Life in Organizations LO9436

Michael McMaster (Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk)
Sat, 24 Aug 1996 10:17:04 +0000

Replying to LO9365 --

Cherry asks a great question about the atrocities carried out in
corporations. "Who is they?".

I do not accept that it can be "just a few COLD managers". There is
a system operating and if a few cold managers can do such things,
then there is a larger system which is allowing, encouraging,
causing, etc.

But then, it isn't "they" at all. It is the system.

Yes, I know, some individual or individuals need to speak the words,
send the letter or take some action for anything to happen. People
don't get fired by a computer - yet. But the individual act in a
dance with the system, the culture, the design of the organisation.

It may be more productive to approach the problem as if it is the
organisation AS AN INDEPENDENT ENTITY rather than individuals or even
"they" as some local, specified group.

That is, who is the source or cause is not going to be very
productive. When, what, where did the practices or structures
originate might be more interesting. Who can do something about it
now and who is interested in what it communicates about the whole
might be more interesting.

There are people currently reponsible for the design of the
organisation AS IT RELATES TO THE FUTURE who might be
appropriate to make sure they have the information of what is
happening - including the emotional impact and meaning - so that
they can do their job better.

Or maybe it is a reflection of the unconsciousness and
dysfunctions of the larger society and it will then take a different
sort of action. (longer term, deeper educational, etc)

Michael McMaster : Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk
book cafe site : http://www.vision-nest.com/BTBookCafe
Intelligence is the underlying organisational principle
of the universe. Heraclitus

-- 

Michael McMaster <Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk>

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