow from some sort of inputs to some sort of outputs. These metanarratives help explain complex decision spaces. I'll also give relevant examples.
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S7E06 - Stories of the Ordinary Experience (Knowledge Management, Part 6)
In this episode, I talk about how I streamline the corporate vocabulary in the previous episode and use it to develop a meta-narrative that summarizes the full set of experiences in the organization by levels of deviation from the norm. Sound complicated, but hopefully you'll find it isn't.
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S7E05 - Navigating the Corporate Vocabulary (Knowledge Management, Part 5)
Words matter, and sometimes the terms used in an organizational setting differ from common definitions and therefore create confusion. This is doubly difficult for an outside observer who is trying to understand the organization's behavior. I present an icebreaker exercise in this episode I use…
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S7E04 - Meta-Narratives of Level and Utility (Knowledge Management, Part 4)
How does one tell the difference between information meant for beginners versus information meant for experts? The short answer is the level of abstraction. What is meant for beginners tends to be more detailed or more prescribed than what is meant for experts. But there is more to it as the…
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S7E03 - Organizing Information Through Meta-Narrative (Knowledge Management, Part 3)
There's an inherent challenge between the organization's preferred narrative that may drive how it organizes its corporate knowledge and the way individuals sort their component parts. One narrative may not fit all perspectives. What then?
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S7E02 - Transforming, Not Sorting, the Information (Knowledge Management, Part 2)
When reviewing old archives, it occurred to me that the archive serves as a window into the organization's behavior, but while the products of knowledge are present, much of the meaning behind them get lost. How did I think about rebuilding that knowledge?
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S7E01 - Fifteen Years Archived on DVD (Knowledge Management, Part 1)
Busy professionals are so awash with information, much of it irrelevant or uninteresting, that they rarely have time to go back and sort through it all and make sense of it. Instead, all this stuff ends up occupying storage space or sitting somewhere in the cloud. Well, I undertook a project to...
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S6E08 - Ideal Negotiations Through Pragmatism (The Social Contract, Part 8)
In this final episode of the series, I ask what does 'right' look like in how we solve social problems and re-negotiate the social contract. What must we do once we decide to get people to come to the table? The short answer, as I reveal here, is rooted in classic pragmatism. Classic pragmatism,...
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S6E07 - Ideal Engagements Among Collectives and Individuals (The Social Contract, Part 7)
I complete the list of principles for re-negotiating the Social Contract and setting the stage for what constitutes the idea conversation for solving a complex social issue. What are principles that suggest the ideal ways that collectives deal with other collectives in the environment? Or how...
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S6E06 - The Meaning of Duty, Responsibility, and Loyalty (The Social Contract, Part 6)
Along with the ideal collective that acts with justice, equality, and fairness comes the ideal member, one who fulfills the principles of duty, member responsibility, and loyalty -- principles that leaders also must fulfill while setting proper conditions for their members.
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S6E05 - The Meaning of Justice, Equality, and Fairness (The Social Contract, Part 5)
To resolve and efficiently and effectively renegotiate the social contract, we've got to find common ground. But we have to first change the way we react to things that we strongly disagree with. That begins with finding a language that sustains our emotional commitment to what we believe, but...
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S6E04 - The Stilting of Competition (The Social Contract, Part 4)
How does our assessment of how one "wins" drive us to throwing social competitions, and thus the social contract, out of balance? And even if the social contract is fixed, how can we prevent other forms of injustice from working their way in?
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S6E03 - On Power and Communication (The Social Contract, Part 3)
This episode expands on the previous episode to explain the influences of power and communication over the competitive environment. What are the characteristics of the strategies used to shape such competition and what effects do they have on the social contract?
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S6E02 - On Systems and the Competitive Environment (The Social Contract, Part 2)
Our focus on interpersonal relationships, though valid, is insufficient to overcome the problems in the social contract. We must also look at how we view competition and its role in societies and organizations.
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S6E01 - On Social Contracts (The Social Contract, Part 1)
This is the first episode in a multi-part series about renegotiating the social contract we globally share to addressing inequality and spur dialogue between parties who present view each other as adversaries.
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S5E09 - When Organizations Allow Expert Knowledge to Just Walk Away
Turnover can be a devastating thing to some organizations, the loss of expertise and experience, if not transferred in some way to existing members, can disrupt the organization's ability to perform at the highest level over time. I discuss two types of brain drain that organizations may…
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S5E08 - How Mandatory Training Can Feel Less Mandatory
Mandatory training serves important purposes but can be painful and ineffective in execution. Are there ways to do it better? Here I run down some of the common failings in the development of training materials for mandatory requirements, often developed for online delivery, and offer...
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S5E07 - Responsible Leadership: More Than Being a Responsible Leader?
