Sense, Coherence, and
Meaning: The ADB
Sustainable
Development Timeline
By Olivier Serrat
Principal Knowledge Management Specialist
Social Development, Governance, and Gender Division
Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department
Insight Thursday: Ideas, Opinions, Solutions
21 October 2015
In 1994–1995, Sumantra Ghoshal—an Indian organizational theorist—published with Christopher Bartlett a trilogy of articles on Changing the Role of Top Management. (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1994) (Ghoshal and Bartlett, 1995) (Bartlett and Ghoshal, 1995) The first, Beyond Strategy to Purpose, set the scene and argued that purpose—not strategy—is the reason an organization exists. In that and in the other two pieces, they recommended that organizations should move beyond strategy, structure, and systems to a framework built on purpose, processes, and people. They reckoned that a fatal flaw of the traditional strategy–structure–systems construct—which of course owes to Taylorism and scientific management mindsets—is the intention to minimize the idiosyncrasies of human behavior. They recommended (i) less emphasis on following clear strategic plans, and more importance to defining engaging purposes; (ii) less focus on formal structures, and more attention to effective processes; and (iii) less concern for control through systems, and more appreciation of capabilities and perspectives.
Figure 1: Changing the Role of Top Management
Source: Author
I. STORYTELLING: CREATING SENSE, COHERENCE, AND MEANING
In January 1946, Winston Churchill was on board the Queen Elizabeth. Post-Second World War, the ship was taking several hundred Canadian troops home via the USA. Churchill was asked to address the soldiers. Here is part of what he said:
Box: Mr. Churchill's Address to All Personnel On Board the Queen Elizabeth
Source: Winston Churchill. 1946.
Why this long preamble? Because purpose is what sense, coherence, and meaning advance, and the point is that storytelling is a prime agent of reflective practice, which ought always clarify, energize, or possibly even modify purpose. And yet, organizations typically do quite little to value, communicate, and capitalize on their tacit—or silent—knowing, their greatest asset …
II. SENSE, COHERENCE, AND MEANING: THE ADB SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE
In 2010, ADB: Reflections and Beyond succeeded in connecting ADB staff with the organization's very rich history. (Serrat, 2010) An account of that first foray is given in Building Narrative Capacity at ADB. (Lu and Serrat, 2010) News of the accomplishments of senior and younger personnel instilled feelings of pride and heightened their sense of organizational identity. Refreshingly, the narratives of the "Yellow Book" contrasted sharply with the dominant tone of characteristic ADB products; the book was reprinted twice and copies have, again, run out.
In 2011, a follow-up interactive, audiovisual project was conceptualized to map out, in small incremental The Old Model
Yesterday I was on the bridge, watching the mountainous waves, and this ship—which is no pup—
phases, sector and thematic milestones in ADB's journey toward sustainable development. An account of that second foray is given in Interactive Stories of Sustainable Development. (Montoya and Serrat, 2012) Advertised recently, the ADB Sustainable Development Timeline catalogs landmarks in ADB's operations since 1966. The website's 450+ videos, featuring 150 storytellers, are arranged by duration, extras, focus area, history, organization, president, region, sector and thematic group, storyteller, and type. A veritable public good, the website lends itself to serial application with respect to institutional memory; annual meetings; conferences, seminars, and workshops; ADB–donor interactions; external relations; staff recruitment, induction, and training; library information resources and services; and education and student visits.
Source: Serrat. 2015.
Video: Sense, Coherence, and Meaning: The ADB Sustainable Development Timeline
Source: Serrat, 2015.
Figure 3: ADB Sustainable Development Timeline: Website Highlights
Search Dimensions
•Duration (30 seconds to one hour)
•Extras (annual meetings, ADF, ADBI, Millenium Development Goals, etc.)
