legend: (l. to r.) Professor Dr. Gunther Olesch, General Manager of Phoenix Contact, Blomberg, Professor Dr. Volker Herzig from College Bielefeld, Dr. Frank Arnold from Malik Management Zentrum, St.Gallen, Gerald Pörschmann, Office Director of OWL Maschinenbau, Bielefeld, Hans-Dieter Tenhaef, General Manager of MIT Moderne Industrietechnik, Vlotho-Exter, Andreas Faust, Manager of HR/Organisational Development Weidmüller, Detmold, and Jörg Hesse, HR Manager Hettich Holding, Kirchlengern, sharing experiences and discussing how to realise the model.
“Management and Bionics – what innovative companies can learn from nature” was the motto of the Management Colloquium which was organised by the Innovation Network OWL Maschinenbau e. V. at the Energie-Forum-Innovation in Bad Oeynhausen in December 2006. About 80 participants from member and partner companies were provided an insight into cybernetics` creative potential for managing organisations. The core statement in the colloquium was: Not just managing staff, but also managing organisations in global environment is important. In this respect, we talk about “Learning Organisations”.
Increasing globalisation, tough international market and accelerated technological changes are challenges which the machine construction industry, which is mainly represented in East Westphalia-Lippe, has to cope with. Conventional organisational structures and ways of working together are often inadequate, so that companies can’t comply with complex requirements of international markets. That is the reason why Dr. Frank Arnold from the Malik Management Zentrum, St.Gallen, was invited to the colloquium. Dr. Frank Arnold presented the participants interesting approaches for the changing market situation.
By explaining the functionality of natural communication systems, especially the nervous system, Dr. Frank Arnold demonstrated how nature deals with continuous changes and new information. Referring to research approaches of cybernetics pioneer Stafford Beer, Dr. Arnold presented a new understanding of organisations. “Up to now, companies have focused on organising activities. Now, we have to learn how to organise flows of information and knowledge – and that under increasing pressure of time.”
Jörg Hesse, HR Manager of the host Hettich Holding, Kirchlengern, underlined in his introductory lecture that companies with cooperation partners around the world do work in a different way. “Nowadays companies in East Westphalia-Lippe develop new ideas, buy raw materials in Brazil, manufacture in China, work with sales partners in Australia and engage a logistics service provider in the Netherlands. And specialists in India handle the tax returns. Conventional hierarchical structures can’t cope with such complexity”, commented Mr. Hesse. The researchers from the Malik Management Zentrum, St.Gallen − cyberneticists, sociologists and economists – believe that all life-forms in nature follow the same pattern. In nature there is no hierarchy based on status or power, but a hierarchy based on the relevance of information.
In the colloquium, representatives of well-known mechanical engineering companies and the College Bielefeld discussed how to implement the theoretical research results in practice. There will be another two meetings in spring 2007. The hosts will be Weidmüller, Detmold, and Phoenix Contact, Blomberg.
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