Re: low level cross divisional cooperation....
hello Archie Kregear
What you described is what we call the "underground support system"
and I believe that it exists in most major corporations and is responsible
for any of the real success a company might have. We sometimes say... "we
build "product" in spite of the system" and most of the true heros of our
companies will never be known because they are the ones who slip in,
assist their friends in the informal network of - who knows how to do it-
and the work gets done.
Top execs so often get frustrated because they don't know what is
really going on or that they can't control this kind of action, but
because of their political and personal motivations, they never will gain
control. Those at the bottom will do what they have to do to survive just
as the exec will do what they feel they must do to survive. In the case
of those at the bottom-getting the work out is the source of survival. in
the case of the exec, it's personal "turfdoms" that they feel builds their
means for survival (wotta mess).
The learning organization concepts exploit Honesty and Working
together, I think they are Value base, and add weight to my belief that it
is the foundational values held by the people in an organization that
makes it or breaks it in the long term. As a full participant in the
"system support underground" - I'm happy to see others participating. I
think thats how a full blown Learning Org will develop.
Michael...
--sysengr@atc.boeing.com (Michael Erickson)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>