Steve Eskow replying to R. "Doc" Holloway...
>Doc, I have read and been deeply influenced by the four authors you cite.
>Of the four, only Capra can be read as holding or believing that
>organizations are "living." Drucker would label that notion sheer
>nonsense.
>Drucker , for example, has been writing about the "the knowledge society"
>and "knowledge workers" for 50 years without accepting any of the grand
>narratives currently in vogue about the failure of the Enlightenment and
>the shift from a Cartesian and Newtonian world to a shiny new paradigm; he
>continues to look closely at the actual workings of the world and does not
>explain the shifts and changes with a single monadic overarching
>explanation.
I am in general agreement with Steve Eskow on the matter of whether or not
organizations are living systems, so I am not taking issue with him on
that score, however, the comment above about Drucker and "the shift from a
Cartesian and Newtonian world" is not quite correct.
In Chapter One of his book, "Landmarks of Tomorrow" (1959), Drucker dwells
at length on what he sees as a shift away from the Cartesian system of
linear cause and effect. Drucker's 1959 book precedes Thomas Kuhn's 1970
book, "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions," by several years, so
Drucker doesn't use the word "paradigm," which Kuhn popularized, however,
he does title Chapter One as "The New World-View" (which comes pretty
close to the meaning of paradigm).
And, as long as I'm in here (as the surgeons say), Drucker has been
writing about knowledge work and the knowledge society for roughly 40
years, not 50 years. His chronicling of the shift to knowledge work
begins in the book I've just cited: "Landmarks of Tomorrow." The relevant
chapter there is Chapter Four, "The Educated Society."
Sorry if I seem overly picky but facts have always struck me as
important...
Finally, I agree completely with Steve Eskow when he says of Drucker,
"he continues to look closely at the actual workings of the world
and does not explain the shifts and changes with a single monadic
overarching explanation."
Regards,
Fred Nickols
nickols@worldnet.att.net
--Fred Nickols <nickols@worldnet.att.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>