This was my first experience speaking on this (or any other) listserv. I
want to thank John Woods and Tobin Quereau for responding to my thoughts.
After lurking for many months, I feel quite honoured that I was able to
speak, to be understood and to get a response. Thanks. However, now I am
hooked....
[Host's Note: Ahhh... (rubbing hands together in delight) Got another
one!]
John Woods said:
"As for taking ourselves seriously, what I meant by that idea is not to
take any conclusion too seriously, as that closes us off to further
learning. Many of the problems in organizations, and in the world in
general, come from people being so wed to their conclusions and being
unwilling to explore their assumptions in relation to those of others that
conflict becomes inevitable."
I too think we are in agreement. Sometimes I reflect that some or most of
the great people that I have studied and worked with have become closed
systems --- so into their own perspectives, theories and methods that they
cannot learn. On the other hand if one accepts that there is an objective
and ordered world that can be known, then some day there should be a
"right" answer? My worry is more from my praxis than from discussion on
this list in that these days, many of my clients are accepting 'chaos,'
'democracy,' 'learning' and other words like that to mean --- "I am who I
am, and I can do whatever I want !" or "There is no science about this
stuff, therefore I am the best authority." etc..etc... I think we need
to be very careful with language since it not only represents, but also
shapes, and I am not so sure that what we are shaping is not either
'laissez-faire,' or worse, -- perhaps slipping toward the 'strong man'
solution.
Tobin said:
"My brain is somewhat rusty on this one, but I think it was someone named
Asch who said something to the effect that consensus only has meaning when
each person feels able to hold diligently to his/her own unique
perceptions and perspectives. In other words, what is sought is _not_ some
smoothing out of differences and diverse opinions, but rather the clear
vision of that common ground which permeates and celebrates our
separateness"
Right on. I think Asch calls this "rationalization of conflict" as
opposed to the definitions of "consensus" which are sometimes given in
popular management workshops on leadership for example. These, under the
banner of creating team come closer to "we are all in the same boat" and
paradoxically do not allow for the diversity (individuation) that they
seek. Rather, they create mono cultures which can quickly become
oppressive.
" I don't know of many people who consciously prefer to
"abandon reality" (for very long at any one time, that is),"
But surely this is a trick? Of course I (nor anyone) 'intends' or
'chooses' to abandon reality. If so, we would likely be
institutionalized, and hopefully not for very long? However, whole
movements, sometimes very intelligent movements of folks do so -- or at
least, without going back to references to document my case -- I think we
could both come up with examples of the abandonment of reality as a
defense mechanism? If so, then how do we know when we are colluding and
when not? Precisely because the process of abandoning reality is perhaps
an unconcious one? The way we do it is through argumentation, conflict,
--- having my 'friends' call me when I am out to lunch?
BTW I do resonate with John's original comment about human beings as an
integral part of the earth system. In fact one book I liked a lot was
Theodore Rozak's "The Voices of the Earth" in which he suggests that until
we heal the earth, we cannot heal ourselves. However, I also think that
we have with our science created a human ecological mess --- doesn't this
amount to the abandonment of reality by social science over a period of
years -- centuries? In the attempt to model social science after natural
science we objectified "out there" and placed human beings over and
against nature? If we had gotten it right -- about reality as
inter-subjective --- would we be in this mess today?
-- deguerre.don@syncrude.com