Underlying the OPMS

1. Underlying the OPMS What IS the OPMS? Underlying Behavioral Issues ‘One Page Management System’ (OPMS)  Underlying Technology Work in progress – use F5 key to view as it contains animations

2. What is the OPMS? Next slide: OPMS illustration – it’s not evident to begin with, but this is actually the most natural way to look at problems and issues Underlying OPMS

3. The OPMS is the whole system on a single page, for any desired Mission… “To get myself an exciting and challenging job on graduation” “To develop an effective educational system for the nation” Mission: “Effectively tackle the attrition problem in organization” “To understand thoroughly all topics of my Math syllabus – and THEREBY to do well in my math exams; tests; quizzes” The moment your mind thinks of a ‘Mission’ of real interest, it also thinks: “What are the THINGS TO DO to accomplish the Mission?” (Check it out!) Below the ‘System Tie-Line’ appear various required subsystems according to the Mission …these subsystems develop in a natural way as the inter-relationships between the various factors above System Tie-Line are explored …and so on… Then we think of BARRIERS/ DIFFICULTIES/ THREATS that may hinder or prevent accomplishment of the Mission Using OPMS, we do it formally – by responding to ‘trigger questions’. Then we construct both formal and informal models with those responses List of “THINGS TO DO to accomplish Mission” + Action Models showing “contributions” We need to understand the inter-relationships between these factors – and between these factors and the Mission Our educational systems have taught us to ignore the real powers we all have inherent in our own minds and hearts – and it is largely this deficiency that the OPMS is designed to rectify… We claim that this is in fact almost exactly the ‘formalised model’ of the kind of processes that we’ve all been using to resolve our problems and issues from early childhood! Underlying OPMS

4. So this is what happens in the OPMS: • OPMS helps you identify a ‘Mission’ • Then asks you ‘trigger questions about various aspects of your Mission • Records the ideas you generate in form of lists • Helps you construct models that show youspecifically how your ideas impact other ideas AND your Mission • Helps you ‘integrate’ all your lists and models onto a single page, from which you can go to exactly that part of your Mission that’s relevant at the time – at any and every time! • Helps you create effective systems and sub- systems needed to progress on Mission …everything develops from your own available ideas! … the process ensures that you would, over iterations, strengthen your weaker ideas, modify or remove your wrong ideas! Underlying OPMS

5. What you get from the OPMS: • The Mission identified and articulated • Lists of “THINGS TO DO” - “BARRIERS” - “STRENGTHS” - “WEAKNESSES; etc … • Models showing exactly how each of these factors “CONTRIBUTE TO” or“HINDER” or “PREVENT” accomplishment of the Mission! These models link whatyou do effectively now to the things youwant to accomplish • That’s exactly the Action Planning needed! Underlying OPMS

6. Some underlying behavioural issues: • Problems can be effectively resolved only through the ideas of the people involved in the problems or issues at hand • Thus, the ideas of the people involved are crucial for resolution of the problem • People involved need to be motivated to work to resolve the problem • The best way to motivate people is to use their good ideas in problem-resolution • People involved should also become able and willing to strengthen their weak ideas & to get rid of their bad ideas Underlying OPMS

7. Technology required: • For anything we seriously think about, our minds generate a HUGE number of ideas • The human mind is not designed to handle a large number of ideas simultaneously – in the conventional way, we tend to lose a great many of our good ideas, we get stuck with ‘bad ideas’, etc, etc • Therefore, some ‘technology’ is required to enable us to record all useful ideas that we get and to access each of them exactly as and when the specific ideas may be needed • This technology consists of practical means to generate ideas along with modeling tools to enable understanding how those ideas are ‘inter-related’ Underlying OPMS

8. Technology specifics: ‘Idea-writing’; ‘Nominal Group Techniques’; Delphi – for generating and recording ideas ‘Interpretive Structural Modeling’ (ISM)for organizing ideas on basis of ‘transitive’ systems relationships between the ideas; ‘Field Representation’ (FR) Method, for ‘clustering’ large numbers of ideas; ‘One Page Management System’ (OPMS),to enable ‘integration’ of all relevant aspects of the ‘Mission’ (/issue / problem) onto a single page – with full access to just what is relevant at each point of time. OPMS contains all above-noted tools Underlying OPMS

