Robert Fabian wrote in LO8319...
>[snip]
>
>Those are the nub of my conceptual disagreement with Jaques. His
>presentation style, specifically in "Requisite Organization", is
>off-putting. Nothing is explained. Nothing is justified. "Thrust me, I'm
>the sage who is able to think at Strata XX!" Personally, I found it hard
>going to get through what he writes. HBR edited him into somewhat better
>shape, and he presents even better in person (but still does not justify
>his conclusions).
>
>A final point about his appeal. My guess is that CEO's are deeply
>flattered by his framework. They're at an intrinsically higher level,
>based on the conceptual abilities with which they are born. And cannot
>really explain themselves to people who are lower in the hierarchy (who
>don't have the mental ability to understand anyway). It's also "right and
>proper" that they by paid much larger sums of money than anyone else in
>their organization. All of this feels like a modern version of "divine
>right of kings". Not my kind of world.
Right on, Robert!! From what I have read here, and discussed with
colleagues elsewhere, Elliot Jaques, like re-engineering, is one of the
final, futile gasps of the machine model of organization. His thinking
seems to dismiss the whole systems view -- he thinks everything can be
isolated and viewed apart from its environment.
His hubris is astounding. I think Robert is right, Jaques plays to the
ego of the upper management person who hires him.
IMHO, if Freud was an org. consultant today he would be Eliot Jaques [this
is NOT a compliment].
Valdis Krebs
Krebs & Associates
Cleveland, OH
Los Angeles, CA
--"Valdis E. Krebs" <InFlow@cris.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>