Greg responds to Bacal, again:
This is the quintessential reason why for-profit corp's are so dangerous.
Everything, quite literally, is subservient to the final question.
The final question, Greg, is not the 'bottom line'. In a learning
organization, one which understands systems (including the BIG system in
which we all exist) the concept of profit is seen as generation of wealth
for all mankind. Any loss to the organization is a loss to society as a
whole. It is important to understand that the concept of organizational
learning and the underlying theory is geared towards helping the profit
makers understand not only their responsibilities to the stock holders,
but also to the shareholders (who include every beast and plant on this
planet and any other we may effect in our daily operations). The whole
point of this list is to see the output of a system as a good thing for
the one suchness. By understanding the history of profit (and its impact
on the environment, such as the strip mined and deforested Appalachian
Mountains of my youth) we can turn the corner and use the for-profit
organization to share profit, the benefits of research (such as this
internet across which we communicate) and the knowledge of human
interactions, psychology of teams, etc. and apply them to families,
communities, and even communes. Give the radical mind a rest. Stop
yelling, start thinking. Make it work. Profit is not evil. It allows a
surplus of trade materials, money, etc. to share with Biafra, Ethiopia,
maybe even Applalachia, to raise the standards of living. Work towards
making profit work for humanity. I work in a very large for-profit. The
financial types do make bad decisions for humanity, but at my level, we
see good, we understanding learning, and we teach compassion, good will,
and love as the basis for our daily routine within the profit world. We
have recently been christened an ISO 14000 organization because our
realationship with the environment is better than most and we constantly
work to reduce the amount of energy we use, the waste we produce, and the
potential for harm within our part of the system. In the end, though, it
is all for profit. Some of that profit is money. The rest is in feeling
good about our selves and our environment.
--"John Zavacki" <jzavacki@greenapple.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>