Chet Richards

Several of my recent posts have mentioned the SPGR (Systematizing the Person-Group Relationship) methodology for measuring how well groups will do utilizing mission-type leadership (Auftragstaktik).

The methodology’s originator has published an academic paper on the subject. For those with access to such journals, the reference is:

Sjøvold, E., Systematizing Person-Group relations (SPGR): A Field Theory of Social Interaction Small Group Research vol 38 (5) October 2007.

For those who read Norwegian, there is also a book out on the subject:

Sjøvold, E. (2006). Teamet: Utvikling, effektivitet og endring i grupper. Oslo, NO: Universitetsforlaget.

More publications are in the mill.

As some readers may not know, my favorite hot sauce, Fire from the Mountain Chipotle, is made just outside Boone, NC. The Chipotle is medium hot — about like Tabasco® — with a wonderful smoked pepper flavor.

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James Surowiecki recaps Toyota, again, in the May 12 issue of The New Yorker. As Surowiecki notes, this has all been said about 3,000 times, but how Toyota does it still has enough novelty value to rate a New Yorker piece in 2008.

Toyota’s innovative methods may seem mundane, but their sheer relentlessness defeats many companies. That’s why Toyota can afford to hide in plain sight: it knows the system is easy to understand but hard to follow.

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Can anybody explain what’s happening in the airline industry?

Ray Neidl, a noted airline analyst

left little room for optimism in a recent report titled ‘The Perfect Storm Revisits the Industry in 2008.” He invoked the Bible’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalyse to describe the challenges of “high fuel costs, recession, labor unrest and excessive government interference.”

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Now available on DNI.