Andy Rowe said --
[Jackson quote snipped here as I am unable to converse with him.....]
>Personally, I must also follow a rather critical stance, although the
>ideas have validity, there is still the danger that we could all fall into
>the trap of adopting another 'flavour of the month' concept, from an
>albeit very marketable 'cureall' (I can't help being reminded of Morgan's
>'Images of Organization', which developed a very interesting new line of
>attack to organization theory, but which blew it all in the last chapter,
>when simplistic, positivistic answers were generated after ten chapters
>describing the inherent subjectivism of analysis through metaphors;
>possibly an 'add-on' to give a 'nice ending'!)
>
I would imagine that as people engaged in learning we all take a
critical stance as we apply new learning. I am having a little
difficulty in the nature of your approach and I probably need to
understand it more. I have written before to this list about my
own concerns with the way in which fads come and go - I am not sure
if this is in the nature of the original material but possibly in
how it gets used. It may be that the pressures of organisational
life leave people looking for quick and simple solutions and thus
they seek to find them in whatever they come across - because they
do so (and adopt linear use of small parts) does not mean they were
intended as such.
So when you say the ideas have validity are you talking from an
academic standpoint or from the perspective of one who has been
working with how to apply them? What would be your test of
whether they were of value? If they are highly readable and
accessable to people in organisations would this make them
'populist' or easily usable? What is the purpose of the material
and how does it stack against that purpose?
Someone has said something in a recent mailing about the nature of
models - in the same way I am not sure any of our sources have all
the answers - but I often find gems of wisdom or insight in most of
what I read (including Peters etc...)
-- Julie Beedon VISTA Consulting - for a better future julie@vistabee.win-uk.net