[Ailist] Examining mental models

[Ron Terrela 2007]

Hi Esther:

A lead-in activity is to have them draw rough sketches of some common items. 
Like a plug-in space heater, a lawn mower etc. Their different versions of 
the same thing helps explore "shared mental models" (Peter Senge). Why did 
one person draw a ride-on mower and another a push mower (socio economic 
status etc). Ask them what if you had to spend planning time and resources 
to start manufacturing one of these items without reaching a share image or 
a shared goal. Obviously they would not want to do that so why would you do 
the same thing with management, with assumptions, with putting a theory into 
practice that isn't shared or understood or clarified. This could help them 
explore why differences exist and where they come from but indirectly and 
perhaps less threatening.

Then, you could have them conduct interviews by asking some appreciative 
questions around "tell me about a time when you were on the same 
"wave-length" or in the same "zone" as some one else (or like a basketball 
team when they enter the "zone") and you achieved your goal effortlessly. 
Was it a visual model you shared, what role did sentiment play? When does 
having different mental models or experiencing discord  help a process or 
project? What is valuable about assumptions? When do they hold us back? etc. 
All this with a reference to managing people. You should have some trust and 
interest building which would allow for a more open exploration of what has 
worked best for many of them. I would end with retelling the best "in the 
zone" management story.

Buena suerte,

Ron Smith
Director, CEL.ULA
Centro Experiencial de Liderazgo
Universididad Latinoamericana
011 52 558 500 8100 ext. 8235
Personal Cell: 55 4143 8766 (usa add: 011 52 1)
Gabriel Mancera 1402 Col. Del Valle
Mexico DF, Mexico CP 03100
 http://cel.ula.edu.mx
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Esther Ewing" <ewingchange at aol.com>
To: "'Appreciative Inquiry'" <ailist at lists.business.utah.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 4:13 PM
Subject: [Ailist] Examining mental models


>I will have a group of 14 managers with whom I need to take through an
> exercise where they will identify their worldview or their basic 
> assumptions
> about managing people. Douglas McGregor said that every managerial act 
> rests
> on assumptions, generalizations and hypotheses (or theory). He said that 
> our
> assumptions are frequently implicit, sometimes quite unconscious, often
> conflicting; nevertheless, they determine our predictions that if we do a, 
> b
> will occur. (The Human Side of Enterprise, p. 6)
>
>
>
> Heil, Bennis and Stephens said that McGregor's most important legacy was
> neither Theory X nor Theory Y. It was his insistence that managers 
> question
> their core assumptions about human nature, and that they see how these
> mental models lead to managerial practices.
>
>
>
> I agree with the importance of my client's managers examining their mental
> models. Does anyone have ideas for me about how I could get them to do 
> this?
>
>
>
>
>
> Best regards
>
> Esther Ewing
>
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