Tom--
Perhaps the word "time" is an obstacle to our understanding...intrigued as
I am by your "time dissonance" term.
Sometimes people talk about time (like "real time") when they mean
synchronous rather than asynchronous.
Sometimes people talk about time when they mean activity (for instance,
the idea of managing time really means managing activity within a given
time)
Activities take time. Measurements (like reports) usually include time as
a dimension of the measurement. Time and activity...or time and results.
That's because results take time too. (nanoseconds...millenia?)
How much time activities or results take is often measured in expense
(ROI) terms.
For instance, the response to hunger includes these reponses: hunt for
it; grow it; steal it; buy it. Each response has an element of time,
energy, resources and or risk associated with it. Time is a driving
element (hunger does that to people) that may be restricted by resources,
energy or risk until time becomes essential.
Hunger is a driving purpose for which time is finite and results (food)
become the paramount consideration. So, in the metaphorical sense, what
do organizations hunger for? What do people hunger for?
I suggest that conflicts over activities develop because we have conflicts
over purpose and/or process...the "time dissonance" is a "purpose" or
"process" dissonance.
For instance, following the same metaphor, I may choose to farm as a
response to my family's need for food (preventing hunger). My sibling may
choose to hunt. We each require energy, resources and time (possibly
creating an expense conflict within the family) pursuing the same purpose
with different processes. My farming may be more of a "future-oriented"
process (like growing a learning organization). My sibling's hunting may
be a "now, or short-term, oriented" process (like keeping the organization
from going belly up this year).
In complex organizations, there are so many potential competing purposes
and processes (systems characteristics), that the observation we seem to
make is that "there's no time." The truth is that there's time to do
what's meaningful, purposeful and critical...but no time for anything
else.
Except to take time to participate in the LO list--and to go get some
breakfast. (-:
thoughts?
Doc
> I would really like help in understanding this dimension, time. How do
> all these cycles fit together in an organization:
>
> -quarterly reports, returns and external valuation such as stock
> -product cycle times
> -evolution of the organization
> -personal time on a daily and life cycle basis
> -past, present, future and longer term futures
> -???
>
> all these clocks are running. Somehow, the time dissonance seems to be
> an unaddressed factor- and maybe a major factor
-- "If you pay attention at every moment, you form a new relationship to time. In some magical way, by slowing down, you become more efficient, productive, and energetic, focusing without distraction directly on the task in front of you. Not only do you become immersed in the moment, you become that moment." -Michael RayThresholds <http://www.thresholds.com> Meeting Masters <http://www.thresholds.com/masters.html> Richard Charles Holloway - P.O. Box 641, Long Beach, WA 98631 Voice 360.642.8487 ICQ# 10849650
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