Authority in a LO LO11022

mrawlins@ilhawaii.net
Fri, 15 Nov 1996 22:39:20 +0700

My name is Matt Rawlins and I am currently working on my Ph. D. using
Argyris' & Schon's material in a Christian non-profit setting. I have
tried to read the digest for the last couple of weeks to get a feel of
what is happening and decided it was time to jump in. I am not sure where
this fits, it may be a new thread or fit under morality???, but I will
trust Rick to place it in the right place.

My question is about the key role 'Authority' plays in a learning
organization. I just finished Capra's "The Web of Life" and was thinking
about his use of a web in explaining a systems thinking paradigm. As I
began to look at webs I realized the importance of achors or in my
translation, authority points, and the importance of them for the web to
function effectively. Here is my question that I have been trying to
wrestle with.

What part does authority play in a learning organization?

It seems vital for any learning and yet I am having trouble seeing
the difference of authority in a 'mechanistic' structure vs a 'living'
structure. Here are my thoughts for the moment.

There seems to be an authority anchor for:

Individuals - each person has an authority in their experiences,
skills, giftings, preferences, ect.
Culture - Each culture has unique God given characteristics and it
is important that they understand their strengths and weaknesses and the
part they play.
Leadership - Those in designated roles who have influence over
large groups of people.
I add here an anchor from my Christian perspective of God and his
revealed truth.

As I re-read this is sounds a little muddled. Anyone interested in
helping clarify this? A last thought is that I think Authority is
important for defining morality.
I would love to hear some new thoughts.

Thanks,
Matt Rawlins

mrawlins@ilhawaii.net

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mrawlins@ilhawaii.net
 


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