Replying to LO25505 --
LO Colleagues -
Perhaps Professor of Semantics (and US Senator) S.I. Hayakawa's writing
will be useful with respect to the points that Pixie made about language
and communication:
"Semantics is the study on human interaction through the mechanisms of
linguistic communication. ... The basic ethical assumption of
semantics...is that cooperation is preferable to conflict" (page v).
"Whatever agreement or assent is arrived at in human affairs...this
agreement is reached by linguistic processes, or else it is not reached"
(page 11, quoting Benjamin Lee Whorf).
Source: _Language in thought and action._ S.I. Hayakawa. Harcourt, Brace
& Co.--1949
Best to all -- on the journey to organizational learning and building
learning organizations (OL/LO is sometimes a useful shorthand for these
desirable conditions).
Richard S. Webster, Ph.D. - President
Personal Resources Management Institute (PRMI)
709 Wesley Court - The Village Green - Worthington, OH 43085-3558
eMail <webster.1@osu.edu>, tel 614-433-7144, fax 614-433-71-88
***
PRM Institute's R&D projects and programs address the paradigm shift: to
"learning," from "training, instruction and teaching." "Organizational
learning," becoming a "learning organization" (OL/LO) and "Action
Learning" (AL) are key resources. OL/LO and AL work for those seeking
"high-performance," e.g. continual improvement of leadership, processes,
systems, ideas, quality, and the enterprise; more effective use of
information and knowledge; increased productivity by all members of the
enterprise -- and improved results. PRMI is a non-profit (501-c-3)
enterprise founded in 1978, offering research, development, and
consulting services.
***
Wise persons remind us: "Every process can be improved; those doing
the work know how." "Things are getting better and better, and worse
and worse, faster and faster." A challenge is to find the "betters" and
build on them -- in time. Idea: try learning -- each person's
responsibility and opportunity, with support and encouragement from all
leaders, other work group members, and the organization.
***
>>> on 10/22/00 Pixie Delite wrote:
> There are certainly a lot of questions raised in this dialogue. Complex -I
> am not sure. Even though i am waaaay late since i have been busy with my
> thesis, I would like to partially communicate a few thoughts that rushed
> into my mind while i read this. At least I will attempt to do so knowing
> the limitations of communication that is not complete in its form and
> spirit over an email.
>
> Let me pick out the points from your write up that i would like to address
> and then do so in a pointwise manner. How does that 'sound'? :)
>
> 1."We could see language as the most important carrier of thoughts and
> knowledge from one person to another. "
>
> Language is the most exentisively used carrier of thoughts and knowledge i
> agree. About how that makes it the most important I find debatable. After
> all, sometimes a hug can mean more than any number of words spoken in any
> tongue, tone or level of tuning!
BIG SNIP...
> It does not mention language anywhere does it? :) Thoughts giving rise to
> ideas.....so the relationship to be studied for improvement has to be
> this....not the postman called language!
>
> Joy Vatsyayann <pixie_delite@hotmail.com>
> Waikato Unveristy - Hamilton, New Zealand
-snip-
--Richard Webster <webster.1@osu.edu>
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