In this episode, I dive further into the ideas of "responsibilities" of leader. I argue here that a leader's responsibilities are more than accomplishing missions and caring for members -- it is that the organization itself acts responsibly. For a professional organization, this meaning is clear…
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S5E06 - When an Activity Counters its Original Purpose (A Story from a Science Fair)
Tells a vignette about how a wonderfully crafted, innovative display wound up earning a last place trophy for not following the rubric. Rules may be rules, but can they sometimes get in the way of the purpose for the event?
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S5E05 - Why Can't We Just Stop Using MacGregor's Theory X?
This is a follow-on to an episode on Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Y, reflecting two different set of assumptions that managers operate with when running an organization. I recount the theories here and the assertion that Theory Y -- where managers assume workers are trustworthy and wish to be...
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S5E04 - If a Change Effort Fails, Was it Necessarily a Communication Failure?
Sometimes change efforts success despite poor communication, or great communication doesn't lead to successful change. Why is that? I argue that the communications campaign operates one "phase" ahead of the change effort, so the levels of success in both are independent and not correlated to one...
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S5E03 - Could a New Co-Ed Sport Promote Gender Equality?
I argue that we need new co-ed sports designed to emphasize capabilities that men and women share equally while also being fun to watch. I discuss the origins and social factors that brought about a number of existing team sports, many designed by men for masculine purposes. I believe these…
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S5E02 - Is Anti-Professionalism on the Rise?
A recent Talking About Organizations episode addressed contemporary challenges facing professions due to expanses of technology, growing distrust toward professional workers in some areas, and media coverage; all of which are challenging the autonomy and status of professionals and their work....
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S5E01 - Moving Educational Content from Resident to Distance Settings (Without Doing 10X the Work?)
The process of migrating one's teaching from resident to remote has been a popular topic due to the pandemic. But what about the content? If you are using stuff off the shelf, not such a big deal. But if you are the creator of a course designed for a specific professional purpose, then it becomes…
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S5E00 - Announcement: Changes to Program and Website
As this program enters its 5th season, I wanted to announce some upcoming changes to the program and the website to improve your experience
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S4E08 - When an External Consultant is Too Close to the Leader
Sometimes, leaders decide to bring in external consultants with whom they have worked with before or they have prior professional relationships with. Sometimes that works out great for the organization -- the consultant knows what the 'boss' wants and is uniquely positioned to deliver, helping…
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S4E07 - Entering into the Middle of the Story: Inheriting a Change Effort
A common thread I have found in popular change management literature is how to initiate change. Find the problem. Build the sense of urgency. Get things started! This is because change really is hard to start. But the fact is, many of us will not necessarily be starting change efforts ourselves.…
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S4E06 - Firing the Coach Instead of the Players (and Other Counternarratives Against Leaders)
There’s an old saying that the higher you climb the flagpole (or the corporate ladder) the more your butt shows. It’s a none-too-polite way of saying that being a senior leader or top executive means that you are magnet for criticism. I previously talked about counternarratives against...
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S4E05 - Is There a Difference Between Continuity and Complacency?
We all want to be ‘change agents,’ don’t we? The competitive pressures that many of us feel can cause us to want to make a mark, make a difference, be bold. In contrast, we are warned about the changes going around us – in societies and industries, and technologies- and that not getting on board...
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S4E04 - Are There Ways to Assess Effective Collaboration?
From work to education, much of what we do is measured in individual achievement and assessment of individual outcomes. Job performance, grade-point averages, final examinations, so many things are individually based. For some time now, collaboration has become much more important and group-based...
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S4E03 - When a Leader Falls From Grace, Should That Negate Their Positive Contributions?
Many of us have worked around (occasionally for) leaders who fall from grace, either due to personal misconduct, embarrassing the organization, or something else above and beyond mere poor performance. The leader becomes a pariah. Sometimes that fallen leader did things that made a lasting…
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S4E02 - When Unresolvable Tensions Exist, How Can Leaders Maintain Unity?
How often have you been in organizations that placed high value on conceptions of unity? That everyone needed to 'row together' like a crew team or exercise 'unity of effort' like a military organization? And then, how often does it seem like the organization is utterly incapable of putting unity...
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S4E01 - Should Change Agents Celebrate Success and Worry About Failure?
This podcasts's 4th season begins with a closer look at the idea that organizations should celebrate success when undergoing change. While there is utility in sharing good news stories, should change agents go along with the celebration or curb their enthusiasm? After all, there's the possibility...
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S3E10 - Communicating on the Defense without being Defensive
In a previous episode, I talked about counternarratives, which are narratives that refute or alternatively explain dominant narratives. In an organizational sense, counternarratives represent offensive tactics, ways to refute another actor’s narrative, or in turn, the narratives used by opponents...
