Humans and animals do not need complete information to act; they can operate on various clues provided there is a sufficient context. Organizational teams can also use this thin slicing technique in conjunction with short messaging to enhance their performance. Malcolm Gladwell’s introspective book Blink digs deep into the abyss of human cognition to illustrate the human ability to think at a subconscious level. The idea of thin slicing is used where one is introduced to only a few snippets of information which lead to a series of conclusions based on moments of rapid cognition – an ability claimed to be intrinsically dormant in most humans. By bioteams guest author Max Bhanabhai.

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Ken Thompson and Scott Andrews discuss how we can make our teams, groups and communities much more satisfying, more productive and more agile by adopting some simple principles which Mother Nature has successfully evolved over millions of years to organize her teams. To listen to the show click here or to find out more about ARRiiVE: Innovations In Business RADIO SHOW click here

Is knowledge-worker outsourcing to low-cost economies the unavoidable natural evolution of virtual teams?

Europe and the US are running scared of the outsourcing of 'knowledge work' to places like India and China. Outsourcing of manufacturing is now normal practice. Outsourcing of white-collar work, with its off-shore call-centres and operations centres, has now been happening for the last 5-10 years. A new phase of outsourcing has started - it focuses on those types of 'knowledge work' where there is minimal need for face-to-face customer interaction.

UK Guardian Online reports, Feb 8, that local authorities could save millions of pounds if they adopt wider use of mobile technologies, according to a new report: Cutting The Wires. The research, published by independent thinktank the New Local Government Network (NLGN), suggests that councils should use mobile phones and IT to become better organised and more relevant to their local communities.