Integrative%20Thinking%20

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Integrative Thinking Sustainability 2007 Top
100 Employer SummitMarch 22, 2007

• Jim Fisher
• Vice-Dean, CCMF Chair in Entrepreneurship,
  Rotman School of Management

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Explanations James March

• Professor Emeritus at Stanford University
• A leading thinker on organizational learning
• We live in an ambiguous world
• Fuzziness
• Causal inconsistencies
• We cope with ambiguity through simplification and
  specialization

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Experiences in Action
Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School
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And Not Or
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What is Integrative Thinking?
"The ability to face constructively the tension
of opposing models and instead of choosing one at
the expense of the other, to generate a creative
resolution of the tension in the form of a new
model that contains elements of the individual
models but is superior to each." Rotman
School of Management (2005)
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Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels
Competing Models


The range of amenities of a large hotel
The intimacy and comfort of a boutique hotel
Vs.
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Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels
Competing Models


Vs.
The intimacy and comfort of a boutique hotel
The range of amenities of a large hotel
Creative Resolution
The medium-sized luxury hotel with intimacy and
amenities funded by a massive price premium
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A Personal Knowledge System
Stance
Guides

• Who am I in the world and what am I trying to
  accomplish?

Tools
Guides
Informs

• With what tools and models do I organize my
  thinking and understand the world?

Experiences
Informs

• With what experiences can I build my repertoire
  of sensitivities and skills?

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Conventional versus Integrative Stance
Conventional Stance
Integrative Stance

• What I see is only a model of reality
• 2. Opposing models give a different view of
  reality
• 3. Better models exist that are not yet seen
• 4. I am capable of using different models to
  find a better model
• 5. I look for and wade into the necessary
  complexity
• 6. I give myself time to create and develop a new
  insight before proceeding

• I can see and understand the true reality
• 2. Opposing views are not reality and are
  therefore wrong
• 3. No better model exists because I am looking
  at reality
• 4. Where opposing views exist, one view must be
  crushed
• 5. I must simplify and specialize to avoid
  unnecessary complexity
• 6. I must act quickly and decisively

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Victoria Hale, One World Health
Competing Models


Traditional for-profit pharmaceutical model
Vs.
Traditional public health model
Creative Resolution
Not-for-profit pharmaceutical company with a
focus on third-world health
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Victoria Hale on Complexity
I wade into and get through the necessary
complexity
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A Personal Knowledge System
Stance
Guides

• Who am I in the world and what am I trying to
  accomplish?

Tools
Guides
Informs

• With what tools and models do I organize my
  thinking and understand the world?

Experiences
Informs

• With what experiences can I build my repertoire
  of sensitivities and skills?