9. 1. Generating and recording ideas: A: Ask a ‘trigger question’: “What, in your opinion, are the THINGS TO DO to develop an effective educational system for the nation?” There are such trigger questions relating to other crucial dimensions that should be considered while we develop our needed systems (see picture of OPMS) Underlying OPMS

10. Some responses to this trigger question: • To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational sector (1) • To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders - students, teachers, parents, others (2)... • To ensure that the real stakeholders in education have a real voice (3) • Toensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly integrated into our action planning (4) Underlying OPMS

11. More ideas: • To create educational systems meeting the real needs of those being educated (5) • To ensure that truly passionate and committed teachers are available for every educational stream (6) • To provide a proper place in society for good teachers (7) • To pay teachers well, give them the kind of rewards they really want (8) • To provide all needed avenues for teachers to develop themselves (9) • To ensure that students at each level have a proper voice in the educational systems catering to their specific needs (10) • To develop effective professional education courses (11) • To put into place, at an initial level, effective practical means for people to discuss and resolve issues (12) • To ensure that teachers at each level have their proper voice in the actual actioning in the educational system (13) • To get stakeholders in education effectively together in various groups, to discuss educational issues and how OPMS could help (14) Underlying OPMS

12. And still more ideas: • To convince people at large that the conventional mode of prose discussion is not effective for resolving complex issues (15) • To convince people that prose + structural graphics (p+sg) would be most useful to develop effective Action Planning on this issue (16) • To convince people that p+sg is in fact an essential requirement for making real headway on this complex issue (17) The OPMS is a ‘system’ designed to ensure all of this!  Good ideas should appear in the final Action Plan for the Mission  Weak ideas should be strengthened  Bad ideas should be modified or removed For any issue of real interest to people involved in it, a large number of ideas would arise. Many will be good and usable ideas; some will be weak ideas; others will be irrelevant or just bad ideas: it is very important to take up all ideas presented from all genuine stakeholders and to ‘integrate’ them effectively into the ‘Action Planning’ Underlying OPMS

13. Organizing/ ‘structuring’ ideas - 1: Construct models showing “contributions” To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders - students, teachers, parents, others (2) “may contribute” To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational sector (1) Prose Translation: “To discover who the real stakeholders are “MAY CONTRIBUTE” to give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders…” Underlying OPMS

14. “should contribute” Add one more element Organizing/ structuring ideas - 2: Develop models To create educational systems meeting the real needs of those being educated To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders (2) To ensure that the real stakeholders in education have a real voice” (3) To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section (1) Some underlying issues: There may be considerable disagreement between different people about how various elements are perceived to “contribute” to each other. Effective discussion engendered in the OPMS process enable people to arrive at a true consensus. This is a ‘representation’ of the mental model of the specific persons who considered the issue. (The mental model may be ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ – we claim that creating such models is useful to help find out how the mental models that are held by the people involved reflect their own reality. And other people could see the whole thing quite differently). Prose transation: “To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section SHOULD CONTRIBUTE to ensure that the real stakeholders in ed. Should have a real voice, which in turn SHOULD CONTRIBUTE to give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders” We should EACH time translate these models fully into prose – you’ll soon find reading these models much easier than reading standard prose! Underlying OPMS Prose translation: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

15. “should contribute” We continue exploring the ‘deep logic’ hidden in the ‘structure’ of those elements in the system… • Toensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly integrated into our action planning To create educational systems meeting the real needs of those being educated Add yet one more element… • To ensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly integrated into our action planning To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders (B) To ensure that the real stakeholders in education have a real voice” (C) To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders (B) To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section (A) To ensure that the real stakeholders in education have a real voice” (C) Remember it is very important to write up prose translations of all models created till you are entirely familiar with this new language of ‘structural graphics! To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational section (A) Underlying OPMS

