Bill Hobler says,
Taken to the extreme this implies that we should never fiddle with a
system because we have no idea of what the outcome will be. I don't
believe that is viable. An organization could not hire a new leader,
a presidential elections is a dangerous undertaking because we
cannot know the outcome.
Now, there is some truth to that last statement, but the range of
possible results is circumscribed. This may be our point of departure.
I believe that the effects of changes in complex systems are bounded.
Making a change in a complex system in which human control is
involved and in most cases the possible outcomes are very restricted.
Revolutions are still rare occurrences.
I view organizations, in one sense, like pools of viscous fluids. If I
drop a pebble in the pool the ripple effect is quickly damped to no
effect. At the edges of the pool there may be no effect at all.
...
Perhaps I am too pragmatic. Perhaps too naive.
== end quote ==
In my opinion 9 times out of 10, the broad outcome can be predicted as
either 'good' or as 'bad' with a high degree of certainty. We get
confused and scared most often when our assessment of the corporate good
is clear, but our assessment of our personal good is not so clear. We can
say (if totally, brutally honest), "This change would be good for the
corporation, but it may be bad for me, and I am scared to death by the
possible consequences." So I am agreeing with Bill that the range of
possible outcomes is quite proscribed, but I would add, also quite
conflicting between corporate good and individual good. It takes a lot of
courage to move forward under those circumstances.
Bill is perhaps pragmatic, perhaps naive, perhaps also successful. The
reductionist approach has been proven over and over again. We need
similar proof for the summative approach before we give it more credit
than it deserves.
--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/>