{"id":2139,"date":"2019-06-25T15:27:19","date_gmt":"2019-06-25T13:27:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/?p=2139"},"modified":"2019-07-19T17:13:27","modified_gmt":"2019-07-19T15:13:27","slug":"wading-through-the-swamp-the-radical-power-of-ecosystems-as-processes-by-david-hurst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.druckerforum.org\/blog\/wading-through-the-swamp-the-radical-power-of-ecosystems-as-processes-by-david-hurst\/","title":{"rendered":"Wading through the swamp: the radical power of ecosystems-as-processes <\/br>by David Hurst"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The respected management scholar, Donald Sch\u00f6n, began his 1987 book, The Education of the Reflective Practitioner<\/em>, as follows: \u201cIn the varied topography of professional practice, there is a high, hard ground overlooking a swamp. On the high ground, management problems lend themselves to solution through the application of research-based theory and technique. In the swampy lowland, messy confusing problems defy technical solution. The irony of this situation is that the problems of the high ground tend to be relatively unimportant to individuals or society at large, however great their technical interest might be, while in the swamp lie the issues of greatest human concern. The practitioner must choose. Shall he remain on the high ground where he can solve relatively unimportant problems according to prevailing standards of rigor, or shall he descend into the swamp of important problems and non-rigorous inquiry?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Drucker Forum 2019<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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This article is one in the “shape the debate” series relating to the 11th Global Peter Drucker Forum<\/a><\/span>, under the theme \u201cThe Power of Ecosystems\u201d taking place on November 21 & 22, 2019 in Vienna, Austria.
\n#GPDF19\u00a0#ecosystems<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Unfortunately, the concept of a business ecosystem has been largely captured by the high-ground dwellers in mainstream Anglo-American management. If you want to control something, treat it as an object and don\u2019t allow it to move until \u201cmotivated\u201d. With mainstream management\u2019s emphasis on prediction and control, this is what has happened to business ecosystems. They are treated as static structures, waiting to be mapped, measured and set in motion, that is, designed by architects in lofty perches outside the system. This view of ecosystems-as-structures has mechanical appeal but little power. Missing from it are the dynamics of natural ecosystems and their capacity for generative metaphors and insights into the tensions between stability and change, the importance of scale and the workings of nonlinear causality.<\/p>\n

Some key concepts from treating ecosystems as processes are:<\/p>\n