16. Logically, we are able to justify adding elements, in specific, appropriate positions to our starting two-element graphical structure (as we’ve done in the past few slides) because the relationship “CONTRIBUTES TO” is transitive, which means the following: Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM) is based on a SINGLE transitive relationship running right through the model. If ‘A’ ‘B’, and if ‘B’ ‘C’, then ‘A’ MUST ‘C’ (where ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ are elements and stands for the specific transitive relationship under consideration) Models constructed using the above algorithm would be logically consistent AND, further, the construction of even very large models would also be quite efficient because of the transitivity of the single relationship used in each such structure. Mistaken ideas are easily corrected through regular use of this process (assuming, of course, there is a basic desire to correct one’s own mistaken ideas) This simple idea has huge impact – in regard to construction of these models as well as to their interpretation. The process helps the people easily perceive the logical inconsistencies that may be embedded in their thought processes! Underlying OPMS

17. Using this algorithm, we’ve used the OPMS software to create a model comprising over 20-odd elements (next slide). Time taken to create this model: about 10 minutes (by an individual). A diverse group of 8-10 people interested in the issue of creating effective educational systems for India might take about 2-4 hours – or longer - to create a ‘consensus model’. Underlying OPMS

18. The model does not fit onto a single screen, so only a part of it is visible here. Next screens, we display the model in sections Underlying OPMS

19. “leads to” …but we display the model from top to bottom, next slides: This is the way the model should be read… TOPMOST LEVEL OF MODEL SECOND LEVEL OF MODEL THIRD LEVEL OF MODEL FOURTH (LOWEST) LEVEL OF MODEL Prose translation: “Fourth Level LEADS TO Third Level LEADS TO Second Level LEADS TO Topmost Level” Underlying OPMS

20. “may contribute” TOPMOST LEVEL OF MODEL Underlying OPMS

21. “may contribute” SECOND LEVEL OF MODEL Underlying OPMS

22. “may contribute” THIRD LEVEL OF MODEL Underlying OPMS

23. Prose translation (reading from below): “To create a wide number of examples to get people interested in using OPMS on educational issues MAY CONTRIBUTE to put into place, at an initial level, effective practical means for people to discuss in resolve issues (in consensus) which in turn “MAY CONTRIBUTE … … …” [IMPORTANT: Such prose translation should be done for all parts of all models!!! Soon, you’ll find you are very easily thinking in terms of these structural graphics]. Complete model constructed using the OPMS prototype software. Write to gs_chandy@yahoo.com to get your copy of OPMS software! “leads to” “may contribute” TOPMOST LEVEL OF MODEL SECOND LEVEL OF MODEL THIRD LEVEL OF MODEL FOURTH (LOWEST) LEVEL OF MODEL FOURTH (LOWEST) LEVEL OF MODEL Underlying OPMS

24. WHY? HOW? The “HOW?”s and the “WHY?”s of each and every element in the structure are built into the model constructed with “contributes to” as its structural relationship! UP the model to find out “WHY?”DOWNthe model to find out “HOW?” This property holds for EVERY element in any ‘contribution structure’ – check it out for yourself! We now explain one very important characteristic of any model predicated on the transitive relationship “contributes to” … Read DOWNthe structure to find out the HOW of the focus element! Focus on ANY element in the structure: Read UPthe structure to find out the WHY of the focus element! Underlying OPMS

25. The model illustrated in the previous slides is a representation of the ‘mental model’ of the people considering the issues involved… To arrive at a realistic understanding of any group issue (such as this one), we shall need to take into effective consideration the views of ALL involved, enable them to develop a proper understanding of each other’s views, and from that understanding to develop a realistic ‘consensus representation’ of the whole system… Warfield’s ‘Interactive Management’, which is the foundation of OPMS, is designed to ensure effective learning by all involved and the development of ‘consensus wisdom’ on all group issues. Underlying OPMS

26. John N. Warfield’s ‘Interactive Management’ comprises a whole set of methodologies to: • enable problem solvers to generate & clarify ideas along with • two powerful modeling tools to enable them to ‘structure’, or organise ideas generated. You’ve just seen ISM, one of the modeling tools. OPMS General Presentation

