Management as Metaphor LO8903

Debbie Broome (debbieb@linux.plano.gov)
Tue, 6 Aug 1996 07:21:18 -0500

Replying to LO8849 --

At 15:27 8/3/96 +0000, you wrote:
>> "What movie as a metaphor most closely captures management theory and why?
>>"Dead Poets Society" with Robin Williams."
>
>I agree, but isn't it also a warning about charismatic leaders in
>conservative settings?

Maybe not so much a warning, but a lesson in why incremental change is
more successful (i.e. lasting and humane) in conservative organizations.
I think one could argue that those who did not want the conservative
organization (the educational system depicted in "Dead Poets Society") to
change indeed triumphed in that maybe it did not formally change. From
the perspective of a change agent (or external optimist) I'm not sure
that's true because the individuals' lives were changed and became value
driven. It seems that if you apply the discipline of personal mastery,
that no matter what the organization dictated, the values of the
participants had changed and they would take forever with them the ability
to truly learn.

-- 

Debbie Broome <debbieb@linux.plano.gov>

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