John W. Gunkler wrote, in part:
> Everyone
> knows that the "reengineering" fad turned into the "get rid of people"
> fad. .... I
> think that System Dynamics unwittingly contributes to the mindset that
> people are expendable.
>
> Just take a look at the examples of system models in business that we
> use to teach SD. How many of them have a feedback loop that includes
> hiring/firing? And how many of these hiring/firing loops are used,
> in the model, to adjust size of workforce in response to economic
> pressures from elsewhere in the model?
John goes on to describe the losses of the "best" who see the hand writing
on the wall, thus diminishing the system "knowledge"
Now we are seeing a model where small units coalesce around a problem.
When that problem is solved then the group breaks up and the individuals
reform around another problem. This, in essence is the antithesis of a
learning organization and becomes more like a social organization such as
ants and bees, even with knowledge workers. There is the force which
drives the larger organization and which acts to have the workers,
knowledge or otherwise, gather around a problem and go from problem to
problem. The workers may never have to move, physically, since the work
can come to them as a knowledge worker in India or the Caribbean, or as a
piece worker in Iowa or Malaysia.
In essence, the need to retain knowledge within the corporation becomes
less than critical if it can be obtained on an as needed basis.
Indeed, as John suggests, organizations will be driven by a few, the
bankers, and skill based persons, even those in the knowledge arena will
be inventoried to be drawn from "supply" on an as needed/ as available
basis.
People have used sports as the ultimate model of team building and the
need to have a cooperative organization when, in fact, today, we see
individuals moving as easily between teams as needed, often working for
the same team more than once. Sports- the ultimate ephemral or virtual
learning organization
The idea of not down sizing in reorganizing and the idea of a permanent
community of workers retraining and rebuilding the organization as it
evolves may be a vision trying to recapture the past.
thoughts?
tom
abeles
--tom abeles <tabeles@tmn.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>