Re: Anonymity in Meetings LO2499

mbayers@mmm.com
Mon, 21 Aug 1995 14:11:19 -0500

Replying to LO2475 --

It seems to me that a singular advantage of anonymity comes from the
concept that the idea under examination will stand or fall on its own
merits -- that is, its 'sponsor' cannot carry by dint of his/her clout.

Of course, a singular disadvantage of anonymity comes from the practice
that all of the ideas under examination require more attention in order to
stand or fall -- that is, some ideas seem appealing at first but lose
their attractiveness with further attention. And to cull the genuinely
good (or useful or whatever) ideas, we may have to spend considerable time
filtering out the ideas which turn out to be essentially noise cluttering
the soundscape.

And somehow we seem to pre-suppose the principal that the good (or useful
or whatever) ideas will rise to the top -- that is, that our organizations
demonstrate political neutrality.
-- 
Michael Ayers
mbayers@mmm.com        (612) 733-5690      FAX (612) 737-7718
IT Education Svcs/3M Center 224-2NE-02/PO Box 33224/St Paul MN 55133-3224
-   Ideas expressed in this note represent the author's thinking   -
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