Traditional Wisdom... LO9016

Thomas P Benjamin (BENJAMIN@anand.nddb.ernet.in)
Sat, 10 Aug 1996 11:48:32 +0530

Replying to LO8992

I have been following the passage of this thread for some time. From a
simple quiry by Mary, the discussion is getting deeper. Thats learning
isn't it. Cherry, your quiry helps me to test my understanding of a
system. Maybe you have a point when you say that a system is a business
or process designed by people for other people ... and is a part of the
system as defined in the field book. What do I think?

I think a system is defined by people. Let me try an example, a garden
pond is a system. The pool is affected by extraneous interventions.
Otherwise it has its own ways of maintaining its homeostasis. Yet, the
garden pool is affected by the garden also. The leaves and twigs that fall
into it, the birds it attracts etc. The pool is not static. There is an
interplay of the fluara and fuana of the pool. You throw a stone into the
pool it creates a ripple and the pool settles in a while. You add a fish,
it creates not only the ripple but also a chain of action inside - new
relationships, competition and benefits in the pool. In the pool the goal
of its participants seem to be survival, reproduction etc. Carrying this
picture to an organisation, the system seems to respond in a similar way -
towards the goals of its 'inhabitants' and they way they have defined
their system. Are the goals for its inhabitants survival, or is there a
higher purpose that is driving them. What happens in there seems to be
quite different. Yet, I think both types of orgsanisations have all the
elements of a system. I seem to have just confirmed your view point.

I have enjoyed watching the garden (actually a village) pool as a child. I
continue to enjoy the Organisational pool!

Thomas P Benjamin
benjamin@anand.nddb.ernet.in

[Thomas P=B]

-- 

"Thomas P Benjamin" <BENJAMIN@anand.nddb.ernet.in>

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