The work of Mike Bebb, Lyn Bebb and Phil Ramsey might interest you. I
described it at length in another posting:Re: Passion to Participate Here
LO19624Date:Tue, 27 Oct 1998 14:44:03 -0500
What they say is that is most relevant to your question regarding the
inhibiting effect that formality may have on creativity is:
Why Writing Visions Goes Wrong
Achieves clarity at the expense of commitment (head at the
expense of hear)
Vision Statments must be simplisting, involving compromise amongst
those writing, and trivializing the spirit of the vision.
Visions are reduced to slogans, which fail to stumlate further
dialouge.
The Vision Statement cannot represent the fullness of the dialuge that
went into its production.
(except from their slides at their workshop on Systems Thinking Conference
in San Francisco, Sept 98. )
I think that both the verbal, and the formal have the same dampening
effect on innovation. I try to expand the dialogue to other channels than
the analytic, formal and verbal. As Peter Senge says, "We know so much
more than we can ever say.) For a pictorial version of that thought, see
the opening image on www.dawn-treader.com.
Marilee Taussig
610-892-72778
mtaussig@dawn-treader.com
Dr John Taylor wrote:
> In my earlier response to this now dated (?) thread, I asked to hear about
> organisations that had successfully married the pursuit of 'formal'
> quality (eg accreditation schemes) with the maintenance and development of
> innovation and creativity.
>
> I am still very much interested in examples, case studies and commentaries
> on this topic. I have a feeling that in general the pursuit of 'formal'
> quality actively stops people being creative and innovative, but I will be
> pleased to stand corrected.
--Marilee Taussig <mtaussig@netreach.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>