Integrative Thinking & Sustainability
2007 Top 100 Employer Summit
March 22, 2007
Jim Fisher
Vice-Dean, CCMF Chair in Entrepreneurship, Rotman School of Management
Explanations: James March

Professor Emeritus at Stanford University

A leading thinker on organizational learning

We live in an ambiguous world:


“Fuzziness”

Causal inconsistencies
We cope with ambiguity through simplification and specialization
Experiences in Action
Amy Edmondson, Harvard Business School
And Not Or
What is Integrative Thinking?
"The ability to face constructively the tension
of opposing models and instead of choosing
one at the expense of the other, to generate a
creative resolution of the tension in the form of
a new model that contains elements of the
individual models but is superior to each."
~ Rotman School of Management (2005)
Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels
Competing Models
The intimacy
Vs.
The range of
and comfort of a
amenities of a
boutique hotel
large hotel
Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons Hotels
Competing Models
Vs.
The intimacy
The range of
and comfort of a
amenities of a
boutique hotel
large hotel
Creative Resolution
The medium-sized luxury hotel with intimacy
and amenities funded by a massive price premium
A Personal Knowledge System
Stance
Guides
• Who am I in the world and
Guides
what am I trying to
Tools
accomplish?
Informs
• With what tools and
models do I organize my
Experiences
thinking and understand
the world?
Informs
• With what experiences can I build my
repertoire of sensitivities and skills?
Conventional versus Integrative Stance
Conventional Stance
Integrative Stance
1. I can see and understand the true reality
1. What I see is only a model of reality
2. Opposing views are not reality and are
therefore wrong
2. Opposing models give a different view of
reality
3. No better model exists because I am
looking at reality
3. Better models exist that are not yet seen
4. Where opposing views exist, one view
must be crushed
5. I must simplify and specialize to avoid
unnecessary complexity
6. I must act quickly and decisively
4. I am capable of using different models
to find a better model
5. I look for and wade into the necessary
complexity
6. I give myself time to create and develop
a new insight before proceeding
Victoria Hale, One World Health
Competing Models
Traditional forprofit
pharmaceutical
model
Vs.
Traditional
public health
model
Creative Resolution
Not-for-profit pharmaceutical company with
a focus on third-world health
Victoria Hale on Complexity
I wade into and get through the necessary complexity
A Personal Knowledge System
Stance
Guides
• Who am I in the world and
Guides
what am I trying to
Tools
accomplish?
Informs
• With what tools and
models do I organize my
Experiences
thinking and understand
the world?
Informs
• With what experiences can I build my
repertoire of sensitivities and skills?