Dale, you said, "I think you have a much clearer view of culture than I do."
Actually, I suspect not. I only mean that when we understand that it is the
culture, not the system, that we need to change, then we understand that it is
behaviors and attitudes, not actually how we do the work that needs to be
examined. It begins and ends with people, and what they bring to work or get at
work. In this context, the system will begin to be changed for the better when
we begin to change the culture of the organization. When we begin to change the
attitudes, behaviors, mental models and so forth. These are the tools that
people use to decide what work to do.
Why is this important? It goes back to the beginning of the convesation in
which it was said that people are not the cause of problems, it is faulty
systems. On one hand this is true enough. On the other hand, since people
create the system, and people revise the system, then without intending to
assign blame, we have to acknowledge some people responsibility if we want the
system to be fixed. And if the system is not getting fixed, then the tools that
people are using -- their culture -- is saying to them that it is not their
responsibility. Herein is the quandary. People need to take responsibility,
but their culture tells them it is not their responsibility. Clearly -- at
least to me -- we need to change the culture.
I suspect that the most effective managers are those who understand that their
primary mission is to create a culture in which people understand that they
_can_ fix systems, and that they want to fix systems that are broken.
--Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc. 76234.3636@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>