International Society of Automation
With strong management, enlightened volunteer leadership and new focus on international automation, ISA is headed for significant new growth and success. Today, one can sense a spirit of new drive and determination within the Society, making it much more than it has been for several years.
Executive director Pat Gouhin joined in January 2006, experienced with the dynamics of volunteer-driven organisations, bringing a new spirit of leadership. Pat Gouhin has clearly developed a strong relationship with the volunteer chain-of-command, which includes past president Steve Huffman and current president Kim Miller Dunn. This group has a consistent vision and leads a unified Executive Committee and Executive Board that is focused on the future.
ISA was formed in 1945 as the Instrument Society of America, and the name was changed in 2000 to Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society. In my opinion, this name was an uninspired, lacklustre acronym which did nothing to promote the society’s ambitions as an international organisation and its championship for the automation profession.
As a symbol of the new expanded focus, it is anticipated that, subject to review by society delegates, the name will be changed to International Society of Automation. This name reflects two important differences in focus: 'International' and 'Automation'.
While originally an instrumentation society, ISA is now focused on the broader aspects of automation and aims to be a catalyst for creation and promotion of the automation profession of the future, marketing the society’s core competencies to automation professionals around the world.
Total ISA Membership is still about 30 000. The original name was reflected in membership being overwhelmingly American – 65% US, 10% Canada. If ISA is to truly be a successful global organisation the membership percentages should be the inverse of the current ratio, about 75% from outside North America.
If one makes the reasonable assumption that membership has stabilised in North America, then international membership should generate growth of at least 300%, to over 100 000 members. Stimulated and rejuvenated by its new name, ISA expects and intends to expand world membership and become truly international.
To the many ISA delegates that have been friends and associates over many years, please support the name change. Help make ISA the International Society of Automation.
Business lessons from biology
As the world accelerates, serious problems keep occurring again and again because of old thinking. What is needed is a profound shift in how we see the world and how we behave.
As we move from a mechanistic to an evolving biological view of business, we begin to see that adaptation and flexibility are important for continued success.
In an article in the Sept/Oct 08 issue of World Future Society’s ‘Futurist’ magazine, Arnold Brown compares biological adaptation with traditional business mechanisms. An insightful 1999 book, ‘The Biology of Business’ shows how top-down management methods no longer work in an age of fast technological change and world competition.
Capitalism has two primary goals: growth and profit. The lessons of the dinosaurs demonstrate that growth becomes a burden – the things that can sustain growth quickly run out. Efficiency (profit) is also elusive in fast-changing environments. Success through making things more efficient comes only if the world does not change. But there is always change.
Efficiency has an unfortunate tendency to de-generate into bureaucracy. Doing everything by-the-book can become farcical. Yesterday’s rules for efficiency may be counter-productive for tomorrow; focusing on efficiency makes process more important than it should be.
In a changing world, striving for efficiency dissipates energy. Throw away your archaic process and procedures manuals – by the time they are written, they are obsolete. Instead, people must be free to manage themselves and come up with new solutions. Flexibility and adaptability are the best ways to gain the competitive edge.
Jim Pinto is an industry analyst and commentator, writer, technology futurist and angel investor. His popular e-mail newsletter, JimPinto.com eNews, is widely read (with direct circulation of about 7000 and web-readership of two to three times that number). His areas of interest are technology futures, marketing and business strategies for a fast-changing environment, and industrial automation with a slant towards technology trends.
© Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd | All Rights Reserved
printer friendly version