I responded to David Markham's question about organizations' organic
clocks in a very general way (referring to the "dialogue between those who
know the culture and processes (internal view) and those who know the
environment (external view)"). I appreciated the way Barry expanded on
that in his examples of cycle time and production rates (internal
perspectives), and rates of change within an industry and product
lifetimes (external perspectives). He is absolutely correct in stating
that "These things, and probably others I haven't thought of, impose some
"natural" rhythms on the organizaaation." The implication here that these
rhythms constitute the "clock".
The dialogue I was referring to involves developing a group consciousness
about the state of the organization both internally and with relation to
its environment, so that those making major decisions about its welfare
can see deeply enough to know what the organization needs. This is (I
think) a Taoist approach in that it removes the desires of the leader from
decision-making.
Barry said he differed with me in that "we ignore these things at our
peril."
What I said was: "We don't [have to be respectful of the Tao]. But we
shouldn't be surprised when the rest of the world doesn't cooperate with
our myopic behavior."
Leaders and managers can choose to make decisions based on what they want,
or they can make decisions based on what the organization needs. Barry's
comment that "the Tao is critical but that figuring it out is tough" is
right on. I didn't say it was easy...
-- David E. Birren Phone: (608)267-2442 Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources Fax: (608)267-3579 Bureau of Management & Budget Internet: birred@dnr.state.wi.us . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "To know, and not to act, is to not know." --Wang Yang Ming, 9th-century Chinese general