Rol Fessenden wrote:
>
> At some point I attempted to define a learning org by saying that just
> because the members of an organization were learning did not mean that the
> organization qualified as a learning org. I said, in part, "The members
> may be learning, but that does not imply that the organization is."snip>
> Having disavowed any intention to separate the organization from the
> people within it, I still believe there is value in this concept. I do
> not for a minute believe that organizations have been practicing this
> meta-learning that Senge refers to. Just because the people are learning,
> does not mean they are meta-learning. That is a more accurate way to say
> it.
Although I agree on these points, I think they're open ended enough to
merit a good deal more discussion. Using a biological metaphor: although
the individual units in a neural net are receiving input and making
intranet connections, it is possible that a pathway to the internet at
large is not available (read communications, cash flow, frightened
leadership, angry union, etc.). Herein we have learning without thruput.
Shared Vision is the organizational Mental Model (with some shared
missions making up the child nodes of the organizational net). If any of
the network servers (middle managers, teamleaders, union officials, etc.)
go down, there is no web. (I'm just starting to use the metaphor, so it's
not fine tuned yet, excuse the semantic stretching!!!)
-- jzavacki@epix.net John Zavacki The Wolff Group 900 James Avenue Scranton, PA 18510 Phone: 717-346-1218 Fax: 717-346-1388