My recent experience as teacher in front of a school class generated the
thoughts on the subject of structures in communities. I think that it is a
subject wich is of interest for all of us; much practice, theory on the
second place.
It is probably a good time to start a discussion on the possible stuctures
in an organisation. Issues like hierarchy and information- and knowledge
transfer are frequently mentioned in our contributions. But also the
learning environment, 'dassein and mitsein', teamwork and teamprocesses,
etc. Recently, there is also a call for clearer sketches of practice and
less digging in theories.
Let me first explain to you how my thoughts meandered to the subject of
this mail. I have numbered them, falsly suggesting separate thinking
steps; they were not, it was a vivid flow with slow and fast parts, and
ofcourse a variety of directions.
1. Is the structure of importance to create fruitfull conditions for a
learning environment in a community?
2. What types of communities could we find as possible analogies in
nature?
3. What are the characteristics of our own LO-list, frequently mentioned
as being a (virtual) LO
4. Does flexibility and structure could go hand in hand? And possibly
related to this, is there a critical ratio between order and chaos?
5. The dynamics of a living community: the growth, decline or
rearrangement due to changes in the world outside the community, or due to
changes inside the community.
6. And following the former point, does the community change due to
increased knowledge and learning?
7. Does authority and hierarchy plays a role, and if so, which role is
preferable?
I stop here with all subsequent meanders, they may have already triggered
enough other bends and new branches in your own thoughts.
Let me go back to my meanders and tell you about my further thoughts. I
think that some sort of structure is vital for a healthy LO. But I should
have written 'LC' - learning community, since the word organisation
already suggests a structure. That's why I used the word 'community'. So
although I don't know yet which structure, there should be some sort of
structure(s). I have used 'vital' and 'healthy' because I was also
thinking on topics mentioned under 6) - the dynamics within the community.
I wrote 'stucture(s)' since I am also not sure whether it will be one, or
more, or even different simultaneously operating structures. To find out
what possible structures could be appropriate, I always tend to look to
examples in nature. In still don't know if this generates relevant
insights. What kind of communities I was thinking of? Well, that is a
whole scala: natural forests and artificial forests (communities of
trees, but also the other organisms living in a forest); flocks of birds
and all similar dynamic animal groups; crystals (static community of
atomic building elements; able to grow or to dissolve); atoms (communities
of elementary particles, dynamic); water molecules in fluid water; corals
and coral colonies (with the water surface as natural barrier); dune sand
and other soils (community of grains; packing principles and
permeability); the human body (as a community of various organic
molecules, sub-ordered in various organs); clouds in the sky, There were
tens of others, but this is enough. All these examples stay in the
backyards of my thinking, they stay ready to serve as possible testing
after further thinking. For instance, what types of structures do they
have. Is symmetry a thing to keep in mind? And ofcourse, is some sort of
hierarchy involved? Are they static or dynamic and is there a relation
between the form of the structure and the contents of the processes within
this community? And then my thoughts switched to this very list. Is there
a structure? Yes, there is, but difficult to see. But there is a general
theme, there is a network of cables, there is a central focal point (our
host). Does this list resembles a spider web? Threads leading to one
point, and interconnecting threads (private correspondence)? But one thing
is clear for me: there is hardly or any hierarchy; we all stay in the same
level, no boss. Could this lack of hierarchy be a necessity for a healthy
LO?? Is the rather loose structure a necessity? It is certainly not a
classical pyramid structure of a hierarchical company.
But there is something else that jumped in my thoughts. There seem to be
some dialogue-leaders, there seem to be some authorities; there is a large
group of silent lurkers. Are they part of the structure; or even more
strict, are they a necessity of a LO?
And what about the flexibility? How much attraction (which ultimately
leads to rigidity) and how much rejection is present? Because the right
balance between the two, gives a rate of flexibility. Are there nuclei of
strong attraction, separated by rather loose bounds? This could give the
group the appearance of a flock of birds (very flexible, great mobility,
but still a community). And what about the space within these nuclei and
the space between these nuclei? Are voids and distance as important as the
substance of the community?
And my final thoughts went to the direction of the dynamics within the
community. What keeps a community alive? What flows through the links
within the community? Blood, juices, information, electrical currents,
temperature, thoughts? Are there bottlenecks? Is the flow reaching every
part of the community?
In our LO-list this flow is information. Does all information always reach
all elements of this list? I am sure that this is not the case. The
delete-button is too easy to handle. But is this a serious problem, is it
a reason that this community will not survive, grow, or (partly) dies?
The human body is a perfect organisation. However, we can stay alive
without eyes, or arms, or legs. Of some organs we have two exemplars, we
could miss one. Some organs could be replaced by a prothesis or by an
organ of someone else. However our brains are the most vital of all.
Are the flows following directly the same structure as the building
elements of the community, or do they have their own pattern? Or more
generally, is there a relation between these two? This is interesting
because in lots of organisations we see a difference between the paths of
information and the (hierarchical) structure (the organogram). It is very
intersting to see how fast and along which lines a gossip in an
organization spreads. I am curious if there are studies on this topic.
Simmilarly, it is interesting to see how computer virusses spread over the
world, as is interesting to see how infectional deseases propagate through
communities. On this topic there are interesting studies published on the
pest epidemy in medieval Asia and Europe; the paths and speed of the
influence virus; or how the AIDS virus has spread. Sometimes these flows
join after some time of being separated. Sometimes they bifurcate with
regular spacing, sometimes they follow a preferential direction. Could we
decipher from this type of studies the paths of least resistance and the
bottlenecks or even worse, the total barriers? And could we compensate
these bottlenecks and barriers by reajusting the structure of the
community? Or is this reajustment created automatically by the processes
in this community?
Well dear readers, you see that I have generated a contribution full of
questions, but hardly any answer. Some of these questions may include some
sort of answer. But overall, I know very little of this matter. But I
think that a discussion and dialogue on this topic could be of practical
value for organisations and especially for LO's. If an organisation wants
to learn, we should know how this organisation is best structured, and how
the learning process is best feeded by flows of information. Are there for
instance experts on workflow in our audience?
dr. Leo D. Minnigh
l.d.minnigh@library.tudelft.nl
Library Technical University Delft
PO BOX 98, 2600 MG Delft, The Netherlands
Tel.: 31 15 2782226
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let your thoughts meander towards a sea of ideas.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--Leo Minnigh <l.d.minnigh@library.tudelft.nl>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>