General Research…

Craddock (2002) reports that 53 PhD's have been earned through dissertations on Jaques organisational theories, there are 75 documented doctoral dissertations related to Jaques theory and 231 citations. He is uncertain of the number of master degrees, but has recorded 22 PhDs, awarded by decade are given in Table II below.

Eleven were awarded from Brunel University where Elliot Jaques set up a unique institute, that did both research and consulting, four from Berkeley, three from Cambridge and one from Yale. Table III indicates the Universities that have awarded these degrees. It is somewhat ironic that in Southern Africa, where these models have been used extensively since the mid 1970's, the literature is largely silent, excepting for references to research of human capability studies using Jaques information processing models (Stamp and Retief, 1996; Gatherer , de Kock , Adams & Theunissen, 1992, Olivier, 2003)

A preliminary study of the literature shows how widely the topics, not just the formal research, have ranged. They cover business, economics, psychology, sociology / social administration, education, nursing, entrepreneurship, health, industrial relations, industrial engineering, library science and political science. Craddock argues that it is because of these wide ranging topics that Jaques organisational theory has not received the attention it deserves.
However, it has allowed many different types of studies to be conducted longitudinally across the private sector, the public sector and non profit. He is troubled by the lack of cross-references between the dissertations that have so far been done on the theory and that it suggests the knowledge base is not being built in a cumulative way and the research is not being woven together so methodologies are developed and cumulatively improved.

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Research in Working Journey Projects…

New Zealand: A New Science - “Managing the National Talent Pool”

In a research report from Massey University (May 2004) entitled "New Zealand Talent Flow Programme: Preliminary Results" Professor Kerr Inkson and his team came up with interesting information about talent pool flow. A key findings is that high level managerial and entrepreneurial talent is draw towards big metropolitan centers to follow careers.

In small economies, there is a real danger of high potentials leaving for Work Level V plus challenges. Health professionals are those most likely to return and the work challenges associated here are mostly Work Level II and III. A fascinating study, just awaiting research correlation between role, age and current level of work and the Growth Curves of Jaques. If there is a continuous loss of high modes, not equated with a gain or if the gain is discriminated against, as is often the case with migrants, there will be a gradually dumbing down of national economic performance. Our research confirms it is high growth mode individuals who build multi-level organisations.

Harry Price, a well known New Zealand business figure says “I saw years of exporting our best people and almost never seeing them back in NZ. People always left intending to return and almost never did…This is a broader issue about how countries create wealth and the worrying trends are getting worse for those who look with an open mind. It is a great pity it never features in the debates about things that really matter in our country.”

This represents an interesting set of research question - are these high modes individuals drawn to locations were Work Level V and above opportunities exist and in small economies has this resulted in a decline in economic performance?

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Entrepreneurial Research: Time & Uncertainty …

How Entrepreneurial Capability Develops and How Companies grow through levels of work complexity: Can we ratchet economic development?

Andrew Olivier would like to extend an invitation to entrepreneurs who have built companies that employ more then ten people, have a gross income of $2.5 million (R9 Million) and have been in existence for more then four years OR someone within a company who drives a very successful business unit and who is regarded as entrepreneurial.

What is involved?
An interesting and useful discussion about your Working Journey and what this may mean to you and your business. This will be contextualized within the Levels of Work Complexity Model and Human Capability models created by Elliott Jaques.

Background
Between 1994 and 1998 forty successful entrepreneurial executives in three developing nations were interviewed in an attempt to identify commonalities. We found that these successful entrepreneurs / Intraprenuers all possessed capability (in terms of Elliott Jaques' Growth Modes) to handle significant conceptual complexity and all possessed the cognitive capability to grow start ups into SME's and into multi-level organisations. This has significant implications for developing nations and the identification of such individuals within the National Talent Pool. Focussed leverage of conceptual intellectual capital is of vital importance for long term sustainable growth.

A new study
This new study will focus on entrepreneurship in Australia and New Zealand and look at individual capability, business development and how transition periods were handled. Research by Solymossy and Penna, (2000: 2001) and Schlemenson (1984), show that organisations transition Work Levels and that this can be anticipated and planned. We want to explore this understanding when linked to personal transitions of Work Levels of complexity.

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