27. Apart from ISM, Warfield has created another powerful modeling tool, ‘Field Representation and Profiling Method’ (FR) designed to help us ‘cluster’ elements in a system into appropriate ‘similarity classes’ or ‘categories’ – which then help us explore the relationships (transitive and other) between elements and categories. We illustrate the Field Representation Method with three examples – one example being a general structure of the utmost simplicity; the second one relates to our Mission of “Developing effective educational systems for India’s real needs”, and the third one is a pretty complex Field… OPMS General Presentation

28. Here’s a list of some diverse Missions We shall now use the Field Representation process on this diverse list to clarify things a bit – illustrate how to represent a ‘system’ (so that we can explore inter-relationships … • To become a top level software designer • To double organizational turnover within one year • “Garibi hatao!” – (The ‘anti-poverty’ slogan of Indira Gandhi’s government – the slogan was excellent, but the initiative as a whole failed rather miserably) • To master my math syllabus and thereby get excellent results in my math exams • To get myself a satisfying and well-paying job • “To create an effective system of governance to meet India’s needs” • To align individuals in the organization to the organization’s goals • To qualify myself for the best job opportunities available • To launch a new product in the US market in 2008 • To set up my own consulting business • To become a global leader in software services by 2015 • “To ensure 90% true literacy in India within 10 years” • To align individuals in the organization to the organization’s goals • Etc, etc. Our first example of FR follows… OPMS General Presentation

29. The first step of the FR process involves inserting the ‘elements’ into categories/’similarity classes’ General ‘modeling question’, for creating Field Representations… In your opinion, is “----------” (element 2) similar to (/in the same category as) “------------” (element 1) [keeping in mind the kind of organizational structures that may be needed to accomplish the specific Mission]? We start by inserting the first element into a blank ‘Dimension’, as illustrated below… A: Dimension 1● To become a top-level software designer First element inserted in Dimension 1 …and then we ask ‘modeling questions’, as shown, next … OPMS General Presentation

30. More specifically (in this case): In your opinion, is “To double organizational turnover within 1 year”(element ‘2’) similar to (/in the same category as) “to become a top-level software designer”(element ‘1’)[keeping in mind the kind of organizational structures that may be needed to accomplish the specific Mission]? Response Is “NO”, so this element goes into a different category as shown, next slide… OPMS General Presentation

31. Here’s how the Field Representation develops: A: Dimension 1● To become a top-level software designer A: Dimension 1 B: Dimension 2● to become a top-level ●To double organizational software designer turnover within 1 year Next trigger question: Response: “NO”, so new question asked… In your opinion, is “Garibi Hatao!” (element ‘3’) similar to (/in the same category as) “to become a top-level software designer” (element ‘1’)[keeping in mind the kind of organizational structures that may be needed to accomplish the specific Mission]? Response again: “NO”, so a new dimension is created… Next trigger question: Second element in Dimension 2 In your opinion, is “Garibi Hatao!” (element ‘3’) similar to (/in the same category as) “To double org. turnover within 1 year?” (element ‘2’)[keeping in mind the kind of organizational structures that may be needed to accomplish the specific Mission]? A: Dimension 1 B: Dimension 2● to become a top-level●To double org. software designerturnover within 1 year C: Dimension 3 ● Garibi Hatao! If the response to a modeling question is “NO”, the question is asked again w.r.t. the elements in the next Dimension, or a new Dimension is created and the question-element is inserted there. If the response is “YES”, then the question-element is inserted in the same Dimension and the next element is taken up… and so on… The ‘Field Representation’ (FR) that develops is illustrated (in outline) next slide OPMS General Presentation

