Ritual Knowledge LO6748

Jcds@aol.com
Wed, 17 Apr 1996 08:32:50 -0400

Replying to LO6704 --

In a message dated 96-04-17 06:55:39 EDT, you write:

>I believe I understand both gentlemen clearly. Barry seems to be speaking
>of a "righteous" or "spiritual" approach to knowledge, thus ritual in a
>ceremonial or glorifying, deliberate way. And Marion's intent was to
>escape "traditional" knowledge, as he says, that passed down from
>generation to generation without questioning, without validating the basis
>for the original understanding. I think of religion, family relations,
>organizational culture, inter alia, and believe how much more envigorating
>it would be in organizational contexts to move from Marion's "ritual
>knowledge" to Barry's "ritual knowledge."

I recently wrote a paper on the need to retain our "intellectual capital"
and "ritual knowledge" in our corporations - We'd be hard-pressed to find
many over-40 employees in American corporations today - I recently
received an E from a collegue who spoke of her dreading her 40th birthday
- not because it was her 40th but because she knows that her company will,
within the next 12 months find a reason to dismiss her - I believe it was
ADP that was sued back in the '80's for such practices. But the point that
is the critical one here is not how moral their behavior is or isn't but
rather the need to retain the knowledge that is passed on from worker to
worker - that never gets written down - no matter what controls we put in
place.

We have not only been grossly inept in handling our staffs from a human
standpoint but also from a business standpoint - it is not wise to erase
one's history.

J.C. Dixon
MatchPlay...because change is inevitable but growth is optional.
201-228-7499

-- 

Jcds@aol.com

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