I apologize if this topic has been discussed recently but in a number of
conversations I have had lately it seems that people act on an "already"
drawn, cognitive map of what an organization is...
I'm thinking that many of us are trying to talk about something which we
haven't really taken the time to define. When I ask people to define what
an organization is to them, they have difficulty because it is often
assumed that everyone knows what an organization is and what it is created
to do?
I have started to think that a lot of our world's problems are stemming
from what we think organizations are actually being created for and what
the definition of an organization really is....With the current movement
of spirit and community into organizational lore, we often find that
organizations are being asked to provide those things for its employees
which once we're provided by family, community and religion.
I wonder if we are asking organizations to do something which they are not
designed to do, at least in the sense that we have come to know them. I
defer to the Catholic church and the military as being organizations of
duty, yet I think we could start to assess a lot of our organizational
challenges by first beginning with a definition of "what are we here to
do" and have we chosen the proper design with which to accomplish
that...if in fact accomplishment is at the heart of organizational being?
I postulated that organizations are frameworks upon which value is
translated, however most people attribute--at least in my
interpretation--that organizations have different charters. Now that we
have attributed learning to organization, I believe that we have created
even more complexity regarding the purpose of organizations.
Is there sufficient desire or merit in discussing the purpose of an
organization?
mike
On Wednesday, November 19, 1997 6:07 AM, learning-org-approval@world.std.com
On Behalf Of Jo Hamill wrote:
> Well you already know my name and my primary
> area of interest - why do we
> create organisations.
--"Mike Jay" <Quarterback@classic.msn.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>