The Orgtology Blog

Hypothesis 2x opens the study of orgtology. It creates its theories and philosophy. Its basic premise is that an Organisation can only exist if activity interacts. In so, an organisation exists through relations and relationships. To relate, entities must interact. Interaction is a cycle of projecting and receiving. When this happens, activity beco...

The difference between an organisation and a system always fascinated me. In the cycle of life there is no leadership or strategy. There is only algorithm. The honeybee pollinates plants that grows from ground, which the dung beetle fertilises by burying decaying matter deep underground. The antelope who eats plants in turn becomes food to a lion. ...

We engage in relationships to benefit ourselves. It could be for resources; psychological wellbeing; need to procreate; sense of duty; etc. The benefits of a relationship could be a myriad of things. Yet, in absence of "the self", there is no relationship. Org has many relationships too. E.g., with employees, customers, suppliers, competitors, owne...

The purpose of a project construct is to plan and execute the changes that Org must make to stay relevant. The future is uncertain. Therefore, a primary task of this construct is to reduce uncertainty of a future outcome. In so, Org must effect change at minimal risk. To reduce the uncertainty of an outcome, one must control the process that create...

Efficiency is quite easy to measure since outputs and outcomes are both quantifiable. Effectiveness on the other hand, relates relevance to outputs. This is a challenging task since relevance is mostly a perception, which is hard to quantify. We call the measure of effectiveness an outcome. Two variables measure an outcome. One is a prediction of w...

Theory O explains a Relevant and Performing Organisation (RPO). It shows how Org must relate intent, resources, and intelligence, to purpose to create an RPO. In Theory O, the "O" stands for organisation or Org. Purpose is a common denominator to organisations who do the same thing. E.g., a bank in Singapore has the same function as a bank in Bangl...

Theory 2E measures the outputs and outcomes of an organisation. I.e., it probes the results of our operations and strategic initiative. An output is the result of a process. When Org defines its activity, sequence, and rules, it creates outputs. A simple example is building a car. The car is an output. Whether people like the car, will buy the car,...

Orgtelligence is the sum of the systems intelligence and human intellect within Org. This means that organisations have two types of intelligence. The first is implied. This is an algorithm - a set of rules that drives activity, which delivers a predictable output. For humans, breathing is an example. For Org, the flow of work is one. The second is...

Work is where rubber meets the road. In a world bound by time, we do all work through a sequence of activity. Some sequences have a definite beginning and end. They are projects. Others repeat a known past, which makes them cyclic processes. There is no other way. Work is either a project or a process. Processes help us to perfect what we did yeste...

Consciousness is the level at which an entity is aware. All entities are aware at some level. E.g., a tree will develop a root structure that can accesses water and nutrients with ease. Yet, a tree does not know that it is a tree. This lack of self-awareness will limit its ability to respond. Therefore, all its actions are mere subconscious reactio...

Orgtology is about understanding organisations. It thus makes sense to know what an organisation is. One will agree that you do not create a child when registering it with a Home Affairs department. In so, registering a company does not create Org. Like human life, Org begins in consciousness. This is an awareness of purpose and an intent to surviv...

Orgtology begins through Hypothesis 2x. In this we assume that anything needs receptive and projective parts to exist. E.g., Org uses a strategy to stay relevant and operations to perform. Strategy is disruptive because it creates change. It is therefore projective. Operations must receive this change, make sense of it, and then hold it. It is ther...

The 4-Window Map (4WM) is an orgamatics tool. I designed it in 2006 as a tool that can deal with complex problems in a simple way. Currently, Orgtologists use it to grasp and resolve organisational problems. In orgamatics, most organisational problems relate to EOP, which stands for Exposure, Opportunities, and Process. The post "The EOP Analy...

EOP is an acronym that we use for Exposure, Opportunities, and Process. In my post "The EOP Analysis – redefining how we understand organisations" I explain EOP. It is an understanding of organisational reality. There are quite a few ways to do an EOP analysis. This could range from a conversation to in-depth research. Below are some of the methods...

