Category Archives: local government

Do we still have typing pools?: Why culture trumps technology even social media

Posted on January 2, 2012 by lawrence serewicz

Dan Slee posted an interesting and provocative post with predictions about the future of social media in local government. http://danslee.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/epic-change-12-predictions-in-digital-in-local-government-for-2012/  I thought I would give my response and my prediction at the end. Overall, I tend to agree with him … Continue reading →

Posted in change managment, knowledge worker, learning organisation, local government, path dependency | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Outsourcing Records Management and Archives: A hypothesis in search of evidence

Posted on November 26, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

In today’s financially constrained times, there is a search to find ways to do more with less yet increase efficiency and effectiveness with records management.  One area where savings and efficiencies have been promised is in records management.***  In particular, … Continue reading →

Posted in knowledge worker, local government, management, records management | 4 Comments

Does the fish rot from the head down? When organisations go toxic

Posted on November 21, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

An ancient phrase says that a fish rots from the head down.  The phrase is known in China as well as Europe in the middle ages. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/fish-rot-from-the-head-down.html  What is interesting about the consistency between the meanings for the phrase is … Continue reading →

Posted in change managment, learning organisation, local government, management | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Freedom of Information and Transparency performance improvement tools: Case Study: Camden squatters and empty properties

Posted on November 14, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

In the press there has been some concern that the move towards transparency either in £500 spend lists or specific requests for disclosure of information, has led to increased fraud.   However, I would argue that neither FOI nor the transparency … Continue reading →

Posted in change managment, customer service, information management, local government | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

The future of the Middle Manager: sense making in a social media age

Posted on October 23, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

There is a debate over the future of middle managers. (See for example Lynda Gratton’s article) http://hbr.org/2011/01/column-the-end-of-the-middle-manager/ar/1 at its heart, the question is whether middle manager still have a role. If their tasks are changed or replaced by technology, are … Continue reading →

Posted in change managment, knowledge worker, local government, management | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

The Tyranny of Time: the other side of open data

Posted on October 7, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

I came across the following reference to time within the retail sector and it made me consider how local government, or any business, thinks about time. An old saying in the retail industry is that: ‘If information is available monthly, … Continue reading →

Posted in change managment, customer service, innovation, learning organisation, local government | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The Tyranny of Time: the other side of open data

Does Yammer and social media lead to improved FOIA response rates?

Posted on September 26, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

Does Yammer or any social media platform create better internal communications? If it does, then does that lead to better performance? Are companies that use social media platforms able to share critical upwards communication?  For public sector organisations, does internal … Continue reading →

Posted in information management, knowledge worker, local government | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Can Councils make money from e-learning?

Posted on September 9, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

I recently used Adobe Captivate for the first time to make a training module on Data Protection. What struck me about the experience was the following. First, it was relatively easy to rewrite a policy into a series of PowerPoint … Continue reading →

Posted in elearning, information management, knowledge worker, local government, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Can Councils make money from e-learning?

knowledge workers: turning hedgehogs into foxes

Posted on August 20, 2011 by lawrence serewicz

The future of work is that knowledge workers will be driving productivity. The connections they make and can see are important. However, the issue for all management is that hiring practice often solving on the immediate problem and not the … Continue reading →

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