On 30 Nov 99, at 14:37, Greg Haworth wrote:
> John Truty in LO23264 "For what end" brings up a topic that has been
> rumbling in my mind for a while too.
>
> John's post acted as a catalyst; I read his message as:
>
> 1 -- ...snip... [on this list]... the dominate thesis ... places the
> "good" of the organization as the supreme end ...snip...
>
> 2 -- ...snip... the organization ...[is]... a vehicle for the privileged
> to maintain their privilege ...snip... (to which John enumerates some
> social inequities and injustices)
I have a slightly different reading of these statements. It does not seem
to me that those discussing 'learning organisations' always consider
organisation as some supreme good. On the other hand, it does seem to me
that we are more interested in COMPARING. You have some experiences
(possibly with organisations); I have some experiences of my own. Are
these experiences better reflected through a 'degree of sameness' or a
'degree of difference'? Is there something endemic to what we call
organisations? Are there choices with respect to how we organise our
activities? Or lives? To what extent our past and present act as
constraints on our endeavours?
On privileges: Similarly, some things (e.g., organisation, language,
wealth, social institutions, ...) do appear to maintain privileges.
However, we seem to be more interested in understanding WHY they succeed
in achieveing this when they do. The fact is, they do not always succeed.
(For example, successful organisations fail, become bankrupt, go out of
the Fortune 500 list, etc.) Our discussions also seem to include a number
of related themes:
What (e.g., form of interaction) succeeds in maintaining what (e.g.,
actorship)?
What (e.g., type of language) fails in maintaining what (e.g., learning
conversations)?
How to create that (e.g., a learning community) which is worth
maintaining?
How to remove obstacles?
How to create the environment in which things (e.g., traditions) can be
created and maintained?
How to develop (improve) that (e.g., townships) which is worth
maintaining?
How to deal with the side-effects (e.g., the emotional stress of having to
learn)?
How to transfer such skills as those involved in the above? ...
I hope I am communicating to you, Greg.
Love.
DP
----------------
Prof. D. P. Dash
Xavier Institute of Management
Bhubaneswar 751013
India
New E-Mail: dpdash@ximb.ac.in
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