•Focus Area
•History (1960s-2010s, to date, the future)
•President
•Region
•Sector and Thematic Group (10, CoPs)
•Organization (BMPSD, DER, IED, OAI, OAS, OCO, OGC, OSFMD, PSOD, SDCC, SPD, etc.)
•Storyteller (125 persons)
Source: Author.
The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank, or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent.
OLIVIER SERRAT is Principal Knowledge Management Specialist in the Asian Development Bank. In 2010, he published two books, Learning in Development and a compendium of Knowledge Solutions, available at www.adb.org/publications/learning-development and www.adb.org/publications/compendium-knowledge-solutions, respectively. All articles in the Knowledge Solutions series he launched in 2008 are at www.adb.org/knowledgesolutions. Olivier is currently working on the ADB Sustainable Development Timeline, available at reflections.adb.org: this is an anthology of videos that catalogs major sector and thematic landmarks in ADB's operations since 1966. Olivier can be reached at oserrat@adb.org.
References
Bartlett, Christopher and Sumantra Ghoshal. 1994. Changing the Role of Top Management: Beyond Strategy to Purpose. Harvard Business Review. November–December. pp. 79–88.
Churchill, Winston. 1946. Mr. Churchill's Address to All Personnel On Board the Queen Elizabeth. 13 January.
Bartlett, Christopher and Sumantra Ghoshal. 1995. Changing the Role of Top Management: Beyond Systems to People. Harvard Business Review. May–June. pp. 132–142.
Ghoshal, Sumantra and Christopher Bartlett. 1995. Changing the Role of Top Management: Beyond Structure to Processes. Harvard Business Review. January–February. pp. 86–96.
Lu, Norman and Olivier Serrat. 2010. Building Narrative Capacity at ADB. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/building-narrative-capacity-adb
Serrat, Olivier. 2010. ADB: Reflections and Beyond. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/adb-reflections-and-beyond
•ADB's Young Professionals Program
•The ADB Open Access Repository
•Strategy 2020: The Midterm Review Action Plan
•The Development Performance of the Four Asian Tigers
•The Future of Libraries Worldwide
•The Tonle Sap Initiative
•Increasing Access to Information in ADB
•Evolution of Gender Policies in ADB
•Impact Evaluation in Mongolia
•The Launch of the ADB Open Access Repository
Demonstration Videos
•The ADB Sustainable Development Timeline: The Birth of a Living Archive (Interview: 01:51)
•Delhi 2013: 30–Seconds Spot (Animation: 00:36)
•Reflections on Rio+20 (Interview: 03:06)
Montoya, Marie Christine and Olivier Serrat. 2012. Interactive Stories of Sustainable Development. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/interactive-stories-sustainable-development
Serrat, Olivier. 2015. ADB Sustainable Development Timeline. www.slideshare.net/celcius233/adb-sustainable-development-timeline
Related ADB Documents
Serrat, Olivier. 2008. Storytelling. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/storytelling
——. 2010. Harvesting Knowledge. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/harvesting-knowledge ——. 2011. ADB Sustainable Development Timeline. Manila.
www.adb.org/publications/adb-sustainable-development-timeline
——. 2011. Timeline of ADB-Hosted Communities of Practice. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/timeline-adb-hosted-communities-practice
——. 2012. World Sustainable Development Timeline. Manila. www.adb.org/publications/world-sustainable-development-timeline
Related ADB Videos
Asian Development Bank. 2011. ETESP—A Sustainable Reconstruction. Manila. vimeo.com/91599541
——. 2013. Delhi 2013: 30-Seconds Spot. Manila. vimeo.com/92491494 ——. 2013. Reflections on Rio+20. Manila. vimeo.com/92214523
——. 2014. The ADB Sustainable Development Timeline: The Birth of a Living Archive. Manila. vimeo.com/124022887
——. 2016. ADB Sustainable Development Timeline. Manila. reflections.adb.org/ ——. 2016. ADB: Reflections and Beyond. Manila. vimeo.com/user26371068
