| One of the rules I've proposed is that there be a method of creating what
| I would call a "corporate insurrection." A way for people within an
| organization to rise up, rebel, and protest the behavior of the
| organization.
This could be just semantics, but why view it as an "insurrection" rather
than as open communication culture in which the employees act as living
sonar for the captain of the "Titanic"?
| ...snip...
| And I should say, before closing, that the system we're designing is a
| very open system. Some might call it a "leaderless system." It is not
| democratic per se, although it could become democratic. We hope that it
| will exist as a bunch of rules that can be changed, at any time, by the
| people within the system. In other words, there are no sacred cows in the
| system except that the system itself is a sacred cow that we do not want
| to destroy.
What if the system itself has become terminally ill in a way that is
negative toward the society? (Not necessarily self-inflicted; external
factors can do this to good companies. Witness the Asian business, for
example.) Should "destroying" the system still be a sacred cow?
Citing Arie de Geus' book - The Living Companies, a company should mimic
the living being by executing strategies that aim for longevity. If we
agree with Arie's proposition, then "destroying" may seem to be not an
option. But when we re-interpret the word "destroy" to mean forsaking the
initial vision, to adopt a new vision as a different company, then
"destroying" (more appropriately, re-inventing) is a necessary thing for an
ill company. I envision the myth of the Phoenix legend, who was burned
down ("destroyed"), but then lived again and rose up from the ashes.
--Slamet Hendry (sh@earthling.net) Jakarta, Indonesia
"If we cannot make a profit, that means we are committing a sort of crime against society. We take society's capital, we take their people, we take their materials, yet without a good profit, we are using resources that could be better used elsewhere." Konosuke Matsushita
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>