LO Colleagues:
Rick Karash suggests a bit of confusion about the apparent difference he
perceives in spatial and temporal situations involving maps and
directions. First, Rick, I suggest that you DO have a map in the case you
mention, where you are a program leader and feel as if you don't know
where you are going ... you have a rough map based on your experience,
whether that map is held consciously or subconsciously.
I have found the same pehnomenon in showing someone how to use a software
application ... some folks want the big picture first ("What are we
trying to do here, and how does that work?") while others are not just
satisfied with, but demand, a keystroke-by-keystroke set of instructions,
which they dutifully write down--and never really understand what they
are doing.
As a psychologist, I think Rick's relating this to type is right on the
mark ... some folks want the big picture first, some don't. Some never
do.
Which leads to an interesting proposition I'd like to toss up, hoping for
a discussion:
Rotter's construct of "locus of control" suggests that there are some
people who believe that they are in charge of their environment and their
circumstances, and there are others who believe that they have no such
control, that "what will be will be" and they are at the mercy of their
envoronment. (Apologies to my colleagues for oversimplifying!) I think
(unsupported as yet) that this is related to ones horizon (and may cause
it) ... the more internal ones locus of control, the more distant the
horizon, and the more likely one is to be comfortable moving from the big
picture to its components. On the other hand, the more external ones
locus of control, the more likely one is to have short horizons, huge
personal discount factors, and no use whatsoever with planning or
forecasting.
Thus ... it follows from this conjecture that personal mastery, team
learning, and individual and shared vision are more likely to be grasped
and operationalized by those who have an internal orientation, and nearly
unintelligible to folks on the distant external end of Rotter's scale of
measure.
There are some interesting and not altogether pleasant connections
between this and Charles Murray's theories in his controversial book.
coauthored with Herrnstein), The Bell Curve.
The reductio ad absurdum, not necessarily absurd, of this line of
reasoning, is that the concept of the learning organization (and systems
thinking) will be lost on a large segment of the polulation ... and what
do we think about that?
Steve
-- Stephen B. Wehrenberg Manpower Planner, US Coast Guard The George Washington University stephenw@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu "Life is a jam session."