For the first half of the session, Prof went through various drivers of world change and some examples of the drivers. Drivers of world change are factors that caused the change. The various categories of drivers of world change are social, environmental, science and technology, cultural and globalization. Indeed, science and technology is a big driver of world change. It is one of the drivers that has affected our life greatly. It has made our life more convenient with machine doing the work for us, brought people closer together with airplanes and ships, and has saved many of our lives with scientific research about the cure for different illnesses and viruses. Prof has brought up something regarding changes in different countries. He mentioned that it is only when people in one country see people in another country coming up with new inventions that are useful in our everyday life then they will follow suit and come up with inventions that are same or similar to those. This means that when people in developing countries do not come across a new invention in a developed country, they will not know about the invention and the benefits of it. Thus, they will be left out in the world change and this could be one of the reasons why they remain undeveloped.
The first key takeaway from the first half of the session is that things are going to change whether you like it or not. We have to be more generalized, adaptable and flexible to survive. We also have to recognize the change and respond to it. We will not always be living with the way things are and must be prepared to accept any changes that occur. After that, we discussed about evolutionary versus revolutionary. Evolutionary is a change over time which can include improvements whereas revolutionary is a change in the way things are done. Revolutionary can be described as disruptive and a disruptive change will completely change the way of doing things in the original direction. Revolutionary involves changing the world irreversibly. Nevertheless, revolutionary is not a bad thing after all as it does improve our live with various new innovations that suit our need though it may change our usual ways of doing things.
On top of that, Prof pointed out something that is rather important. In reality, we are all living in an unknown world. There is no certainty and we will not know what is going to happen in the future. Anything can happen unexpectedly. As such, we do not have complete information to make decisions. Any decisions that we make are actually only based on the known information. Therefore, when an unforeseen change comes by, we will have to work towards another direction and make a new decision taking into account the new change. In this world, everything is actually like a trial and error.
We also went through the readings. From reading one, I have learnt a new term called “wildcards” which are low probability events that could disrupt the expected mega trend. I find reading one useful as it has shown the possible changes in the future. It is a nice summary of different issues, covering different aspects. This can allow us to prepare for the future such as finding the solutions to them and trying to minimize the damage. Nevertheless, reading one only shows the possibility of what can occur and is not a prediction of what will occur. For reading four, I have learnt some strategic responses to deal with globalization of the economy and markets such as having the right strategies, good knowledge management, skilled staffs at all times, innovation and always meeting customers’ requirements.
The first presenter of the first half of the session presented and posted a question to the class. The question was that competition seems to be the ideal way for nations to progress and whether we agree with it. I think that this was a good question posted as competition is actually occurring everywhere, in school and in workforce. Competition allows for improvements as individuals will find ways to be better than their opponents. It is only through competition then we are able to perform to the best. However, collaboration is in fact better than competition. Collaboration between two parties produces better output as both parties pool their resources together to come up with the best ideas. No matter how strong one is, collaborative efforts will still produce better results since there are more people thinking and people can give feedback to each individual’s opinion and come up with a better one. Sharing of information between two parties also increases the possibility of success at a faster rate since both parties have the maximum inputs to produce an output.
During the second half of the session, Prof talked about managing change. He used three types of birds as an example of how we can manage change. First is the eagle that is proactive, has a big picture perspective, recognizes the change and makes things happen. Second is the ostrich that will sit out, ignore the change even if it recognizes the change and continue to do the things in the original way. Last is the dodo bird that does not even recognize the change. I hope to be the eagle who can make things happen. I want to be able to recognize the change and act according to the change. Prof also mentioned the difference between a leader and a manager. Leader is the creator who creates the framework whereas manager implements and ensures that things are done according to the agreed objectives.
In addition, Prof taught us the process of uninformed optimism to informed pessimism to informed realism to completion to manage change proactively. Prof used dating a girl to describe and this example has allowed me to understand the process better. One of the readings for this part talked about management having to rethink new strategies to solve the current problems. Nowadays, the way to treat people in the past can no longer be used to treat people now as people become more knowledgeable. They need to be convinced so that they are willing to give their intellectual inputs. They also have to know and understand the need for change before they are willing to do so. The first reading mentioned the need to include the employees for change program to succeed and organizations have to connect with the employees so that they will identify with the organization. It also mentioned that management misaligned with human nature requires expensive controls to change the employees’ behavior. Thus, there is a need for organizations to understand its employees and make changes that the employees are willing to accommodate. Organizations have to train their employees often, set target and provide meaningful incentives for them. This will then allow the change program to be implemented successfully. Key takeaway for reading two is to adapt to changes, estimate what is likely to happen, plan ahead and act accordingly.
For the guest presentation, I have learnt from one of the presenters that a successful president has to make it clear to the people regarding the change and has to implement it. The president has to build relationship with the people and lend them his support. Most importantly, the president has to communicate with its people constantly to know what the people are thinking and to understand their changing needs.
I will rate this session 9 out of 10 as I have learnt a lot from this session.
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