Pegasus: Dee Hock Keynote LO10874

Durval Muniz de Castro (durval@trellis.ia.cti.br)
Wed, 06 Nov 1996 09:27:09 -0800

Replying to LO10852 --

Christian Giroux wrote:
>
> > RE "Institutions restrict ingenuity"
> >
> > This LO forum is an institution.
> >
> > [To which your host replies: Hmmm... I never thought of LO as an
> > institution before! What does this mean! ...Rick]
>
> I just believe Dee Hock had a more traditional interpretation of what the
> word "institution" means.

I suggest reading the words in the context of the discourse. Thus:

a) "Institutions restrict Ingenuity"

but

b) "The kind of organizations I envision will be..."

Thus, in his DH's speech, institution and organization should not be
understood as synonyms. From the context, we can select the following
dictionary meanings:

Institution: an established practice, law or custom;

Organization: 1. an organizing or being organized; 2. any group of
persosns united for some purpose;

Organize: 1. to give an organic structure to; 2. to unite (various organs
or parts) so that each organ or part has its special function in the
whole.

When Dee Hock says institution, I understand not the whole organization,
but a part of it, its established practices. This is a necessary element
of an organization, a part that is systemically associated to balancing
loops, whose function is to make the organization's behavior predictive,
not creative.

The whole organization is more than its institutions. It is a complex
system that must balance predictability and ingenuity, routine and
creativity, reliability and innovation. That is the beauty of the idea!

The LO list depends on some institutions, otherwise we would be unable to
communicate. But it also depends on creativity, otherwise the
communication would be worthless.

-- 
Durval Muniz de Castro
durval@ia.cti.br
Fundacao Centro Tecnologico para Informatica
http://www.ia.cti.br/
Campinas - Brasil
Phone: 55-19-2401011   Fax: 55-19-2402029
 

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