Taxonomy Work and Organizational Effectiveness

1. Taxonomy Work and Organizational Effectiveness Patrick Lambe Taxonomy Work and Organizational Effectiveness

2. Definitions • Taxonomy - Taxis + Nomos - Customary ways of arranging things • Classification scheme • Semantic • Maps a knowledge domain for human navigation • Taxonomy work - the activities involved in constructing taxonomies • Uncovering natural ways of organising • Negotiating common vocabularies • Representing the domain in a way that supports user needs and purposes www.straitsknowledge.com

3. Definitions • Organisational Effectiveness: ability to set and achieve organisational goals within target timeframes at a competitive cost and effort; ability to respond appropriately to emerging risks and opportunities in the environment • Taxonomy work supports organisational effectiveness by providing: • Consistency - especially in customer facing processes • Coordination - especially for minimising errors • Compliance - for facilitating accountability • Cost Management – by avoiding re-work and redundancy • Control - for ensuring timely and relevant decisions, especially to meet risks and opportunities in the environment www.straitsknowledge.com

4. Victoria Climbié www.straitsknowledge.com

5. Victoria Climbié • “Victoria was not hidden away.” • 3 housing authorities • 4 social service departments • 2 Metropolitan Police child protection teams • 1 NSPCC specialist centre • 2 hospitals • The dreadful reality was that these services knew little or nothing more about Victoria at the end of the process than they did when she was first referred to Ealing Social Services by the Homeless Persons’ Unit in April 1999. The final irony was that Haringey Social Services formally closed Victoria ’s case on the very day she died. The extent of the failure to protect Victoria was lamentable.” • Lord Laming, The Victoria Climbié Inquiry: Summary and Recommendations (London: HMSO, 2003) www.straitsknowledge.com

6. Victoria Climbié 1991 - 2nd November, born near Abidjan, Ivory Coast 1998 - October - Great-aunt Marie Therese Kouao visits, wants to take a child to France for education - Victoria chosen 1998 - November - Kouao and Victoria fly to Paris 1998 - December - Victoria’s school concerned about absenteeism 1999 - February - school issues child at risk emergency notification; social services visit 1999 - 24 April - Kouao and Victoria leave for London for “treatment” 1999 - 26 April - visit Ealing Homeless Person’s Unit, allocated place in hostel from 1 May 1999 - 14 June - friend Ms Ackah notices Victoria has fresh scar, underweight; Kouao meets Manning 1999 - 17 June - Ms Ackah makes first of two anonymous telephone calls to Brent Social Services 1999 - 6 July - Kouao and Victoria move in with Manning; Victoria incontinent 1999 - early July - Childminder Mrs Cameron notices small cuts on fingers; hears of beatings www.straitsknowledge.com

7. Victoria Climbié 1999 - 13 July - Kouao tries to give Victoria to Mrs Cameron; Victoria burned and beaten “self inflicted” 1999 - 14 July - Victoria taken to Central Middlesex Hospital; Brent Social Services and police informed; under police protection overnight 1999 - 15 July - police protection removed, Kouao takes Victoria, visits Ealing Social Services, placed in hotel overnight, then back to Manning’s bedsit 1999 - 24 July - admitted to North Middlesex Hospital, serious scalds, for 13 nights; Haringey Social Services informed 1999 - 28 July - Haringey assigns social worker Lisa Arthurworrey, opens case; refers case to Tottenham Child & Family Centre 1999 - 6 August - Mrs Arthurworrey and PC Karen Jones visit Victoria, decide she can be released back to Kouao; returns to Manning’s bedsit 1999 - 16 August - Mrs Arthurworrey visits; Victoria smart, well dressed 1999 - late August - Victoria’s incontinence worsens 1999 - 29 August - visit to church; pastor notices wounds; Victoria “possessed” www.straitsknowledge.com