32. A: Dimension 1 To become a top-level… To master my math syllabus To get myself a satisfying and well-paid job … B: Dimension 2 To double organizational turnover… To get over the ‘attrition problem’ To align individuals in organization… To launch a new product in US market FR: “ System of ‘Types of Missions’ ” System Tie-Line C: Dimension 3 O “Garibi Hatao!” O “To create an effective system of governance for India’s needs” O “To develop an effective educational system for our needs” O “……” Important!The titles of the categories are arrived at only after all elements are appropriately inserted into blank categories (see next…) OPMS General Presentation

33. A: Individual Missions To become a top-level… To master my math syllabus To get myself a satisfying and well-paid job … B: Organizational Missions To double organizational turnover… To get over the ‘attrition problem’ To align individuals in organization… To launch a new product in US market FR: “ System of ‘Types of Missions’ ” System Tie-Line C: Societal Missions O “Garibi Hatao!” O “To create an effective system of governance for India’s needs” O “To develop an effective educational system for our needs” O “……” OPMS General Presentation

34. IMPORTANT: The appropriate titles of the Dimensions of this Field Representation came to light only AFTER all elements were inserted into those Dimensions via an appropriate ‘modeling question’! • Individual Missions • Organizational Missions • Societal Missions OPMS General Presentation

35. A: Individual Missions • To become a top level software designer • To master my math syllabus and thereby get excellent results in my math exams • To get myself a satisfying and well-paying job • To qualify myself for the best job opportunities that become available • To set up my own consulting business • To become more effective at what I do • To learn to use PowerPoint effectively • … OPMS General Presentation

36. All the Missions in the ‘Individual Missions’ category (and many others besides) have been successfully worked on by various persons • Many have successfully worked on their Missions after the prototype software was created – a few were able to do this even beforethe software was developed! OPMS General Presentation

37. B: Organizational Missions • To obtain needed financing for a major project • To align individuals in the organization to the organization’s goals • To double organizational turnover within one year • To get over the ‘attrition problem’ • To launch a new product in the US market in 2008 • To become a global leader in software services by 2015 • To obtain needed financing to market globally • … OPMS General Presentation

38. A few of the Missions in the ‘Organizational Missions’ category have been successfully worked on at different levels. • We have been conducting OPMS workshops for organizations only after the prototype OPMS software had become available. OPMS General Presentation

39. C: Societal Missions • “Garibi hatao!”(Indira Gandhi’s famous slogan, which has alas never been effectively worked on) • “To create an effective system of governance to meet India’s needs” • “To develop an effective educational system for India’s needs” • “To ensure 90% true literacy in India within 10 years” • “To become one of the ‘least corrupt’ nations in the world within 10 years (instead of being one of the ‘more corrupt’ nations)” • … OPMS General Presentation

40. Thus far, I’ve not managed to get any group, or any government or NGO organization, to take up any of the many potential ‘societal Missions’ that OPMS could be used for. • I have identified a huge number of potential projects – even a quick glance through any day’s news will fetch at least 10 potential projects that are crying out for the OPMS treatment! OPMS General Presentation

41. A: Individual Missions To become a top-level… To master my math syllabus To get myself a satisfying and well-paid job … B: Organizational Missions To double organizational turnover… To get over the ‘attrition problem’ To align individuals in organization… To launch a new product in US market FR: “ System of ‘Types of Missions’ ” The ‘SYSTEM TIE-LINE’ stands for any of the relationships that may be inherent in the system under consideration System Tie-Line C: Societal Missions O “Garibi Hatao!” O “To create an effective system of governance for India’s needs” O “To develop an effective educational system for our needs” O “……” On examining the ‘system’ with just the three dimensions that have developed here, we are now able to perceive that a couple more dimensions are required to render this into a truly useful and usable ‘system’… OPMS General Presentation

42. A: Individual Missions To become a top-level… To master my math syllabus To get myself a satisfying and well-paid job … B: Organizational Missions To double organizational turnover… To get over the ‘attrition problem’ To align individuals in organization… To launch a new product in US market FR: “ System of ‘Types of Missions’ ” System Tie-Line Dimensions ‘D & ‘E’ are needed to create a useful ‘system’ C: Societal MissionsO “Garibi Hatao!”O “To create an effective system of governance for India’s needs”O “To develop an effective educational system for our needs” O “……” Check out ‘understandability’ of the system as it appears now against the original list of objects (reviewed, next slide). D: Type of organizationE: Resources reqd.Requiredo ~~~~~~~~~~~~O Self-organization o ~~~~~~~~~~~~O Incorporated Company o~~~~~~~~~~~~~ O Government or non-governmental organisation T OPMS General Presentation

