Replying to LO24041 --
This is a fascinating debate and one which we have recently been wrestling
with, as our organization enters its second year of implementing a change
strategy to enable us to work towards becoming a learning organization.
Part of the essence of a learning organization, as I understand it, is the
notion of the shift from 'control' to 'commitment.' We are currently part
way down that road and I have been struck by quite a noticeable point.
That is, that there is an argument that people might have more freedom to
express dissent and concern in a 'control' environment as opposed to the
personal and peer pressure, which can be exerted in a collegial 'learning'
environment, where people are 'enabled' to commit themselves to their job.
Certainly the latter environment is encouraging people to work much harder
than they did within the previous culture. If I had tried to apply
pressure, explicitly, to get people to undertake many of the tasks they
now undertake on a voluntary basis, we could probably have predicted some
from of industrial action. However, the pressure which people put
themselves under in a more 'open' culture, which removes barriers to
personal commitment, means that a there is an implicit pressure on people
to work even harder and harder.
Part of the role of management is to be aware of this danger and to
intervene and guard against such pressures becoming intolerable. The
second danger is the real problem of 'groupthink' where the members of the
organization become so tied up in its prevailing culture and 'positive
vibe' that the organization falls victim to the 'emperor's new clothes'
syndrome.
There is a place for healthy scepticism and the 'instinct for rejection'
in all organizations. Without that barrier (outer skin) organizations are
in danger of falling victim to every new fad or management driven
initiative. A 'true' learning organization must retain its ability to
discriminate between good and bad, worthwhile and worthless. The
challenge facing those of us who are managing the change process in
organizations is to control (softly) the enthusiasm of our staff, who,
when freed from the limits of traditional organizational cultures, can
begin to accept and undertake unsustainable workloads.
Cheers
Don Ledingham
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