A day or two ago Michael Bayer wrote....
"....I believe some things we just have to do because we think they're
the right things to do, measurements be damned. It's a matter of -
-values-not of -value-."
To which Claire McCarty replied...
"....I read an article where Rich Teerlink of Harley Davidson said that
he believed in the learning organization because it was the right way to
go. When asked whether he had proof of its effects, he said that he
didn't need proof and hard measurements. He saw evidence of it, not
proof, and that was enough for him. "
Claire and Michael, I would prefer to think we do not need to construct
this debate as an either-or proposition. Organisational Learning is
valuable in its own right, sure, and as part of my own value set I promote
learning at all levels of organisational life, and in my out-of-work life
as well.
But do we not make the effort to record and measure things that are of
value to us? The fault surely lies in measuring insignificant and stupid
items that tell us nothing rather than in making intelligent measurement
attempts in and of itself?
Organisational Learning is to me a matter of values AND value. Also
Michael, I'm not convinced that accounting and the humanities are alien
disciplines, although I am prepared to listen to your reasoning.
Accounting at its best should be ethical, professional and values driven
and practiced by folk who take a broader, more humane view of the world
than that revealed by a simple balance sheet. (See, for example, the work
of Leif Edvinsson and Karl Erik Sveiby for a more enlightened approach to
financial measurement.) A good accountant should be able to teach me
something of value, and several in my professional career have assisted me
to understand and do my job better.
The fact that much accounting falls below par does not in itself
necessarily cut the profession off from the "humanities." We owe it to
ourselves (and to accountants) to demand more of them. (I am not an
accountant by the way...)
Best regards,
Philip Pogson
Training and Development Manager
SAS Institute
--Philip Pogson <Philip_Pogson@oz.sas.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>