| Read the following short article about Spencer Johnson’s book, Who Moved My Cheese? Then share your thoughts on the questions posed below. Article For those of you that have not read the book, the following key points are made: Change Happens (They keep moving the cheese.) Anticipate Change (Get ready for the cheese to move.) Monitor Change (Smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old.) Adapt to Change Quickly (The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese.) Change (Move with the cheese.) Enjoy Change! (Savor the adventure and the taste of new cheese.) Be Ready to Quickly Change Again and Again (They keep moving the cheese!) In Discussion Forum 11, post your response to the following discussion questions. Reply to at least two classmates’ responses by the date indicated in the Course Calendar. How does the concept of “moving cheese” relate to the changing world in which every individual and business must adapt? What forces act as stimulants to change? What is the “cheese” that motivates you in your life? Is it as “fresh” as it used to be? How is the supply? Has it moved? How does your experience compare with Johnson’s parable? Describe three examples of “moving the cheese” in today’s business world. How did the company involved manage change? Who Moved My Cheese? Who Moved My Cheese? is a controversial and interesting parable of organizational change that has begun to be discussed by a multitude of companies. Many organizations have made this simple little book about Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw mandatory reading for all their employees. The book is one of several self-assessment books written by Spencer Johnson, M.D., one of the two authors of The One Minute Manager. The book tells the story of two mice and two “little people” who make their daily trek to a maze where they search for cheese. The reader quickly infers that cheese is a metaphor for what we each are seeking most in our lives. The story quickly evolves as Hem and Haw discover that someone has moved their cheese. The two little people persistently return to Cheese Station C each day until Haw decides that he must begin a new approach. Haw begins his new journey, discovering to his surprise that his own fear had caused him to delay the search far longer than he should have. Hem refused to change his pattern, but was not forgotten by Haw. Johnson leads us through Haw’s discoveries about himself, his fears, and the things that matter most in his life. As Haw learns incrementally, he writes a series of self-reminders on the wall of the maze that cryptically attest to his discoveries about reality. Though Haw discovers pieces of cheese here and there within the maze, he also learns a great deal about the certainty of instability. As the story unfolds, the reader smiles knowingly at Haw’s self-discovery. Johnson’s parable is told by a man to a group of high school friends at a high school reunion, and the story concludes with helpful insights provided by the group members about “cheese” that constantly moves in their lives. The group concludes that the parable applies to each of them and to the companies for which they work. Discussion Questions! 1.How does the concept of “moving cheese” relate to the changing world in which every individual and business must adapt? 2.What is the “cheese” that motivates you in your life? Is it as “fresh” as it used to be? How is the supply? Has it moved? How does your experience compare with Johnson’s parable? 3.Are there common examples of “moving the cheese” in today’s business world? THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE! The purpose of this discussion is to help identify the reality of change in all of our lives, and the impact that can result when we refuse to adapt. As we think about this parable, you may benefit by considering the proactive and positive approaches individuals and organizations could take to improve their ability to anticipate future changes that could otherwise disrupt their lives. Can you think of fears that cause individuals or businesses to become unresponsive to change. Can you think of examples of major business mistakes because organizations failed to take advantage of change opportunities. DIGGING DEEPER! An interesting resource for rethinking our mental models is the Five Beliefs Model developed by Edgar Schein and Peter Scholtes of MIT. This model consists of our fundamental beliefs about 1.Self (how we define our strengths, weaknesses, and priorities); 2.Others (our key relationships and obligations to others); 3.The Past (the factors that formed our personal or organizational history); 4.Current Reality (what we define as the critical elements of our environment); 5.The Future (our hopes and what we want our world to become). According to Schein, these five beliefs form the foundation of our personal values as individuals or as an organization. Defining a personal or business mission statement implicitly reflects our understanding of these beliefs. Yet Schein notes that many organizations and individuals are unable to articulate the incongruence between their behaviors and their self-proclaimed priorities and values. You are invited to think about your beliefs according to this model for yourself and/or the organization for which you work. SOURCES: Carroll, Paul. “Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM”,New York, Crown Publishers, 1993. Johnson, Spencer. “Who Moved My Cheese?”, Putnam and Sons, 1999. Kotter, John. “Leading Change”, Boston, MA, Harvard Business School Press, 1985. Schein, Edgar. “Organizational Culture and Leadership”, (San Francisco, Jossey-Bass), 1985. Senge, Peter. “The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization “,(New York, Doubleday), 1994. |
