Re: Metaphor and Mental Models

CAVALERI@CSUSYS.CTSTATEU.EDU
Tue, 10 Jan 1995 20:11:01 -0500 (EST)

In response to Ivan Blanco's observations regarding the precondition of
organizational democracy for organizational learning, I am inclined to
agree. Several articulate advocates of the systems approach, Russ Ackoff
(1994) and the British theorist M.C. Jackson have posited similar
views. Organizational learning processes are by their very nature
experimental and relatively risk in terms of discrete, short-term
operational outcomes. The power dynamics of non-democratic institutions
do not encourage either risk taking or experimentation in areas that are
likely to result in sanctions from those in power or whose bonuses depend
on short-run financial performance. More likely, the risk taking and
experimentation, I suspect, will center around indentifying ways to
"beat" the non-democratic system.
I would also like to propose that another pre-condition to
organizational learning, along with some measure of democracy, is
the facility for what Peter Checkland refers to as 'Soft' systems thinking.
My sense is that the two, democracy and 'soft' systems thinking are somehow
synergistic.
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CAVALERI@CSUSYS.CTSTATEU.EDU