Org Design for learning LO6348

Inflow@eworld.com
Sun, 31 Mar 1996 21:26:20 -0800

Replying to LO6332 --
[Host's Note: I had to shorted the subject line a bit...]

> Marc Wullings and his colleague set an ambitious question
> How can organizational design be adjusted to facilitate organizational
learning?

I just read a very eye-opening article by Karl Weick "Organizational
Redesign as Improvisation" [in "Organizational Change and Redesign" Edited
by George Huber and Wiilaim Glick : ISBN 0-19-510115-4].

His basic point is that we normally look at organization DESIGN as a noun,
but we should view it as a verb. The key is not THE design but designING
-- the ongoing process that involves learning, adaptation, etc. Weick's
article will shatter many current paradigms -- but it makes sense for
organizations in today's environment. [Pardon the pun -- Sense-making is
another of Weick's key concepts]

Weick's 1979 book, "The Social Psychology of Organizing" may make a
'comeback' the same way a few of Marshall McLuhan's books have done
recently.

Valdis Krebs
Krebs & Associates
Los Angeles, CA

inflow@concentric.net

-- 

Inflow@eworld.com

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>