> I like If's concept of self-perpetuating ideas, and the implication that
> people are in some ways trapped by their ideas. The ideas they have,
> the memes(?) that If refers to, become limitations.
You should take a look at some of Gareth Morgan's work, then. Particularly
his book "Images of Organizations." it's a good, analytical look at the
metaphors we can use for organizations (as brains, machines, organizms,
political systems, flux & flow...), and how they shape our thinking. Each
metaphor has implicit strengths and blind spots, and the idea is not to
choose one but to understand several so you can remove the blind spots and
use one that's appropriate.
In particular, he has a chapter on "Organizations as Psychic Prisons"
which you might like. The whole book would actually be an excellent
supplement to this thread, come to think of it.
I came into contact with his work at school. Gareth is a professor at the
Schulich School of business (York University, Toronto, Canada), and the
Images of Organization course that I took there was one of the most useful
(perhaps THE most useful) of my MBA.
In addition to being an author and professor, Gareth is also a
highly-respected consultant. You can reach him at (morgan@imaginiz.com),
but he may be a bit slow to respond. As it happens, he's finishing the
revised edition of "Images of Organization" right now.
------------------------------------------------------ Joe Katzman, MBA joe@embanet.com
Communications And Technology (C.A.T.) Consulting Business Consulting, Internet Training, & Web Design
"The more you know, the more you can imagine." ----------------------------------------------------
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>