>Replying to LO1800
>
Pete Heineman wrote:
> Bolman and Deal summarize the issue of politics by stating, "The
>question is not whether organizations will have politics, but what
>kind of politics they will have. Politics can be and often is sordid
>and destructive. But politics can also be the vehicle for achieving
>noble purpose, and managers [leaders] can be benevolent politicians...
I am combining a brief introduction to the list with a response. I am an
educator and a consultant working on a doctorate in HRD at Vanderbilt. I
assist Prof. Deal with, and sometimes teach an undergrad course called
"Understanding Organizations" that he developed based on the four frames.
Terry describes each frame in metaphoric terms: an organization is a
factory (structural), a family (human resource), a jungle (political), and
a temple (symbolic). BTW, managers tend to operate primarily in the
structural and human resource frames, while leaders operate primarily in
the political and symbolic frames.
Anyway, further to Barry Mallis' comment about Justice, in addition to
metaphors, each frame has its own ethic. In the structural frame it's
"excellence", in the H. R. frame it's "caring", in the political frame
it's "justice", and in the symbolic frame it's "faith". (Put them
together and you've got a pretty good motto.)
It seems that power and spirit in the organization are inextricably
linked--two sides of the same coin perhaps. IMHO, the fundamental
tensions between frames are mediated by the symbolic frame. All the
frames, including the symbolic frame represent curricula (and are drawn
from the research from discrete academic disciplines). I believe that as
a process, learning is the coin of the symbolic realm since it ultimately
involves the making of meaning.
My work here involves looking at organizations from a learning
perspective. My research interests are how we might identify (measure?)
and influence informal and incidental learning, and transformational
learning. I have been influenced a bit by Alan Thomas' book "Beyond
Education".
Jeff
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THE CORPORATE LEARNING GROUP.
"Innovators in human and organizational development."
Jeff Kenyon (615) 646-0156
kenyonjh@ctrvax.vanderbilt.edu 7441 Hwy. 70 So.,Suite 413
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