Tag Archives: assumptions

My Name is Bill King

Posted on May 12, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

‘Bilking’ (also known as ‘making off without payment’) was an offence under the Theft Act 1978. The most common forms include running off from a taxi without paying the fare, running off from a restaurant without paying for your dinner, … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, management, policy, risk management, systems thinking | 2 Comments

Finding the Source

Posted on April 18, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

As I go about my formal and informal research into the effects of target-driven performance management, I regularly have conversations with people at all levels of organisations. One thing I’ve found is that the people at the very top of … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, binary comparisons, blame, command and control, decision making, management, measures, organisational culture, performance management, police, systems thinking, targets | 6 Comments

Panic!

Posted on April 13, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

There’s… “Panic on the streets of London! Panic on the streets of Birmingham!” So says the song of the same title by UK band The Smiths, anyway. The true story that follows (yes, I’ve caved in to popular demand and … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, binary comparisons, data, decision making, knee jerk reactions, management, measures, performance management, performance measurement, systems thinking | 6 Comments

Barking Up The Wrong Tree

Posted on March 1, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

“The system must be held to account!” How often do you hear that in the wake of the latest scandal? Not that often. Usually, it’s “People must be held to account! / Who is responsible? / This must never happen … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, blame, command and control, deming, education, error management, management, nhs, organisational culture, performance management, police, risk management, systems thinking | 12 Comments

Free Beer!

Posted on February 23, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

Right, hopefully the title will have drawn you in (I’ve fallen for it myself three times whilst writing this blog post). If you stay to the end you’ll see the reason for it anyway. Unfortunately this time I’m not going … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, deming, management, performance management, systems thinking | 14 Comments

Spot The Difference

Posted on January 31, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

Sometimes when I say this… …people hear this: Not being able to differentiate between targets, measures and priorities is a deadly obstacle to effective performance. Let me explain why… Targets First of all, if you’ve ever met me, heard me … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, binary comparisons, control charts, data, deming, management, measures, performance management, police, priorities, purpose, systems, systems thinking, targets | 25 Comments

Oh Deer

Posted on January 7, 2013 by InspGuilfoyle

In the film ‘Stand by Me’ (which I saw again yesterday, for the first time in years), there’s a scene where a young lad out camping with his friends sees a deer early one morning. I won’t spoil the storyline, … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, deming, extrinsic, intrinsic, management, motivation, performance management, police, public service, systems, systems thinking, targets | 5 Comments

Epic Fail

Posted on December 19, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

Yesterday, I saw this headline in a newspaper: “£136million spent by customers waiting to get through to HM Revenue and Customs”. The article bemoaned the amount of time that HMRC customers were left on hold (if they got through at … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, demand, deming, division of labour, failure demand, flow, management, systems, systems thinking, tax, variation, waste | 5 Comments

Is That Large?

Posted on September 13, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

I was in the pub yesterday evening (yeah yeah I know, you can skip the feigned surprise). As I was standing at the bar a woman next to me asked for a glass of wine. The barman responded with “Which … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, decision making, marketing, pyschology, systems, systems thinking | 4 Comments

Would You Sit Next To Me?

Posted on September 1, 2012 by InspGuilfoyle

This post isn’t about systems thinking at all - I just wanted to share something that happened to me yesterday, because it provides an insight into the way that people make erroneous assumptions based on appearance and their own prejudices. Every year, police officers … Continue reading →

Posted in Systems thinking | Tagged assumptions, discrimination, judging, prejudice | 6 Comments