I must confess that I got lost from time to time in this complex
conversation, but it sounds like some learning was going on and some
threads certainly stimulated my thinking. On a couple of points I have
questions:
On Mon, 8 Jan 1996 carold.whisnant@astd.noli.com wrote:
[snipped]
> Response; Organizations fail to exist when there are no people within the
> organization.
I wonder if corporate lawyers and the IRS would agree with you on this.
When constituted as a corporation, for example, even if all the folks head
out, isn't there still a corporation until it is "properly" put to rest?
Or am I misunderstanding your use of the term "organization?" (or, even
more likely, am I wrong about the legal part!)
Is it possible that an organization could go into "hibernation" or some
sort of "coma" and spring back to action at a later time? In other words,
can there be an existent organizational form (maybe even in Rupert
Sheldrake's morphological sense) which is not solely relient on the beings
who inhabit it and which, when infused with people even has a greater
impact on them than they do on it? Some family patterns I have observed in
my counseling work come to mind...
I know I'm getting rather bizarre here, but it is late and I am trying to
avoid doing some financial paperwork... Indulge me, please.
[more snipping]
> Response: The point is that at times people within an organization set
>out to fail for what ever dysfunctional reason. If the members of an
>organization set out to succeed, they will succeed.
This I find hard to understand. I know of many, many, talented, committed
people who "set out to succeed", and for a number of reasons, they didn't.
They did learn a great deal, however....
In what way are you using this phrase? Is it some sort of willpower thing,
commitment issue, or what. If you know a way to make organizations succeed
with this degree of certainty, I'll bet you will have a lot of people
pounding at your door. Or am I reading more into the "will succeed" than
you intended?
Now that I am totally confused, I look forward to some help in clarifying
myself.
-- Tobin Quereau Austin Community College quereau@austin.cc.tx.us