Karl,
Happy New Year! From the date and time of this post, you can tell what
some of us do on holidays.
Good luck with you dissertation research! It sounds like it will prove to
be a valuable contribution to both the academic and practical literatures.
A couple of quick thoughts that may be of interest. I suggest that you
dig deeper into the psyche of the folks with whom you are concerned. In
this regard, you will need to consider and understand not simply the
elements of "personal mastery" or self-mastery but also the core spirit or
soul that comprises all living things. There is a growing literature that
addresses such "variables" and I recommend that you look carefully at it.
The September 1995 cover story of the Personnel Journal, for example,
examines many of these issues and even quotes your's truly: "You can't
build a learning organization unless you get to the soul." The recently
published anthology, Rediscovring the Soul of Business: A Renaissance of
Values, is another good place to start. Moreover, subscribe to
Renaissance Business Associates (RBA) discussion group, "Wisdom at Work",
or check out the archived discussion threads at http:www.rbai.com/rbai, to
get a feel for the breadth of issues facing businesses today.
Speaking of RBA, it was actually founded in 1983 in response to a prompt
by author and researcher Marilyn Fergson, who wrote The Aquarian
Conspiracy: Personal and Social Transformation in Our Time (1980). I
believe (as do so many others) that "You can not have organizational
transformation without personal transformation." The nexus between these
two tracks seems to be the focus of your dissertation. Those of us in the
RBA network are aware of a "shift in consciousness" along the lines
described by Ferguson. Most of the readers of this list, moreover, would
probably admit to noticing some kind of change in this regard. Of course,
not all organizations and their members have experienced "transformation"
in the same way or at the same time. I therefore suggest that you factor
in a "time variable" into your research model. In terms of organizational
culture, for instance, where "were" these organizations at the time of the
downsizing, etc.? Metaphorically, how many organizational trains left
their passengers (employees) at the station or somewhere along the way?!
What about those organizational trains that are NOT passenger focused?
That is, everyone is somehow involved in the operation of the train? Are
these folks more equipped to deal with change, including the possibilities
of having to change trains (maybe even walk?)?!
I hope that this perspective is valuable to you. If I am "off track", let
me know!
Regards,
-- Alex N. Pattakos, Ph.D. (President, Renaissance Business Associates) Alex N. Pattakos, Ph.D. P.O. Box 418 Boise, Idaho 83701 E-mail: alexp@primenet.com Phone: (208) 345-4234 or 345-4235; Fax: (208) 345-3350