After a marvellous summer of travelling, I’m here back at my beach house again and all is calm before the winter storms arrive. The Brawn, a local landmark, is still there standing defiant against the waves.

 

 

 

The paddle-boarders are out, enjoying the last of the warm summer sea, which is so crystal clear that you can see the rock formations similar to those in the Dingle.  And the sheltered landing for the local hobbyist fishermen has been repaired so they can stand on the rock fishing for sea bass in the evening to their heart’s content.

 

Rich memories of this summer include the ubiquitous lobster and sea food in Boston, the instantly refreshing Aperol and Prosecco spritzers in Trani, and the ‘A’ level cheese experience in the Dingle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Bumper Crop

And my first attempt at growing vegetables has been successful. I’ve had a bumper crop and there are generous provisions of vegetable soup in the freezer for the coming winter.

Chance to Reflect

On my return I received the sad news of the death of an old friend and colleague. When I heard the news, I remembered our very different starts to academic life. We had been post-graduate students together in the mid-80s, and, on graduating, we both applied for our doctoral training places. He was asked about his subject area and research question, and I was asked about why I thought this college was a suitable place to find a rich husband.

I was dumb-struck and I crawled away to the car park and cried my eyes out. Recovering from this humiliation, I studied for my doctorate at another college and, in time, we both became academics and organisational consultants. We thought we could fly, walk on water, we thought we could solve difficult, even intractable, organisational problems. It took some years for me to learn the meaning of “there is theory, and there is practice”. So here I am thirty years on with much experience to share but I don’t want to write a dry old textbook that will gather dust and no-one will read.

Serialising Multi-layered Stories – My Blog

I like the 19th century approach of serialising multi-layered stories where the threads cross over and form a 3-dimensional picture that says something about the underlying state of things in society. I’m going to try this approach here. Drawing on my case work, there are three stories to relate about the complexities of modern organisational life. The first is set in St. Angela’s University Teaching Hospital, an august institution that has Shakespearean power struggles within its management team, between its management team and its physicians, and within its surgical team. The second is set in a post-merger multi-national pharmaceutical company where the big fish has eaten the little minnow and no-one is happy. And the third is set in the Western Theatre where prima donnas and drama queens have to interact with the everyday humdrum of getting the costumes made to a budget resulting in the use of more polyester than Chinese silk.

Next Blog – The Story of Power at St. Angela’s…