Dear Organlearners,
Jon Krispin <jkrispin@prestolitewire.com> writes:
>The bottom line here is that it is the consequences that follow
>behavior that form the feedback loops which amplify or balance
>the flow of behavioral energy. This allows us to understand more
>clearly the role of feedback in influencing rate of flow presented
>in systems thinking. The consequences form the structure of
>the entropic force for behavior, and thus play a crucial role in
>determining whether emergence will follow the bifurcation point,
>or whether immergence will result. (!!!!) Emergence (irreversible
>spontaneous self organization) can only result if the dominate
>source of behavioral energy in a system is positive reinforcement.
>
>I can't emphasize enough here how HUGE this is in understanding
>where we are and where we need to go (what we need to do) in
>shaping change in organizations. Without this understanding, we
>are hitting golf balls into a dense fog ......
Greetings Jon,
Thank you very much for your thorough contribution. You contributions are
proving to be very helpful for a number of local psychologists who want to
learn more about the entropy/chaos/order approach to psychology.
You have made a number of specific points which I would have loved to
responded to. But I want to respond to the general point which you have
made. I am thinking of the present developments in Serbia. I will begin by
changing your words "Without this understanding, we are hitting golf balls
into a dense fog ..." into "Without this understanding, NATO is launching
bombs into the population of Serbia ..."
We in South Africa are very fortunate that it did not happen to us also.
During the last ten years of apartheid there were enough despicable deeds
on both sides (pro-apartheid and anti-apartheid) to warrant such a
conduct. But why did it not happen? By answering this question we will
learn something very important with respect to organisational learning.
Massive foreign investment (related to exploiting South Africa's mineral
wealth) had to be protected! Furthermore, South Africa is the gateway for
Africa south of the Sahara and the turning corner for maritime traffic
between the West and the East. Consequently those countries (the major
forces in NATO) would hurt themselves too much when trying to change the
behaviour of South Africans by negative reinforcement through dropping
bombs night after night. In other words, they do not believe in the
unconditional validity of changing behaviour by negative reinforcement.
Jon has offered a theoretical explanation which may be too complex or
esoteric for many to accept. I have offered an example which is but one
case from which no general inference can be made. So let us consider
another case. There are many parallels (religion, culture, history,
language) between the Kosovo issue in Yugoslavia and the Northern Ireland
issue. Why does NATO not change the behaviour of people in Northern
Ireland by dropping bombs (negative reinforcement) on them?
We can learn much about organisational learning from the hearings of the
TRC (Truth and Reconcilliation Commssion) here in South Africa, also with
respect to Jon's point. The TRC was a result of the negotiations which led
to the transformation of the exclusive democracy of apartheid South Africa
into its present fully inclusive democracy. Sadly, we must bear in mind
that some people tried to misuse the TRC as a sort of Nuremberg trial to
further their own political agendas.
Many people who told the full truth about their despicable deeds (for
which they felt very sorry afterwards) said that they were not aware of
the following unquestioned assumption which led to their insane behaviour.
They assumed that by belonging to an ORGANISATION which offered solutions
(based on negative reinforcement) for behavioural problems, their
political (collective) motivation would condone their own behaviours as
INDIVIDUALS. But once they have experienced the devastating consequences
of negative reinforcement, they began to despise their own individual
actions. Many begged forgiveness from their victims -- those who managed
to survive.
It is extraodinarily that some of these victims, often terribly maimed for
life, were keen on forgiving the perpetrators with tears in their own
eyes. It is almost as if the negative reinforcement did work for them. But
some told how these negative reinforcements actually filled them with
immense hate, anger and distrust. However, their own outlook began to be
transformed only after they came into contact with unconditional love.
Let us go back to Serbia/Kosovo where night after night each screaming
bomb explodes to send schock waves to those not directly destroyed by the
bomb itself. Think about little kids who cannot rationalise like adults
about what is happening to them. Shock wave after shock wave hammers
through their bodies, their little hearts pounding heavily in their
fragile chests, nobody to hug and sooth them. Yet the propaganda mongers
cry out that these bombs are intended to teach the leaders a lesson. But
what about these kids who do even realise that they have leaders? Who will
care for them?
Let us stop this insane hurting by learning how to love each other so that
we can create constructive solutions to our problems. Learning, which
emerges constructively from creativity, cannot happen in a destructive
state of mind. Let us not fool ourselves -- nothing constructive happens
when a bomb explodes.
Best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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