Talks

Although we did not think so at the time, the 1950's and the 1960's were a relatively easy time in which to manage the oil industry. There were seven Sisters, demand grew every year more or less equal to GNP growth (we used to have heated discussions whether it would go up 5.6 or 5.7% next year) and the price of crude oil was around ...

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I want to talk about the things that have been intriguing me during the last year. It is the dilemma, or dichotomy, of profits (capital) on the one hand and people on the other. The underlying question for management is, do we have to make a choice? And that is in the face of a public debate that is raging in the US, certainly in my own country, the Netherlands, and to some extent here in the UK. In the UK, if you read the Economist, it is hardly a debate, there is no choice, it is capital. That is what I would like to muse over with you and walk through ...

/usr/library/documents/main/lbs_talk_.doc

To test what it takes to become a Learning Organisation, let us have a look at one of Shell's earlier experiments in organisational learning. Following a study made by Pierre Wack, an Internal Consultancy unit was set up which at the behest of Gareth Price started to apply an interview technique, originally pioneered by the Institute for the Future in California. Seven "trigger" questions proved quite effective to bring out a manager's view of his world. The interview notes would not produce directly the "mental models". They would be distilled into a Natural Agenda, the Axioms and the Dilemma's...

 /usr/library/documents/main/strategy_reviews_as_learn.doc