tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1254315679163990153.post8313974895209733183..comments2023-09-09T09:36:50.321+01:00Comments on Systems Thinking for Demanding Change: Innovation by CommitteeRichard Veryardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1254315679163990153.post-70329686257597144962010-04-25T23:37:41.835+01:002010-04-25T23:37:41.835+01:00The unnamed academic quoted by Laurence Rees said ...The unnamed academic quoted by Laurence Rees said "we could never do this", and indicated a pattern common to many universities. I therefore took this to imply not just "my university could never do this" but "our universities could never do this".<br /><br />There may be some universities that are honourable exceptions to this generalization, and I should be happy to learn about them. Or it may be that the generalization itself is unfair, in which case I'd like to see evidence of this. Universities are packed with very intelligent individuals, but this intelligence is not always manifested in the collective behaviour of the university as an institution.<br /><br />I agree with Leo that universities should be perfect hosts for collective intelligence. But are they?Richard Veryardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04499123397533975655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1254315679163990153.post-86800972610623366562010-04-25T19:47:30.784+01:002010-04-25T19:47:30.784+01:00Seems to be a bit of a generalization to say that ...Seems to be a bit of a generalization to say that universities lack the capacity ...<br /><br />Depending on the initiative and its focus, universities should be perfect hosts for collective intelligence. Perhaps the pressure on tenured faculty to publish results (that are attributed to themselves) is part of the problem. <br /><br />Do we encourage and reward research across the faculties/colleges of higher education (or even better inter-institutional research)? We have several thousand years of "institutional" behaviour in our university systems that (IMHO) do not encourage collaboration at a minimum.<br /><br />With the power of the internet and social software, perhaps we now have the tools (still need people's will power) to break down the silos.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />Leo de Sousa<br />http://leodesousa.caLeo de Sousahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17045410475631922069noreply@blogger.com