Life in Organizations LO9675

William J. Hobler, Jr (bhobler@worldnet.att.net)
Mon, 02 Sep 1996 07:00:32 -0400

Replying to LO9666 --

If Price wrote

> I guess I am reacting to "people made a system" which occurs to me as like
>saying a chicken made an egg; true as far as it goes but also true the
>other way around.
>
>If 'the system' and 'the organisation' it creates/is created by find a
>niche in an environment they survive and perhaps prosper. The 'system' part
>[that whole unwritten mix of mental models/ language/ 'rules' etc] then
>tends to blindly seek its own replication, through the grip it exerts on
>the minds of the people in the organisation, even when by doing so it traps
>them in dysfunctional behaviour.

Whenever I analyze a system I find that people are the controlling factor.
We provide the intent and direction of the system. All else is inanimate
and without the ability to cause change. I then conclude that, if the
'system' has a grip on us -- we have allowed it to.

May I rephrase "people made a system" to "people created a system." I am
more inclined to say "people are creating a system" because I don't think
any system is static. Never-the-less, since we created the system (any
business or government system) we have the responsibility to change
dysfunctional systems into functional ones.

My real intent in this is to offer a shift in viewpoint. The viewpoint
that the 'system' is at fault (to blame) disempowers us. The viewpoint
that ours is the responsibility for changing the system tells us to pick
up the power we as creators have and do something to make the system
better. Become an activist!

:-)

-- 

bhobler@worldnet.att.net Bill Hobler

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