8. Victoria Climbié 1999 - 28 October - Mrs Arthurworrey’s second visit: rehousing application turned down; Victoria sleeping in unheated bathroom 1999 - 1 November - Kouao alleges sexual abuse; seen by Mrs Arthurworrey, tries and fails to place Victoria with friend 1999 - 2 November - Kouao retracts allegations; social services say she and Victoria must stay away from Manning during investigation; they return to Manning’s bedsit 1999 - November - Victoria tied up in binliner while she sleeps in bath 2000 - January - Victoria’s skin condition worsens, released from binliner; spends more time in bathroom; hands bound with masking tape; eats cold food like a dog; daily beatings 2000 - 12 February - pastor visits; advises Victoria be taken to hospital, and church 2000 - 19 February - Victoria taken to church; shivering, hungry; pastor says he will fast and pray for Victoria’s spirit possession 2000 - 24 February - Kouao phones pastor, Victoria sleeping, had not eaten or drunk for 2 days; advised to take to hospital www.straitsknowledge.com

9. Victoria Climbié • “Victoria was not hidden away.” • 3 housing authorities • 4 social service departments • 2 Metropolitan Police child protection teams • 1 NSPCC specialist centre • 2 hospitals • The dreadful reality was that these services knew little or nothing more about Victoria at the end of the process than they did when she was first referred to Ealing Social Services by the Homeless Persons’ Unit in April 1999. The final irony was that Haringey Social Services formally closed Victoria ’s case on the very day she died. The extent of the failure to protect Victoria was lamentable.” • Lord Laming, The Victoria Climbié Inquiry: Summary and Recommendations (London: HMSO, 2003) www.straitsknowledge.com

10. Victoria Climbié • Sloppy and unprofessional conduct by social services and healthcare professionals and managers; • A culture of over-delegation and non-accountability among healthcare and social services managers; • Information transfer issues – missing an opportunity to demonstrate a pattern of abuse; • Over-worked and under-trained social services case workers; • Lack of holistic case-handling procedures resulting in no single person getting an overview of Victoria’s situation or taking overall responsibility for it; • Procedural complexity and constant procedural change resulting in lack of clear guidance to social services staff; • Independent reorganizations of police, health and family services authorities, resulting in multiple mis-matches of geographic coverage and asymmetric scales of operation, leading to poor coordination; • Divergent perceptions and descriptions of Victoria’s situation based on functional compartmentalized views, ranging from domestic difficulties (police), child-guardian tensions (social services) medical condition (scabies), unsuitable housing (assigned social worker), child abuse (hospital staff), demonic possession (church pastor). www.straitsknowledge.com

11. Our Environments www.straitsknowledge.com

12. What Taxonomies Do www.straitsknowledge.com

13. Structure & Organize • Smoother and more efficient workflow, fewer errors, better reuse of information and knowledge within the designated area of work • Institute of Technical Education www.straitsknowledge.com

14. Common Ground • Better workgroup coordination, better reuse of knowledge and information, faster retrieval of information and knowledge assets within workgroups • Cabot Corporation www.straitsknowledge.com

15. Boundary Spanning • Better leverage of knowledge and information assets across workgroups, fewer duplications, conflicts and re-work instances, better cross-organization coordination • Dept of Homeland Security www.straitsknowledge.com

16. Sensemaking & Discovery • Greater confidence in decision-making, consensus-building and communications across specialist or decision-making teams, greater ability to spot opportunities and risks, enhanced innovation capability • CAAS • Unilever Research www.straitsknowledge.com

17. Taxonomy Strategies www.straitsknowledge.com

18. Victoria Climbié • “Victoria was not hidden away.” • 3 housing authorities • 4 social service departments • 2 Metropolitan Police child protection teams • 1 NSPCC specialist centre • 2 hospitals • The dreadful reality was that these services knew little or nothing more about Victoria at the end of the process than they did when she was first referred to Ealing Social Services by the Homeless Persons’ Unit in April 1999. The final irony was that Haringey Social Services formally closed Victoria ’s case on the very day she died. The extent of the failure to protect Victoria was lamentable.” • Lord Laming, The Victoria Climbié Inquiry: Summary and Recommendations (London: HMSO, 2003) www.straitsknowledge.com