David Hanson makes a good point about the nurturing of of individual =
expression and creativity.
He writes:
"Group goals do not have to force the individual into a position of
conformity. Cooperative groups can be a place that nurture individual
expression and creativity. Group feedback can encourage...".
I agree completely. Again I am struck by the play of theory and =
workplace "reality" which makes this list so fascinating, and about which =
we wrote much last year. David says that goals "do not have to" etc, =
that groups "can be" etc. Yes. They CAN. From my experience in large =
organizations (and my own experience is FAR FROM EXHAUSTIVE), people =
generally find it harder to to buck a particular tide of thinking or =
action at most stages of activity. It's a fact of life. Reality =
consists of the nuts and bolts of the time-constrained workplace where =
theories have not found coherent application--have not found even the =
means to be applied without education of the most sensitive kind.
The momentum of in-place processes plays a major role in shutting out =
attempts at organizational or cultural change. I strongly believe that =
as a fact of manufacturing life. Perhaps in other kinds of organizations =
it's different, but I think not.
So, I raise my itty-bitty voice in the wilderness of theory, offering my =
views from the manufacturing floor in northern New England where 700 =
people are in the thick of competition in the marketplace and trying to =
learn the mysteries of teamwork.
Best regards,
--Barry Mallis bmallis@markem.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>