43. Some diverse Missions • To become a top level software designer • To double organizational turnover within one year • “Garibi hatao!” • To master my math syllabus and thereby get excellent results in my math exams • To get myself a satisfying and well-paying job • “To create an effective system of governance to meet India’s needs” • To align individuals in the organization to the organization’s goals • To qualify myself for the best job opportunities available • To launch a new product in the US market in 2008 • To set up my own consulting business • To become a global leader in software services by 2015 • “To ensure 90% true literacy in India within 10 years” • To align individuals in the organization to the organization’s goals • Etc, etc We claim that a significant enhancement in understanding develops through FR categorization – just review that Field Representation!(Reviewed, next slide) OPMS General Presentation

44. A: Individual Missions To become a top-level… To master my math syllabus To get myself a satisfying and well-paid job … B: Organizational Missions To double organizational turnover… To get over the ‘attrition problem’ To align individuals in organization… To launch a new product in US market FR: “ Systems required to handle different kinds of Missions” System Tie-Line C: Societal MissionsO “Garibi Hatao!”O “To create an effective system of governance for India’s needs”O “To develop an effective educational system for our needs” O “……” D: Type of organization E: Resources reqd.RequiredO Self- organization o ----------------------O Incorporated Company o ---------------------- O Government or non-governmental organisation T OPMS General Presentation

45. We’ve just illustrated how ideas may be usefully ‘clustered’ (for various purposes) Field Representation (FR) Method: helps create ‘clusters’ of elements based on the ‘similarities’ perceived between elements / ‘categories’ discovered in the system Underlying OPMS

46. So, let’s recap WHYwe do this ‘clustering’ or ‘categorization’ • The mind is able to get a better ‘overview’ picture of the whole by looking at a few categories rather than looking at a large number of disparate elements • We can start understanding the relationships between the factors in the system when we look at those categories rather than the disparate elements in the list (illustrated later) • By creating such a Field Representation of ‘Missions’, we are enabled to understand the ‘structures’ of the kind of systems needed to accomplish each type of Mission OPMS General Presentation

47. WHY ‘cluster’ or ‘categorize’? • We’ve learnt over millennia to categorize factors of systems in ways that are useful to enable our understanding of the systems confronted. The Field Representation process just utilizes this existing, well-developed human skill and thereby provides us a practical means to create ‘graphical pictures’ of systems that encompass all dimensions of the system under consideration. • Most importantly, such representations, when effectively done, turn out to be models that satisfy this fundamental law of systems:“Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety” (explained, next slides) Underlying OPMS

48. Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety: (‘Simple Simon’ version) “The dimensions of a proposed solution to any problem should match the dimensions of the problem itself” A great many of our individual, organizational and societal systems are designed without the designers having kept this fundamental law in mind – which explains why so many of our systems do not perform optimally or even may fail catastrophically Take a look at the news ANY day - and you will see scores (if not hundreds) of examples to validate the claim just made – and to demonstrate the desperate need for practical means to ensure that our systems are designed to satisfy Ashby’s Law! OPMS General Presentation

49. We illustrate Field Representation (FR) method once again – now with a structure created from the elements in our list of elements created for the Mission of “Developing an Effective Education System for the Nation” First, we recap the list Then, we show the Field - on two slides as it does not fit into one screen OPMS General Presentation

50. Elements or factors for educational system: • To discover who the real stakeholders are in each different educational sector (1) • To give due weight to the ideas of all stakeholders - students, teachers, parents, others (2)... To enable all stakeholders …(2a) • To ensure that the real stakeholders in education have a real voice (3) • Toensure that all good ideas provided by different groups of people interested in education are properly integrated into our action planning (4) Underlying OPMS