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S3E09 - The Plausibility Test for Measuring Success and Failure in Organizational Change
Did a change effort succeed or fail? Most change efforts never achieve their original goals, but is that really “failure”? Opponents of the effort certainly like to think so, and claims of failure are really easy to make, even in instances where the change demonstrably succeeded. Empty claims of...
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S3E08 - On an Organization’s Commitment to Its Members’ Families
The commitment of members to their organization and organizational commitment to its members is an important on-going discussion that I have covered both in this program and in the main Talking About Organizations Podcast. In this episode, I want to further discussion about the member’s side of...
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S3E07 - Warning Signs and Why We Ignore Them: The Case of Smartphone Overuse
Warning! Overusing smartphones can be detrimental to your health! We might hear warnings like this, and perhaps even believe them to be true. Perhaps the claims are supported with solid scientific evidence on things like overdependence and addictive behaviors, sleep deprivation, information...
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S3E06 - Can One Really Plan Culture Change?
Change is complex and difficult, no matter the context. Although sometimes they may be overly simplistic, change management tools are plentiful and can help someone kick-start the process of making change happen. Culture change, however, is doubly hard. The simple approach has been to impose...
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S3E05 - On Converting Volunteer Roles into Permanent Positions
Some organizations encourage or rely upon volunteers to supplement its mission or activities. Occasionally, the organization finds that the voluntary efforts are so essential to its purpose that it decides to create a new permanent position to perform it, effectively in-sourcing the role. On the...
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S3E04 - On Asking the BIG Questions
When one embarks on a career as a professional or a scholar, it is commonly spurred by a desire to make a significant contribution to society, through personal service (such as medicine or law) or helping solve a vexing problem. We want to ‘make a difference,’ ‘give back,’ and ‘do something about…
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S3E03 - How a Loser Turned into a Winner
Branding and brand equity is a competitive sport. No matter what type of organization, public or private, maintaining high brand equity is seen as important. Brand equity is defined in David Aaker’s book Managing Brand Equity as having five components – brand loyalty, name awareness, perceived...
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S3E02 - On Counternarratives
Last season, I talked about how narrative, as a construct, can represent either the full story of an organization or an intervention into it. But unfortunately, the organization’s own narrative is not the only version of the story. In a competitive world, other actors use counternarratives…
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S3E01 - Planned Change and the 'Story of the Four Commanders'
There is more than one way to accomplish a goal -- indeed, Katz and Kahn gave this concept a name – equifinality. But some organizations find themselves routinely switching change strategies, especially those that turn over leadership routinely. They enter thinking there is a ‘right’ or ‘better’...
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S2E10 - Weather and the Desirability of Work Location
Whenever a job opportunity opens at a distant location, a factor that may be taken into consideration is the climate. Not just the organizational climate on the job, but the climate outside. Maybe it isn't so much of a concern for the potential employee, but it sure can be for the family -- like...
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S2E09 - How to Stop Doing Something
When we discuss change and change management, the emphasis tends to be placed on ‘starting’ something or ‘creating’ something. But in my experience, the creation of something often must accompany the ‘destruction’ of something else – like the breaking of a bad habit. Also, ‘terminating’ a change...
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S2E08 - Profanity with a Purpose?
If you are like me, you don't like to hear profanity, and find it difficult hearing conversations where curse words are flowing from people's mouths like water. Cursing, swearing, cussing, whatever it is called -- it has a long history, and for some people it is a natural part of their language...
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S2E07 - On Bridging Political Division
While some may view the current state of political division in many parts of the world as new and disturbing, it merely follows a trend that has spanned decades. That doesn’t make it OK, it merely suggests that the deepening divide between those on the “left” and “right” will grow. Organizations...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Reflections on Management blends theory with practical insight of Dr. Tom Galvin - a career military officer turned scholar-practitioner - to offer a series of in-depth reflections on how key management ideas play out in practice. What is the actual meaning of competitive advantage? How do organizations deal with death? Why is change inherently paradoxical? Tune in to hear Tom reflect on these, and numerous other questions by drawing on his long and eventful career as senior military leader!
HOSTED BY
Tom Galvin
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How many episodes does Reflections on Management have?
Reflections on Management currently has 67 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Reflections on Management about?
Reflections on Management blends theory with practical insight of Dr. Tom Galvin - a career military officer turned scholar-practitioner - to offer a series of in-depth reflections on how key management ideas play out in practice. What is the actual meaning of competitive advantage? How do...
How often does Reflections on Management release new episodes?
Reflections on Management has 67 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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Who hosts Reflections on Management?
Reflections on Management is created and hosted by Tom Galvin.
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