Complexity and Values LO8107

Rol Fessenden (76234.3636@CompuServe.COM)
25 Jun 96 15:41:40 EDT

Replying to LO8066 --

Michael, building on an earlier response of mine, you wrote a very
interesting posting on values. Philosophically, I agree with your
perspective. Values co-exist in networks, not as individual entities. I
would even go further, and say that even once we have identified a value
-- say love of the environment -- we still do not know what that means
when professed by different people. Again, we need to understand the
whole context to understand the contained meaning in the phrase, "love of
the environment".

Having agreed with you, I now check in with my feelings, and they tell me
that my values are in conflict. I FEEL conflicted because my value of
loving other people conflicts with my value of protecting my organization
from a destructive person (for example).

So here I am, on the one hand loving someone, on the second hand being
protective of my organization, third, checking to ensure that I am genuine
in my worries, and not 'just' ridding myself of a troublesome, but
potentially useful employee, fourth worrying that I have not done enough
to avert this situation, fifth, trying to understand all these
complexities so I can communicate to other people who will also feel hurt
by my actions, even though the actions are in their interest (according to
me), wondering if perhaps I should not just take the easy way and do
nothing. Finally, worrying about and preparing for legal repercussions.
Within each of these loops of thinking and analyzing are subloops for
further thinking and analyzing. I am stressed as well as conflicted.

I can refer all this back to my western civilization or to my family
upbringing. I still feel conflicted, and it is the feeling that I must
struggle with.

Why am I struggling? Because I know that many people can be impacted by
my actions, and I am genuinely concerned to make that impact as positive
and useful as possible.

I am operating under a set of self-evident truths which I long ago
established for myself, and which -- by and large -- are in alignment with
those SETs of most people I work with. Philosophically, I know these SETs
can and do evolve over time -- 10 - 30 years or so -- but for all
practical purposes, they are stable. That is why for me, they function as
truths, even though I know the truths of my children will be somewhat
different.

Furthermore, I know others understand me and know what to expect from me
by my actions, and I want my actions to reflect my SETs. Therefore, I
work hard to ensure that the values-in-action align with my personal
values.

I agree with you that 'clash' in values forces thinking and clarification
of values. However, in addition to the thinking, I have to deal with my
feelings and the feelings of others, and this is where it gets
complicated.

-- 

Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc. 76234.3636@compuserve.com

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>