Organisational! Development! for!Social!Innovation!...
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2013/2014 Organisational Development for Social Innovation (ODSI) Lecturer: Warren Nilsson
Transcript of Organisational! Development! for!Social!Innovation!...
2013/2014
Organisational Development
for Social Innovation (ODSI)
Lecturer: Warren Nilsson
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Organisational Development for Social Innovation MBA 2014
Warren Nilsson
Ph.D. E-‐mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 021 406 1425 Cell: 072 497 7319
1. Program Goals and Course Introduction .................................................................................................. 3 2. Intended Learning Outcomes .................................................................................................................... 3 3. Dates and Times (Course Sessions, Deliverables and Assignments) ........................................................ 4 4. Lecturer Availability .................................................................................................................................. 4 5. Session Outlines ........................................................................................................................................ 4
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1. Program Goals and Course Introduction
Course Introduction
Organizations of all stripes are being called upon to become social innovators. Seeking creative approaches to social and environmental issues is increasingly seen not only as a moral necessity but as a strategic opportunity.
A social innovation is a “novel solution to a social problem that is more effective, efficient, sustainable, or just than present solutions and for which value created accrues primarily to society as a whole rather than private individuals.”1 Social innovations “profoundly change the basic routines, resource and authority flows, or beliefs of the social system in which the innovation occurs.”2
Most concepts, readings, and courses frame social innovation in terms of overall trends and contexts or in terms of particular innovations and innovators. This elective will take a different approach, exploring social innovation from an organizational development perspective. The focus will not be on specific social innovations per se but on how organizations can develop a generalized, sustained capacity for on-‐going social innovation and on how organization members can contribute to that development.
The course will emphasize applied theory. We will look through some rich and rigorous theoretical lenses, many of them new (e.g., institutional work, positive organizational scholarship, panarchy), but will always focus on how those theories can shape day-‐to-‐day practice in concrete organizational circumstances. Sub-‐themes will include: the relationship between ‘institutional work’ and social innovation; an experiential approach to organizational relationships; stakeholder engagement for social learning; managerial leverage points for organizational intervention related to social purpose; a system view of social innovation rooted in the ecological paradigm of resilience; personal exploration of students’ strengths and orientations toward different aspects of social innovation development.
By the end of the course, you should have a better understanding of how an organization in general and how you in particular can become an agent of social benefit. And you should feel more comfortable with and excited about the many opportunities you will undoubtedly have in your life to help change the world.
2. Intended Learning Outcomes
After completion of this course, students are able to: 1. Demonstrate a clear understanding of concepts and theories pertinent to the socio-‐organizational
knowledge domains of Institutional Work, Positive Organizational Scholarship, and Adaptive Resilience (Panarchy).
2. Make autonomous ethical decisions that strengthen organizational orientation and commitment to social purpose.
3. Make interventions at an appropriate level within an organizational system to enhance that system’s capacity for social innovation.
4. Develop their own learning strategies to sustain their continued development as social innovators and moral change agents within organizational contexts.
1 Stanford Social Innovation Review 2 Westley, F., & Antadze, N. 2010. Making a Difference: Strategies for Scaling Social Innovation for Greater Impact.
The Innovation Journal, 15(2).
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3. Dates and Times (Course Sessions, Deliverables and Assignments) Please check your timetable for any changes. Date Time Pre-‐Course/Module Work Read the articles for Session 1 [Prior to Session 1] Course / Module Session 1 October 13, 2014 10:30-‐12:30 Session 2 October 14, 2014 10:30-‐12:30 Session 3 – Submit Reflection 1 October 15, 2014 10:30-‐12:30 Session 4 – Submit Reflection 2 October 16, 2014 10:30-‐12:30 Session 5,6 – Submit Reflection 3 October 17, 2014 8:00-‐12:30 Session 7,8 – Submit Reflection 4 October 18, 2014 8:00-‐12:30 Assessment Dates Reflection 5 October 20, 2014 24:00 Final Reflection (with copies of previous reflections appended)
October 27, 2014 24:00
Project Deliverable November 3, 2014 24:00
4. Lecturer Availability Office hours Wednesdays 14:00-‐16:00. Available other times by appointment. Please email to arrange a meeting or phone call.
5. Session Outlines
Session 1 Social Innovation as an Organizational Capacity
After orienting ourselves to course requirements, we will carefully consider the concept of social innovation: What is it? Who does it? And how is it done? We will challenge the prevailing emphasis on the individual innovator and the single project innovation. In contrast, we will frame social innovation as a collaborative, on-going discovery process, catalyzed chiefly by interactions within and among organizations. Readings: Mulgan, G. 2006. The Process of Social Innovation. Innovations, (Spring): 145-162.
Seelos, C., & Mair, J. 2012. Innovation is Not the Holy Grail. Stanford Social Innovation Review, (Fall): 45–49.
