Capability: Part 5 – Languaging
Languaging
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Declarative
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Cumulative
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Serial
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Parallel
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Third Order
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Fourth Order
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Fifth Order
This system comes directly from the
work and research of Elliott Jaques,
HUMAN CAPABILITY, 1994. Over
time, it has been called many things,
but my preference for identifying the
ideas have to do with how people
language their being, doing, having,
becoming, and contribution, and for
that reason, I chose languaging to
identify this particular model.
From Gower Publishing: A major
breakthrough in understanding human
capability, intelligence, and
development theory is reported with
the results of Cason/Jaques’
conclusive 3-year study. Their field
work demonstrates with high
reliability and validity that when
heavily engrossed in work, individuals
process information in four and only
four ways which recur in a series of
higher orders of information
complexity.
Further, this
hierarchy of mental processing methods
corresponds with levels of individual
capability and is congruent with
levels of work complexity, explaining,
at last, the very nature of managerial
systems. This book also presents
support for the concurrent theory,
first formulated by Dr. Jaques in
1956, that individuals mature in
capability within predictable
patterns, a maturation process that
continues throughout life.
The
authors demonstrate the nature of this
maturation beyond adolescence and into
old age, and discuss how this view
compares with that of Piaget and of IQ
studies which posit that capability
and intelligence are fully mature by
late adolescence. The ability to plot
and predict the growth of human
potential capability throughout life
will alter dramatically our present
conceptions in developmental
psychology.
The social
consequences of this work are likely
to be substantial and extensive and
are addressed by the authors. An
important outcome of this study is the
further development of managerial
procedures that enable companies to
match people with roles, and to
develop programs that effectively meet
the organization’s future human
resource requirements.
The importance of languaging?
How we language our being, doing, having, becoming and contributing can actually be assessed using Jaques model of information processing. Jaques named his process Complexity of Mental Processing which later evolved to “Complexity of Information Processing” or CIP.
CIP has two parts, “Orders of Information Complexity” and “Mental Processes.” The former measures the level of abstract thinking of which a person is capable on a scale ranging from First Order (an inability to think beyond the realm of concrete entities) to Sixth Order (an ability to think in “universals”). The second variable, “Mental Processes,” describes the complexity of the arguments a person can master. – Debatable outcomes, By Drake Bennett
Excerpted from:
Potential Capability And
Organizational Transition: An
Application Of Elliott Jaques’
Stratified Systems Theory In A
Family-Owned Business, Sandra King,
PhD
Mental Processing
Jaques states that mental processing
is the individual’s “mental working
processes by which you [an individual]
take information, pick it over, play
with it, analyze it, put it together,
reorganize it, judge and reason it,
make conclusions, plans and decisions,
and take action” (Jaques 1996: 18)
According to a study conducted by
Jaques and Cason, an individual will
use one of four types of mental
processing, each of which has
distinctive phrases or processes, when
solving problems (1994). The four
processes are declarative, cumulative,
serial, and parallel (1994).
In
addition, they found the “four methods
of mental processing can be observed
in each of two different orders of
information, symbolic and abstract,
used by adult subjects; they are
recursive and maintain their hierarchy
of complexity” (Jaques and Cason 1994:
61).
Complexity of Mental
Processing Jaques points out that an
individual’s PC [Potential Capability]
to perform work is determined by his
or her level of complexity of mental
processing (1996). He defines
complexity of mental processing as the
type of mental process together with
the level of information complexity
that an individual uses when solving
problems. Therefore, the process of
identifying an individual’s complexity
of mental process is a two-part
procedure.
First, the researcher
observes the type of mental process
used and second, the order of
information complexity. According to
Jaques and Cason, the range for most
adults is from declarative/symbolic,
level 1 to parallel/abstract
conceptual, level 8 (1994). They
suggest “there is one category [of
complexity] of mental processing that
matches the span of level of work for
each specific organizational stratum
in the managerial hierarchy” (1994:
61).
Table 1 provides a summary of the
complexity of mental processing
associated with each managerial role.
The table includes the logic used,
pattern of mental process, order of
information, and the managerial level
associated with each organizational
role in Jaques’ MAH.
Table 1: Level of
Managerial Role Associated with
Complexity of Mental Processing in
Jaques’ Managerial Accountability
Hierarchy:
Logic:
or-or and-and if-then-then
if-and-only-if
Pattern of
Mental Process: declarative
cumulative serial parallel.
What you need to know?
How we language our: “mental working
processes by which you [an individual]
take information, pick it over, play with
it, analyze it, put it together,
reorganize it, judge and reason it, make
conclusions, plans and decisions, and take
action” –> is important to understanding
our potential capability, but also where
our capability can be scaffolded now, near
and far.
Jaques understood that how people
make use of their mental processes could
be codified and studied, matched with
roles and complexity to work in a
collaborative way to get work done.
While
NO THEORY or practice is the final answer,
using the idea that how we language these
mental processes is critical to
“self-knowledge>>self-awareness”
transitions through discreet levels of
CAPABILITY is a great tool for postmodern
leadership.
While we are now half way through our
discussion of CAPABILITY DYNAMICS, the
downside is really the upside as we begin
to assemble the remaining group of
elements.
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Mike R. Jay is a developmentalist utilizing consulting, coaching, mentoring and advising as methods to offer developmental scaffolding for aspiring leaders who are interested in being, doing, having, becoming, and contributing… to helping people have lives.
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