In Part I of this blog I summarized Donald Schön’s description of how professionals go about “getting stuff done.” His description was a significant departure from most organizational theorists who viewed the implementation function as a rational process controlled by research, plans, and strategies. Schön on the other hand viewed the process composed of continual ad hoc adjustments to what were thought of as “best laid plans.” Embedded in this ad hoc process was the function of reflection—continually assessing whether the particulars of implementation—goals, budgets, time, space, expertise, resources—were in alignment.
While Schön’s ad hoc reflection process was certainly a significant departure from most organizational theorists’ conception of implementation, it was the second part of Schön’s theory that was a radical departure: “reflection on action.”
The question that is rarely if ever asked of the implementation process is are we “doing the right things.” The charts below list the two sets of questions that administrators would posed in the process of reflecting on action. The first set of questions are philosophical in nature. Each question is not interested in the how, what, where, or who of implementation, but, rather the WHY of mission driven goals and values. Based on the answer to these reflective questions, the administrator may decide to revise the original goals and strategies of the initiative they were implementing. The revision process involves reconnecting theory to practice, which in turn, would require a rethinking of the plans of action and reframing the narratives explaining the how, what, and who of implementation.
The question remains: why do most main offices ignore asking the question: “Are we doing the right thing?” Part III of this blog will address that question.
| TO REFLECT | |
| Why did we do this? Why did you try that? What did you expect? What did you get? What was the gap? What was the cause? What would you do differently? | |
| REVISE | |
| DOING THE RIGHT THINGS | |
| RECONNECT | Theory to Practice Practice to Strategy Strategy to Organization |
| RETHINK | Strategy Training Organization Assessment |
| REFRAME | Target Audience Practical Argument Instructional Narrative |
Alan C. Jones 