Session 2
Social Innovation as Institutional Work
The core theme of this course is that social innovation requires the ability to see, disrupt, and reimagine deeply institutionalized beliefs, behaviors, and relationships. We will anchor this theme in the sociological understanding of institutions as resilient patterns of interaction spread across social time and space. From this perspective, institutions are simply social constructions (i.e., a product of human social activity), but they are
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nevertheless deeply embedded and very difficult to change. Throughout the course, we will take up the central question: How can organizations intentionally create, maintain, or disrupt institutional patterns? Readings: Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. 1967. The Social Construction of Reality: 53-62, 72-75. New York: Anchor
Books.
Session 3 An Experiential Approach to Institutional Work
Building off of Session 2, we will explore the deeply experiential nature of institutions. We’ll then look at some daily organizational practices that help to surface previously submerged, taken-for-granted experiences of social and organizational life, and we’ll examine how these practices can help foster and sustain social innovation. We’ll also discuss ways for organizations to work with “social purpose” without becoming rigid or ideological. Readings: Nilsson, W., & Paddock, T. 2014. Social Innovation from the Inside Out. Stanford Social Innovation Review,
(Winter): 46-52 Assignments: Learning Journal Entry #1
Session 4 Relationship Quality as a Driver of Social Innovation
We will begin to synthesize themes and practices from the previous sessions by thinking more carefully about the concept and experience of organizational relationships. Social innovation capacity relies less on structures and rules than on than on the quality of relationships that permeate the organization. We will draw on some relational themes emerging in the new field of Positive Organizational Scholarship. Readings: Stephens, J. P., Heaphy, E. D., & Dutton, J. E. 2012. High-quality Connections. In K. S. Cameron & G. M.
Spreitzer (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship: 385–399. New York: Oxford University Press.
Assignments: Learning Journal Entry #2
Sessions 5-6 The Problem of Scale: Social Innovation and System Resilience
How do social innovations go to scale? What organizational approaches are most likely to foster the diffusion of social innovations through highly complex institutional contexts? What is the role of power in such diffusion? And does it even make sense to talk about ‘scale’ and ‘diffusion’ with respect to social innovations in the same way we talk about them with respect to products and technologies? We’ll dig into these questions, drawing on work from the Social Innovation Generation project at the University of Waterloo and focusing specifically on ecologist C.S. Holling’s theory of resilience, which he has termed ‘panarchy’. Panarchy is a
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model that describes how healthy systems move through continuous cycles of innovation, growth, disruption and reorganization. It can be applied to any type and size of “system”: a forest, a watershed, or a climatic zone; a person, an organization, or a society, etc. Holling’s model is dynamic; it presents something quite different from the typical steady-state understanding of sustainability. Fundamental to panarchy is the idea that system resilience requires sustained innovation and that sustained innovation requires system resilience. Holling’s model offers many concepts useful for individuals and organizations interested in better understanding leverage points for system-wide change. We will also look at the role of disruption as it relates to resilience. Social innovation always requires some kind of disruption. And disruption can either began with unintentional shocks to the system, or with intentional engagement with diverse ideas, people, and contexts that challenge our existing ways of thinking. How can organizations consciously seek and support creative disruption? The answer has much to do with the way they relate to people on the margins. We’ll look at stakeholder engagement through this lens. Readings: Holling, C. S. 2001. Understanding the Complexity of Economic, Ecological, and Social Systems.
Ecosystems, 4: 390-405. Hart, S. L., & Sharma, S. 2004. Engaging Fringe Stakeholders for Competitive Imagination. The Academy of
Management Executive, 18(1): 7-18. Assignments: Learning Journal Entry #3 Sessions 7-8
Organizational Leadership for Social Innovation
In this session, we’ll explore additional aspects of agency within organizations. What practical steps can formal leaders take to strengthen an organization’s social innovation capacity? What steps can people who are not in formal leadership positions take? We will particularly focus on social innovation agency in the context of mature, established, fairly routinized organizations and industries. How can organizational stewards maintain a spirit of social inquiry and an openness to disruption while at the same time honoring established organizational patterns that have led to previous success? Readings: Owens, B. P., & Hekman, D. R. 2012. Modeling how to grow: An Inductive Examination of Humble Leader
Behaviors, Contingencies, and Outcomes. Academy of Management Journal, 55: 787–818. Hammonds, K. 2000. Practical Radicals. Fast Company, (August 31).
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/38/radicals.html. Assignments: Learning Journal Entry #4
Post-Course Deliverables Assignments: Learning Journal Entry #5 due 2 days after Sessions 7-8 (Oct. 20) Final Reflection (with all 5 previous journal entries appended) – due 9 days after Sessions 7-8 (Oct. 27) Project Deliverable – due 16 days after Sessions 7-8 (Nov. 3)
