Hello All...
How can we have diversity in an environment where policy dictates uniform
behavior? I recognize that there need to be standards of behavior and
some written expectations, but aside from the "bandaid fixes" embodied in
the policy statements-I think the push to make us all the same has serious
hazards.
> I have heard it said that policies are the "scar-tissue" of an
> organization. In other words, if you want to know where the problems are,
> go look at the policy manuals. There will be many band-aid fixes or rule
> changes which were designed to (try) to solve systemic problems in a quick
> way.
> On Tue, 9 Jul 1996, Ben Compton wrote:
> > OK, I overstated the point. Maybe they're not "proportional" but the
> > reason many policies exist is to ensure uniform behavior, a necessity
> > since people do have different values which get translated into different
> > behaviors.
I've been re-reading Senge's 5th Discipline, and a comment about musical
harmony being based in the differences in the singers voices (high voice,
low voice, etc.) got my attention. Being a left handed person has caused
me no end of hassle because everything is built backwards (try to operate
a skill saw left handed...) with the requirement to adapt placed on me.
-So I have my "smart" hand-the left, and a "half smart" hand - my right
hand, rather than the "smart hand and dumb hand" most people live with.
I've gained because of my personal diversity (my left handedness), and
people in my organization like the work I do because they say "I have a
fresh perspective", so diversitly seems to be a good thing.
I once had a teacher (4th grade) try to force me to write with my right
hand. Aside from producing mediocre work, I was left fighting myself over
simple written expression, all so the instructor could look across the
room and see everyone looking the same (weird-huh).
We may have some cultural thing going on here. What ever it is, It's
gotta go.
later....
Michael Erickson
sysengr@atc.boeing.com
--Michael Erickson <sysengr@atc.boeing.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>