Rol queried:
> what I am still struggling with is the locus of impact. Is this about
> organizational -- corporate -- dysfunctionality, or are corporations
> simply repeating a behavior that is endemic in social structures
> throughout the world.... corporations are just one more reflection of
> our willingness to be cruel to each other. Certainly I have seen the
> same behavior in educational and government organizations.
There is a related theory I've been considering for a while, and some
of the books I've read recently hint at some of the same things.
Corporations are not in themselves cruel to people. To survive they
appear to be cruel, but in fact the are indifferent. The managers and
executives who run corporations are not being cruel, they are being
indifferent in their struggle to survive and advance.
Are these the dying days for the large corporations? If we compare the
corporations to the end days of the Roman empire or other historical
empires, is there any parallel? (I'm not a historian, but I seem to
sense there is some parallels in action and activities...excessive
rewards for the few top people, and little regard for the masses).
The people themselves aren't to blame. They are obsessed with finding
their own success, not realizing that through personal accumulation
and their career isn't where they will find it! Maybe our society is
outgrowing the need for corporations, for unions, for the civilization
that's been created over the last 100 years. Maybe we are going back
to a looser form of individuality, of entrepeneurship?
As one of the people posted on this list said, they are afraid if
their bosses read their posting! You've got to make your life more
meaningful than that! You've got to take steps to take control of
your own life, and live your own values and beliefs! (I know the
value of such steps...personal experience being the best teacher)
Corporations don't want individuality, and our society is moving more
in this direction!
Of course, this is all my own opinion.
Gary Scherling
Helping people help themselves
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/GScherling_GMS_TPN
--GSCHERL@fed.ism.ca (GSCHERL)
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>