Def of Learning Org LO4660

OrgPsych@aol.com
Sat, 6 Jan 1996 19:25:48 -0500

Replying to LO4540 --

In LO4540 Rol says

>The members may be learning, but that does not imply that
>the organization is.

An organization is merely a framework or structure within which PEOPLE can
come together to pool their talents, resources, and energies to create
something larger than themselves which has value to some other customer
group. When we take the people out of the organization and treat the
framework as if it has a life, culture, or anything else of its own we
begin the all-too-familiar process of dehumanizing the members of that
organization (thinging). We treat them as if they are simply numbers and
not the very lifeblood ... the very soul ... of that organization. When
that happens, I believe that the organization has effectively signed its
own death certificate with the date to be filled at a later time.

Consider this, when an organization says that it wants to be a learning
organization, then starts laying its PEOPLE off indiscriminantly, how can
it be a true learning organization? All of its learning resources have
been stifled ... those who are laid off are now gone and those left behind
are scared to do anything to draw attention to themselves lest the same
fate befall them.

Just the musings of someone who obviously doesn't get it (in a corporate
sense).

--
Clyde Howell
The Howell Group
Aiken, SC
OrgPsych@aol.com