Guns at school

Of course you cannot bring a gun to school. But these rules only applies for students at the university. The police is everywhere and I am getting used to that, but the other morning I thought that it was a little bit to much. There are at least two police cars stationed at the university to check the students and professors. The university is parted into sectors and I of course only have access to the sector I live in. So I have to show identification to get into the campus and after that I have to show documents that allow me to enter the dormitories where I live. That means it is practically impossible for people from outside to get in. But never the less police apparently have to check us all the time - they must be very bored. The other morning I entered the lift at 7th floor where I live and on 6th floor two patrolling officers entered the lift carrying guns off course, but I cannot help asking myself if it is really necessary for one of the officers to carry a machine gun as well? You never know with these students...
To calm everyone down I have to assure you all that the university is the most peaceful place you can imagine.

Don't upset the people who feed you!

I have a small story I would like to share with you all. A girl from the international office showed me where the ATM was on campus and since I didn't know the value of rubles I just chose the highest value which was 4000 rubles (about 100 euro) Not a lot of money but they where paid out in 4 bills of 1000 rubles. Next stop was the canteen where I could get something to eat for students price. And I asked Xenia if it was alright to pay with a 1.000 RR bill? Yes a lot of students does that, she replied "and besides - you don't have a choice" she added. When I got to the desk the value of my tray was a surprisingly low value of 63rr (=1,5 euro)and I pulled out my 1000 rubles and the sad looking face behind the desk turned quickly into an unhappy and irritated face. She angrily found my change and slapped them on my tray. I promised that I would never do it again and that I was very sorry for the inconvenience, she didn't reply to that but I hope I get to buy food there again.

Later I have found out that in general people prefer that I pay in exact money. They do not like to give change and I don't really understand why. Even small amounts of change seem to irritate them.

I am finally there!

I am in Moscow. This is my first day. Please have patience with me, because I still don't have my computer and all my documents. I also do not have access to my e-mail account, but I am working on that. That means that I will not be able to write emails nor check mail yet. I'll keep you all informed in this blog.

Visa

I finally got my visa. That means that I do not have to worry anymore about that. I have allready got two appointments in Moscow. Thursday in the first week I will pick up my computer at Danfoss Moscow and the following week I will meet with Elena at Grundfos Moskow.

This is a test of uploads of picturs

The weight of a snowflake

Yesterday I received my invitation and I immediately send it to the Russian Embassy in Copenhagen. I have paid a little extra to get the visa in just one week, which means I will be able to depart as planned. The lesson learned: patience!

I have just finished a book about synchronicity and I can recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about life and self-development.

President Bush has just left to Scotland after celebrating his birthday in Denmark. Today the G8 summit starts in Scotland where great decisions about the future of the World will be made. There is great focus on the mortality among children of the third world. Will they change the World at this meeting? I cannot help thinking about the evil things people are capable of doing to eachother. The past few months I have read quite a bit about concentration camps in Hitlers Germany and Stalins Soviet Union. They are topics that show up often in the litterature about postmodern theories and they also did in Jaworski's book about sychronicity. This book is extremely interesting and I have learnt a lot about life reading it. The book ends with a small story that I would like to pass on to you:

Two birds are sitting on a slender branch of a tree in winter:

"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a coal-mouse asked a wild dove.

"Nothing more than nothing," was the answer.

"In that case, I must tell you a marvelous story," the coal-mouse said.

"I sat on the branch of a fir, close to its trunk, when it began to snow - not heavily, not in a raging blizzard - no, just like in a dream, without a wound and without any violence. Since I did not have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3.741.952. When the 3.741.953rd dropped onto the branch, nothing more than nothing, as you say - the branch broke off."

Having said that, the coal-mouse flew away.

The dove, since Noah's time an authority on the matter, thought about the story for awhile, and finally said to herself, "Perhaps there is only one person's voice lacking for peace to come to the world."

Visum forsinket!

