Greetings! I believe that people make their own choices. However, I also
believe that they make those choices based on a menu of possibilities that
has been modeled, practiced etc. over time. The difficulty that I have
with many blame assignments or accusations about people not making the
'obvious' right choices in the view of observers around them is that there
appears to be an assumption far too often that everyone somehow has the
'right, complete' menu written on their soul. Based on this assumption the
responsibility is passed on to the individual and hands are thrown up in
exasperation at why s/he does not do what is expected of him/er. If an
organization is moving in a direction that requires change, or if an
employee is hired who cannot adapt, the way that a learning organization
handles this in my opinion is to examine whether or not they can diagnose
underlying menu needs and offer ways to fulfill them on the person's menu.
If they can and see this as viable, it will be to the benefit of all to do
so. In either case, the individual still has choice and decisions to make.
If the organization cannot help in that regard, whatever can be done to
assist the individual to be matched in a suitable way to an assignment
elsewhere becomes the course of action. In NHL hockey, players are traded
up and down and across. I believe that in some ways similar kinds of
approaches can and should be used as an alternative to firing people. The
mutual benefits can be immense. The tapes 'Challenge to America' show
contrasts among American, German and Japanese ways of handling downsizing
dilemmas. I believe some worthy alternatives are suggested that might be a
starting point for dialogue. Cultural differences notwithstanding I
believe that the organizational menu of choices can easily be expanded
regarding the management of people with a bit of work on the underlying
assumption and a look at alternatives modeled along with some practice at
experimenting with new ideas. Cheers, Conrad Braun.
--"braun" <cbraun@v-wave.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>