http://www.opposableplanets.com/change/2009/09/the-failure-of-newspapers-and-what-it-means-to-the-rest-of-the-world/ Social Tools Follow Social Rules Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:16:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 http://www.opposableplanets.com/change/2009/09/the-failure-of-newspapers-and-what-it-means-to-the-rest-of-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-691 How can a large institution effectively organize in response to disruptive change? | [mturro: in plain sight] Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:07:35 +0000 http://www.opposableplanets.com/?p=725#comment-691 [...] This post by Joshua-Michéle Ross resonates deeply with my own experience inside the print media industry.  It’s easy to sit back and give suggestions as to what this newspaper or that magazine should do to save themselves, but all of these suggestions miss one crucial point: massive organizational structures that took decades to build have a very difficult time re-structuring to meet an exponential pace of change. Clipped from www.opposableplanets.com [...] [...] This post by Joshua-Michéle Ross resonates deeply with my own experience inside the print media industry.  It’s easy to sit back and give suggestions as to what this newspaper or that magazine should do to save themselves, but all of these suggestions miss one crucial point: massive organizational structures that took decades to build have a very difficult time re-structuring to meet an exponential pace of change. Clipped from http://www.opposableplanets.com [...]

]]> http://www.opposableplanets.com/change/2009/09/the-failure-of-newspapers-and-what-it-means-to-the-rest-of-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-399 Joshua-Michéle Thu, 17 Sep 2009 03:37:18 +0000 http://www.opposableplanets.com/?p=725#comment-399 Mike - I am glad it struck a nerve. On my Radar post there are a to of fascinating responses - Among them pointers to Senge's Work on systems thinking and building, "learning organizations" from his book The Fifth Discipline. As well as some examples of institutions (The Army after Vietnam, Railroads after Interstate Highways and IBM moving from hardware to services) that have made massive changes. None of them entirely fit the bill for me - but are, in their own way instructional. The most interesting comment was a suggestion that I look at criminal organizations for flexibility and endurance... I am now wanting to understand what organized crime did after the repeal of prohibition - that may be interesting and instructional... Mike – I am glad it struck a nerve.
On my Radar post there are a to of fascinating responses – Among them pointers to Senge’s Work on systems thinking and building, “learning organizations” from his book The Fifth Discipline. As well as some examples of institutions (The Army after Vietnam, Railroads after Interstate Highways and IBM moving from hardware to services) that have made massive changes. None of them entirely fit the bill for me – but are, in their own way instructional.
The most interesting comment was a suggestion that I look at criminal organizations for flexibility and endurance… I am now wanting to understand what organized crime did after the repeal of prohibition – that may be interesting and instructional…

]]> http://www.opposableplanets.com/change/2009/09/the-failure-of-newspapers-and-what-it-means-to-the-rest-of-the-world/comment-page-1/#comment-393 Mike Turro Wed, 16 Sep 2009 16:14:14 +0000 http://www.opposableplanets.com/?p=725#comment-393 This resonates deeply with my own experience inside the print media industry. It’s easy to sit back and give suggestions as to what this newspaper or that magazine should do to save themselves, but all of these suggestions miss one crucial point: massive organizational structures that took decades to build have a very difficult time re-structuring to meet an exponential pace of change. That is not to say that the task is insurmountable - just that it needs to be re-framed. Only with a realistic view on what is at hand will any of the old school media be able to successfully transition to new modes. This resonates deeply with my own experience inside the print media industry. It’s easy to sit back and give suggestions as to what this newspaper or that magazine should do to save themselves, but all of these suggestions miss one crucial point: massive organizational structures that took decades to build have a very difficult time re-structuring to meet an exponential pace of change. That is not to say that the task is insurmountable – just that it needs to be re-framed. Only with a realistic view on what is at hand will any of the old school media be able to successfully transition to new modes.

]]>