[Ailist] Ailist] Re: Six Sigma

Sun Oct 28 09:45:26 MST 2007

Dear Kevin and Lionel:

I'm reading your dialogue while teaching an NTL Workshop on AI Foundations
and just had a discussion with a participant about SWAT. My take is still
that AI IS NOT A PROCESS! AI has a couple of "application models/frameworks"
that we use to teach it and that we can also use with clients who need to
see structure. In fact, anything that we do from T-groups to SWAT, to Org
Design, to Strategic Planning, to teambuilding, to diversity work, to
conflict resolution (you get the idea!) can be done from a context of
understanding the power of dialogue (social construction) and the
realization that everything we see, do and say comes from a context that,
for us individually, is the way we see and understand the world in that
moment. 

Once we realize that we have a choice about continuously re-constructing our
notion of truth, reality, what it all means anyway -- we also know that we
can CHOOSE to look for the generative, the positive, the creative in ways
that move us into what Suresh Srivastva talked about as "the good, the true
and the beautiful." And once we choose to be in that world view, we can use
it with any old model or framework or whatever. 

The power of AI is not 4-D's or any other frame. Rather it is in the
understanding that whatever happens has multiple possibilities and that we
can choose the possibility that is good and beautiful and generative - the
one that will take us toward WHAT WE WANT rather than toward what we don't
want -- remembering always that we will move in the direction of what we
focus on and that we will create what we imagine. And along the way, be sure
to read the fabulous research that Barbara Fredrickson is doing on the power
of the positive!

All that rhetoric is to say that AI is a way of being and the 4-D's or any
of the many models that we consultants use and teach as part of our
"kit-bag" for our clients are just opportunities to use the Appreciative
perspective to enable them to look forward toward their most desired future,
powered by the energy that comes from their stories of best experiences of
the past and dreams of the future. My advise? Step into the possibility  and
make it up as you go along! 

Thanks, as usual, for the great conversations that we enjoy on this list!
Appreciatively, Jane

Jane Magruder Watkins & Ralph Kelly
Appreciative Inquiry Unlimited
An Organization Development Center for Teaching, Consulting and Mentoring

Office & Home
233A Woodmere Drive
Williamsburg, VA 23185
(757) 259-9942

MarshHaven Retreat Center
P.O. Box 541
1702 Wheat Patch Road
Belhaven, NC 27810
(252) 964-3072 

www.appreciativeinquiryunlimited.com

Appreciative Inquiry: Change at the Speed of Imagination by Jane Magruder
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-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Kevin Kervick
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 9:07 AM
To: ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: [Ailist] Ailist] Re: Six Sigma

> Hello Lionel:
>
> I am new to the Appreciative Inquiry listserv, having discovered it after 
> attending a class lecture on AI.  One of the things I appreciated about 
> the approach was the presenter's flexibility and the apparent freedom of 
> AI as compared with other proprietary approaches that preach model 
> fidelity as a way of selling more books, consulting, and supervision and 
> inculcating more members to the cult.  That seems refreshing.
>
> I agree with you about our growing tendency to join and to eschew others 
> not like us.  Our need to belong certainly trumps all other needs.  I have

> to believe it is a result of the growing anxiety in the world.  It is 
> quite scary.  And in the United States it is happening on the left as well

> as the right.
>
> Kevin
>
>
> This supports my concern that the six sigma cult has distorted ideas of 
> 6-sigma in the same way as the scientific management cult distored ideas 
> of Fredrick Taylor.
>
> The core ideas of Fredrick Taylor - that compose industrial engineering, 
> which forms in part the foundation of both lean and six sigma - are quite 
> congruent with AI.  If you read Fredrick Taylor's original book (Taylor, 
> F.W. 1967 (reprint of 1920s original), Principles of Scientific 
> Management. WM Norton & Co Ltd, New York) that spawned scientific 
> management, you will realise that he was quite a appreciative sort of 
> fellow.  However, the scientific management movement ended up being 
> branded stop watch time thugs by human resource profession.  However, the 
> human resource profession is largely ignorant of the operations management

> profession.  So, this is to be expected.
>
> If you read Michael Naisbitt's Global Paradox (he also wrote Megatrends), 
> you will begin to understand the way that the modern world is becoming 
> increasingly compartmentalised and that people join a group and become 
> very warey of all other groups.  This is especially true of six-sigma and 
> perhaps also true of AI.
>
> So yes, a six sigma master black belt will see AI as uncompatable with six

> sigma in the same way as any other fundamentalist will find it difficult 
> to leave the confines of their particular dogma for another perspective. 
> In response to your original question,  I would introduce AI to six-sigma 
> cult followers very carefully and without enthusiasm for the movement 
> behind AI.
>
> If you are upset about having AI (or six sigma) being referred to as a 
> cult then that is an indication that it is in fact a cult.  However, if 
> you see wisdom in the analogy then perhaps it is not.
>
> Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256
> Supervisor/Lecturer - lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au
> Graduate School of Business
> What's up?: http://intergon.net/events.html
> The Sustainable Way: http://intergon.net/tsw
>
>>>> David Shaked <mail at david-shaked.com> 27/10/07 4:09 AM >>>
> Joan,
>
> I have been in the area of Six Sigma and Lean for the past 6 years (I am a

> master black belt if that tells you anything). I am now in transition to 
> AI and have delivered a few AI activities with my company (a large 
> multinational corporation).
>
> My observation is that AI is very different than both lean and six sigma 
> in particular. In six sigma you are specifically looking for what is NOT 
> working in a given process or what is defective and trying to solve it. 
> Lean has a similar thought process, but instead of looking for defects, 
> you are looking for where waste is generated and then try to eliminate it.

> As you can appreciate this isn't quite AI...
>
> Kaizen (='make better' in Japanese) is one of the lean tools/approaches. 
> The original process of Kaizen is simply doing a quick process analysis 
> and fixing the 'non-lean' parts of it within 2-5 days of concentrated 
> effort. Kaizens can potentially be adapted to an AI approach and I am 
> currently in the process if doing it and would be happy to brainstorm with

> others who may be interested in the topic.
>
> My suggestions about your case are to focus on the success of the program 
> rather than the program itself. You can ask questions about previous 
> successful experiences with corporate initiatives or business improvement 
> activities and perhaps gain insights on how to best introduce Six Sigma 
> into your organization. Another idea would be to ask questions around 
> previous successful initiatives by the leadership of the company.
>
> If you'd like to talk more about this, e-mail me at: 
> mail at david-shaked.com.
>
> Good luck!
> David.
>
>
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The Appreciative Inquiry Discussion List is hosted by the David Eccles
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administrator. For subscription information, go to:
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