Efter mange forsøg på at få Moskva Statsuniversitet til at sende min invitation i tide, må jeg nu desværre affinde mig med at man ikke kan skynde på det russiske bureaukrati. Jeg blev lovet at min invitation ville komme senest d. 24. juni, hvilket jo er ret sent taget i betragtning at jeg skal afsted d. 25. juli. Idag den 29. juni har jeg stadig ikke modtaget en invitation så jeg kan søge om visum. Jeg har naturligvis kontaktet universitetet igen og de sagde at hende der skulle tage sig af det var taget på ferie! Hmmm... Nå men de lovede så at min invitation ville komme inden den 10. juli hvilket er 15 dage før jeg skal afsted. Selvom det er længe siden jeg havde matematik, så kunne jeg dog hurtigt regne ud at når visumansøgningen kan tage op til 3-4 uger, så er det jo lidt sent at sende min invitation. Det forklarede jeg for damen i den anden ende af telefonen hvorefter hun lovede at de ville prioritere min invitation højere, men kunne kun love at den ville komme så snart som muligt.

Desværre må jeg nok se i øjenene at jeg ikke kommer afsted til den planlagte tid medmindre jeg er usædvanligt heldig med visumansøgningen. Der kan endda være et lille problem med ansøgningen - nemlig hvis ikke ambassaden vil acceptere en elektronisk version af invitationen, for så skal originalen sendes med kurrerpost til mig fra Moskva og det er ret dyrt og tager op til fire dage ekstra. Derudover skal jeg betale for at ændre min flybillet. Jubii!

Metode og teori

Jeg har brugt et par dage på at studere metode til afhandlingen og jeg har fundet frem til nogle rigtig spændende ting. I dette afsnit vil jeg kun kort præsentere metoderne, men måske skriver jeg senere lidt mere dybdegående om dem.

Jeg har hele tiden vidst at jeg ville brug Appreciative Inquiry (AI) i min opgave og i kølvandet på AI følger nogle andre spændende teorier og metoder. AI er en metode hvor man fokuserer på visioner i stedet for problemer og er utroligt effektivt til forandring af organisationer. Min opgave går ud på at finde ud af om de russiske medarbejdere hos Grundfos i Moskva afspejler Grundfos' værdier 'Be-think-innovate', som jo egentlig er uviklet på grundlag af dansk kultur. Mit mål er nu at finde ud af hvordan samme værdier kan afspejles af de russiske medarbejdere på deres egne kulturelle forudsætninger. Til dette vil jeg bruge AI's grundlæggende model der hedder 4D-cyklussen som består af fire faser man skal igennem: discovery, dream, design og destiny.

I den første fase vil jeg benytte mig af story-telling som grundlæggende er en metode til at trække alle de gode historier frem om det man er bedst til og derved opdage alle de ressourcer man har. I den anden fase skal medarbejderne fortælle om deres visioner i virksomheden. På baggrund af de første to faser finder vi frem til hvilke visioner medarbejderne har mulighed for at realisere på baggrund af deres eksisterende ressourcer. Endelig skal drømmene realiseres i destiny fasen og det er her at en anden meget interessant metode kommer ind.

Open Space Technology er en måde at afvikle et møde som en kaffepause (kort sagt). Jeg vil udnytte menneskers evne til at organisere sig selv i interessegrupper og derved sikrer jeg mig at medarbejderne hele tiden er i en positiv situation. Glade mennesker er jo som bekendt de mest produktive.

Nogle rigtig spændende ting i disse sammenhænge er blandt andet Carl Jungs teorier om forbindelser uden årsag "Synchronicity". Kenneth Gergens sociale konstruktioner og postmodernisme. Karl Weicks teorier om meningsdannelse 'Sensemaking'. Diverse teorier om hvordan viden dannes er selvfølgelig et must i denne sammenhæng 'Knowledge Creation'.

Jeg ved godt at disse ting kan forekomme lidt tunge, men ikke desto mindre er de utroligt spændende hvis man gerne vil arbejde med forandring i organisationer. Jeg mener at det er Gergen der siger at hvis man virkelig vil forstå noget, så skal man prøve at ændre det.

Med dette solide teoretiske grundlag glæder jeg mig til at tage til Moskva og afprøve teorierne i praksis og skrive en kandidatafhandling, som jeg forventer vil kunne præsentere en metode til succesfuldt at få virksomhedens værdier praktiseret på andre kulturelle forudsætninger.

Hvis du har interesse for emnet må du meget gerne spørge ind til noget af ovenstående og hold dig ikke tilbage hvis du kender nogle gode bøger eller websites jeg bør læse.