Durval wrote:
>But I think there is another aspect that restricts information flow: the
>information is openly available, but the people affected do not see it,
>because they were distracted, or it didn't catch their attention, or they
>were uninterested, or they thought they already knew it...
>Maybe this is even worse than unnecessary secrecy. What do you think?
In fact, I think this is now becoming the larger problem. As internal
networks have broken through the hierarchical distribution of information,
people across organizations are coming to terms with the idea that they
can have access to lots of different kinds of information from many of
different points of distribution. But since that information is not
packaged and distributed from a centralized location, it is only useful
when it is discovered and transformed to meet the needs of other
organizations. When information is distributed across organizational
boundaries, it is often broadcast with little regard to the relevance to
the receiver.
So I think Durval is onto an important point. When information is "freely"
available, the more difficult challenge resides with the "receiving"
(learning) organization, not the disseminating organization. Members of
the receiving organization must build the capability to know what
questions they have to answer, what information they need to answer them,
and how they are going to locate, access, understand and use that
information.
Marilyn Darling
Signet Consulting Group
mdarling@warren.med.harvard.edu
***What is the difference that will make a difference for you today?***
--mdarling@warren.med.harvard.edu
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>