CLASS 11 OF GETTING THINGS DONE: WHAT MATTERS ABOUT THE CONTEXT?

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10/31/2014

CLASS 11 OF GETTING THINGS DONE: WHAT MATTERS ABOUT THE CONTEXT?

In class 11 of my course we started getting into questions about 'the context'. This is a crucial issue in the entire discussion about development and about PDIA. PDIA is an approach one takes because challenges are complex, and complexities are often contextual.

But what is it about the context that matters?

I discussed four factors I think matter a lot. Development is about change, and the space for change (the size and shape of this space) depends on how much disruption there is in a context, how strong the incumbent mechanisms are (the ones to replace), how strong the new alternatives are (the ones to adopt), and how agency and power are aligned (behind new alternatives or established ways of doing things).

Depending on these factors, one could have lots of space for change, some space, or no space. This matters when one is thinking of doing development.

The difficulty is that many of these factors are not very obvious when one is looking at a context: it is hard to know how entrenched existing ways of doing things are, for instance, because one needs to know about norms and cultural-cognitive structures that are not often seen and are often not even appreciated or recognized by those in the context (who take such things for granted). This means that the context is like a sea of icebergs, where one only sees the tips when looking from a distance--through a political economy analysis or other analytical tool.

So: how do you get to see the full picture (the parts of the icebergs that are below the surface)? That's what we discuss in class 12.

Here are the readings and class instructions: Download What matters in a context?

Here is the powerpoint: Download Class11MLD1022014

Here is the case we discussed, on Download Getting new policy done-draft case

Posted at 11:15 AM in Getting Things Done at Harvard | Permalink

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10/31/2014