Kathy Toner wrote:
> I need some advice! ... (snip) I was troubled by the lack of references or
> attribution where others' ideas were used. The example I'm thinking about
> were a few modules with nicely printed participant workbooks and
> facilitator guides teaching about "undiscussables" and learning how to
> speak from the "left hand" column. (snip)
> We all rely on others' ideas, at least I do, and I don't always (but often
> do) footnote or reference, especially ideas that have been in the public
> domain for a long time,and researched and worked on by many... (snip)
>
> In short, I was disturbed by the vendor's lack of acknowledgement,
> especially when the concept and activity seem to be directly borrowed from
> anothers work--and results in a commercial product Am I overreacting?
> What do you think???
Hi Kathy - I react as well, but more to the nerve of people who market
products that they are not qualified to represent. Should you and other
potential purchasers not expect the person selling the material to know
its source and the conceptual foundation on which it is based? That is an
issue.
As for the question of the ethics involved, the transition from
proprietary property to public domain is a judgement call. I first
learned about 'undiscussables' and 'left hand column' from Chris Argyris
and Donald Schon in the 1970's. Over the years, these concepts/techniques
have widely used by lots of folks, including Peter Senge and followers,
but usually with credit to the work of Argyris and Schon. So while I am
surprised by the lack of knowledge of your vendors, unless they actually
copied and used particular charts, models, graphics from others work, it
would pass my sense of the copyright laws, at least as I understand them.
I hope this is helpful.... and I am curious about others' views.
Rick Fullerton
Canadian Centre for Management Development
rwfc@odyssee.net
--Rick Fullerton <rwfc@odyssee.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>