The E-Learner

Issue No. 24

February 2002

Published by

© European Consortium for the Learning Organisation.

All rights reserved.

Welcome to the twenty forth edition of The E-Learner, ECLO's electronic newsletter for members.

As always, we welcome contributions from members, as it is impossible to keep on top of the wealth of information on the World Wide Web on topics of interest to you all.

For your ongoing reference The E-Learner will be archived in the members' zone of our web site.

Editor: Brian Taylor

Editorial

We start this month’s issue of the E-Learner by ringing out the old and bringing in the new. It’s a time to celebrate and what better way than the Chinese way. Yes February heralds the Chinese New Year and provides the thematic base for a little story telling. This is followed by a more stimulation for the forthcoming Amsterdam Conference, with issues (and ‘links’) on topics such as, ‘Out of Box’ Thinking, Appropriate Technology for Learning ?, what is a Brain-Rich Environment ? and Psychology in the Workplace.

Brief flashes from Marchmont and TrainingZone and rounding off with pieces on Team Dynamics and A New King of Organisation, based on Purpose and Principle. So let’s go………………….>

ECLO Amsterdam Conference - May 16-18, 2002.

Chinese New Year !

This year is the ‘Year of the Horse’, at least according to the Chinese Calendar. February herald’s the Chinese New Year and for millions of people on this planet, it arrived many moons in the East before Santa Claus arrived in the West. Many ECLO Members use of metaphor, fables and story telling is complemented by Chinese traditions, so it not so surprising that this month’s tag line(s) are full of eastern promise.

& but one, of course...) Their folklore and tales sometimes illustrate this.

For example, there is a Chinese fable that tells of a man who sat near his cow playing a graceful melody on his lute for her. As he played he noticed that the cow simply kept eating grass and did not respond in any way to the lovely music , just as if she did not even hear it. The lute player therefore allowed this tune to evaporate, introducing into its place a tune of the sound of buzzing mosquitoes and the bellowing of a lost calf. The cow immediately pricked up her ears, began to twitch her tail, and slowly moved about with keen interest, almost as though dancing to the tune………….the word 'empathy' springs to mind here.

Making Your Mark

When the boat stopped moving, he went into the water to look for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat. The boat had moved but the sword had not. Is this not a very foolish way to look for a sword?

‘Out of Box’ Thinking

Are you an 'Out of Box' Thinkers ?

Better than reading a book, you can participate in the virtual online process, in which new knowledge, about tomorrow's organisations, business and technology, is being created by a global community of practice. It has been suggested that new knowledge is created in the process of conversations, more specifically dialog. Feel free to dive in and start creating the global vision that will influence the shape of tomorrow's businesses, technologies and business practices... Click on the following index of hyperlinks for analyses and commentary. Share your thinking and engage in dialogue with ONLINE DISCUSSION FORUMS .

Appropriate Technology for Learning ?

This profile tool helps you to compare current instructional practices with a set of indicators for engaged learning and high-performance technology. It’s a start…..

Brain-Rich Environment

This is the first in a series of reports to be published by the Marchmont Observatory, a regular contributor to the E-Learner.  The Observatory has been establishe 1766/tNew">Behavioural-Safety.com
Is a free, comprehensive resource for Behavioural Safety on the web.

• Bully OnLine
  Validates the experience of bullying and identifies bullying as both the cause of stress and the underlying behaviour of harassment, discrimination, prejudice, abuse, conflict and violence.
  • Depression in the Workplace
    Depression is a common illness. At some point in life, around 1 in 5 women and 1 in every 10 men will suffer from depression. It is not just distressing for the person involved, it makes them less productive at work and is responsible for high rates of sick-leave, accidents and staff turnover.
    • Douglas McGregor - Theory X and Y
      McGregor's ideas about managerial behaviour had a profound effect on management thinking and practice. His propositions sum up the precepts of a unitary and normative frame of reference for managerial practice.
      • Etzioni and Systems of Organisational Membership
        Amitai Etzioni in exploring sources of organisational power offered a synthesis of systems that organisations adopt to secure member compliance.
        • Human Relations Management
          The "Hawthorne Effect" is the name given to the 112% increase in output by workers who perceive that they are being studied somehow. Mayo and his good-looking male research assistants let the almost all-female group of workers at the Hawthorne plant think they were studying the effects of lighting on productivity. They found that output increased even when the lighting levels were decreased, even when salaries were adjusted downward, and even when worker complaints were ignored.
          • Managing the Stress of Workplace Change
            Organisational change and increased stress levels seem to be life partners these days. To help workers cope with the stress of change, a Stress Management Programme using the concepts of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. REBT is based on the assumption that emotional and behavioural reactions are largely caused by conscious and unconscious beliefs (Ellis, 1998).
            • Psychology at Work: Doing More and More With Less and Less
              Some tips on how to deal with an escalating workload.
              • Psychology at Work: Downsizing Survivors
                Tips for managers and employers on helping remaining workers cope following redundancies.
                • Psychology at Work: Managing Your Boss
                  Questions and answers on how to deal with a difficult boss.
                  • The Effects of Member Change and Continuity on the Productive Efficiency of Work Teams The requirements of flexibility and change demanded of organisational activities by today’s environments may have diverse consequences for work teams, such as those related to conditions of the continuity and change of their members.

Team Dynamics

An introduction to the subject of "team dynamics" - what they are, the effect they have on the team, how to recognise them, and how to manage them constructively. Team Dynamics are often unseen 'natural forces', that strongly influence how a team reacts, behaves or performs

You can find them just about anywhere in the world.. They have not spread through unrelenting market push. Rather they are pulled by demand, because they meet people’s real needs.

They serve their purposes successfully, without any obvious headquarters, no glittering centre of power, no centralised command and no one owns any of them.

Dee Hock, who founded VISA, would say these are all chaordic organisations. He made up the word by combining "chaos" and "order." Chaordic organisations are self-organising and self-governing. They operate not through hierarchies of authority, but through networks of equals. It isn't power or coercion that makes them effective, rather it's shared purpose, ethical operating principles, and responsibility distributed throughout the organisation.

Need to know more then click on Donella Meadows' The Global Citizen, issued published on 23 December 1999 and lots, lots more……….

Final Thought

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