[Host's Note: I find the exchange below pretty confusing, but I think
there are important points in here. I hope Donald, Bill and others will
stick with this... Donald, I'm wondering whether you agree with the
Gingrich and Steindl-Rast comments that you quoted below? Or whether your
questions arise from wondering how people can think that way? And, I
wonder if Donald and Bill are using the word "judgment" with the same
meaning in the exchange below. ...Rick]
>From: "Kerr, Donald" <Donald.Kerr@alliedsignal.com>
>Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 14:08:00 -0700
>Subject: Judgment, Evaluation, Feedback, etc. LO10046
>So why did I ask these questions?
>In Renewing American Civilization, Newt Gingrich commented
>that without judgment you could not have civilization. To me that says
>you cannot have a civilization without alienation.
I don't understand the logic in this conclusion. Every time a decision is
made a judgement is made. If someone did not conclude that it was better
to farm than to hunt and gather I would be dependent upon my son to bring
me food. (Too old to go chasing white tailed deer.)
>David Steindl-Rast,
>defines "sin" as alienation and "salvation" as belongingness. And Love is
>saying yes to belonging. How then can I promote unity and belongingness
>in a civilization where its existence depends on alienation?
How do you arrive at the conclusion that our civilization's existence
depends on alienation. IMO more and more our local and global communities
are coalescing. One of the few places I see alienation is along the lines
of religious differences.
>I'm bothered with how the performance appraisal structure (and others)
>influences behaviors and create artificial scarcity. I'm also bothered
>why one child gets into the "gifted and talented program" and others
>don't. Is there a scarcity of gifted and talented students? Do we not
>all have an abundance of different gifts and talents? Why the alienation?
Where is the alienation in placing some children in 'gifted and talented'
programs? It is a way our society tries to recognize and encourage
advancement. Throughout history people with special talents and gifts have
been individually recognized and received special attention. Mozart,
Einstein, Carter, from the Western tradition and I regret my grasp of the
history of the East for not having other names. These are not aliens --
they are people who were nurtured to afford the whole society greater
benefit.
> Many of the existing organizational structures
>(judgment, evaluation, unsolicited feedback, false feedback, performance
>appraisals, grades in school, salary grades, classifications, exclusive
>hierarchy, rating, ranking, etc.) all influence fragmentation,
>competition, reactiveness...that is alienation.
And many others influence collaboration and compassion. The results are
what humans, some of them good Christians, design into their systems. A
great portion of leadership is making decisions (judgements) concerning
the efficacy (goodness or badness) of a system outcome. The essence of
bringing people together is how the performance is feedback to the people
who can change the outcome. We need good judgment that guide us to our
goals, evaluation that determines the best next steps, appraisal of
performance to assist improving performance and feedback solicited and
unsolicited. My friends, if I didn't, without solicitation, tell my wife
or children or co-workers that I appreciated them and their actions then I
would not be empathetic toward them. Our community would not exist.
All of these things are a part of being a human society and all of them
can be, and are, prostituted. But one leveled society that does not judge
is one that is not selecting its course to the future, it atrophies and
dies. They have atrophied and died. What is needed is to shape and use
these tools of progress for creating rather than degrading.
--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/>