When we talk "BEYOND COMPARISON" we think, Johnny Depp; Nelson Mandela; Madonna; Desmond Tutu; Michael Schumacher; Oprah Winfrey; Vladimir Putin, and many others… But there is also Jorge Wilson the accountant, Willie Shabalala the sales executive, and John Naidoo the artist, whose names you will never hear. Whatever your trade, there will be people...

EOP is an acronym for Exposure, Opportunities, and Process. It replaces the old SWOT analysis. SWOT means Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. As with SWOT, the EOP aims to help us understand a current reality. Although SWOT is a helpful way to prepare for strategy, it has limitations. I discuss the detail in my post: "EOP vs. SWOT an...

Writing the executive summary for a strategy document is the last and most important thing to do. This is for strategy development of course. A strategy document shows that you can articulate your plan in a straightforward way. More than 50% of the people who read your strategy will only read the executive summary. It is the part that summariz...

Please Note:This article is replaced with a new version.We are leaving this old version on the site for research purposes.Please click on the link below to access the latest version of this article. Hypothesis 2x – the Foundation of Orgtology Hypothesis 2x opens the study of orgtology. It creates its theories and philosophy. Its basic premise ...

The aim of this blog post is to give a framework for developing strategy from an orgamatics perspective. The orgamatics model holds four base theories. An Orgtologist will use these theories as guideline when developing strategy. The table below shows the effect and consequence of each of the four orgamatics theories.  Theory: Conclusion: Cons...

On 24 July 2018, Derek Hendrikz registered the IOI as a non-profit organisation under Section 21 of the South African Companies Act. In doing so, those who practice orgtology now own it. The reason that Derek set up the IOI was to create a neutral body that will regulate the practice of orgtology™. Through this initiative the world can gain from it...

In leadership and strategy development, mission and vision are both first and foremost. But what is their difference? Which one is first and how does one conclude them? The difference between vision and mission is a confused and misunderstood concept. In many cases they say the same thing, but in a different word order. Even in fortune 500 companie...

Intent creates a future. It is taking nothing and turning it into something. In the world of Org, everything begins with intent and continues through purpose. Vision creates intent whilst mission defines purpose. Vision is the desired state of Org. A strategy is the game plan. In so, the entire project construct of Org aims to execute its vision. U...

Humans bring a process construct™ to life through a role structure. A role structure has dynamics that a construct does not have. In a structure there is inequality between people, which we create through authority levels, power dynamics, job grading, wage differences, etc. This creates a myriad of dynamics that has little to do with work. I explai...

I would generically define an audit as an official inspection of a process and its outputs, or of a project and its outcomes. We can do this in a variety of ways and with an array of goals. In this post I explain how we do a process construct audit. When we audit operations, we are auditing a process construct. Another term for a "process construct...

All my other blog posts on the process construct is about the construct itself. This post is about the people who must manage it. One problem that I often work with, is that many people struggle with the difference between a project team, a process development team, a process implementation team, and a process management team. They are all vastly d...

In my posts, "Creating targets for a process construct" and "How to engineer a process construct", I have explained that in orgamatics™, we create a process construct™ from the top down but that we target it from the bottom up. This is because Org™ does its work at the front-end and therefore, the top processes must just accurately summarize the wo...

"You can't manage what you can't measure." Peter Drucker Outputs are results that a process cycle produces. Outcomes are different. They show how an environment perceives these results. Efficiency drives outputs whilst effectiveness creates outcomes. In so, outputs and outcomes define the results of Org. Targets predict these results. We will alway...

In life, we measure much of any person's worth by what they achieve, after they have achieved it. In some sense, targets, outputs, and outcomes all do this. Why then should we know their difference? What makes matters worse, is that there are many definitions on each. To manage operations and strategy, Org must measure its results. There are two wa...

At micro level, an organisation is made of activity and resources. Jointly, they drive performance and relevance. Therefore, all activity will relate to either purpose or intent. Where activity links to purpose, it cycles. Where it links to intent, is begins and ends. Thus, all organisational activity is either repetitive or non-repetitive. The eff...

The "good and bad" as well as the "right and wrong" that we perceive and accept in our journey brings a reality of "now". This is what we are conscious of in the moment. As we grow older day by day, we learn novel words, which we use to speak our "truths". And as we meet new people, we will use our "truth" to judge them.  In this journey there...