My name is Jeff McLean and I am from the Syme Department of Management at
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia.
Monash is Australia's largest University with some 40,000 students spread
over 5 campuses plus extensive international activities mainly in the
Asia/Pacific region. Within the university i am located in the faculty of
Business & Economics with approx. 10,000 students.
Within the department we have a very active group ofpeople interested in
Systems thinking & Organisational Learning.
In fact our department is organised into 3 "clusters" being an Operations
Management Cluster, An Organisational Behaviour Cluster and a Systems
Thinking & Organisational Learning Cluster (STOL). The STOL cluster is the
largest in the department with 17 staff involved.
I have a number of roles including:
Chairperson / co-ordinator of the STOL cluster.
Director of Graduate Management Programs.
we currently offer a Graduate Diploma in Management and from 1995 a
Master of Organisational Systems program. Both programs are built upon
Systems Thinking & Organisational Learning theories & tools.
Fern Marriott is Course leader for the Graduate Diploma and I am Course
leader for the new Master of Organisational Systems.
we would be happy to provide further details if anyone is interested.
Director of ASTOLg - The Australian Systems Thinking & Organisational
Learning Group.
We formed this group almost two years ago to provide a national focus
for networking, resources etc. We have a rapidly expanding no of subscribers
and activities.
One of our activities this year was to (in conjunction with a private
consultancy - WIN-WIN Management Systems Pty Ltd.) host Peter Senges first
visit to Australia. This was a very successful activity and raised the
interest level in Learning Organisations a great deal.
Co-ordinator of the STOL International Visiting Fellows Program.
This activity is generously supported by the Myer Foundation (a local
philanthropic trust). Under this program we are aiming to bring a number of
leading academics and practitioners in the ST&OL areas to Australia each year.
Visits may be from a few weeks to longer term visits.
Anyone who would be interested in visiting & working with us at Syme
management should e-mail your details to start a dialogue.
Our group at Monash (which includes Fern Marriott, John Barton, Michael
Morrison, Leah Kaye, Bob Nordlinger, Robert Pridham, Ian Stagg, Bob
Nordlinger, Tim Haslett, Kath Ralston, Pat Davis and others) is also active
in other areas including:
Applied Research:
We have established a STOL research unit and are working collaborativelly
with industry and others on applied research projects.
We are also very keen to develop international co-operative research links.
International networking:
Tim haslett & Marilyn Fenwich are currently in Boston at the International
Management Conference.
Mike Morrison and myself leave tommorrow (4/11) for Boston to present at the
Learning Company Conference in Andover, MA.
I am then going on to Colorado to attend the MIT Organisational Learning
Centre meeting, and then to
seattle to visit ANTIOCH University before ending up in S.F. for the Systems
Thinking in action Conference. (Hello Kellie - see you there)
About 10 ASTOLg members from Australia will be at this years conference.
Hopefully the above gives you some idea of the interest, energy and
commitment from the team at Syme Management. We have achieved a lot inb the
last two years but know that by working together we can achieve a lot more.
Please contact me if you would like any more details on our activities - or
if you are interested in coming "Down-under" to visit us.
I look forward to meeting some of you at activities over the next few weeks
in the US.
regards
Jeff Mclean
PS. It feels good to be part of a big system like this.
The world is our system. - Let's look after it!
Postal Address & Telephone/Fax:
Mr Jeff Mclean
Director - ASTOLg
Syme Department of management
Monash University
P.O. Box 197
Caulfield East
Melbourne
Victoria
Australia, 3145
Phone: 61 3 903 2608 or 903 2491
FaX: 61 3 903 2718
Home Ph/Fax 61 3 509 8464