Scott Simmerman wrote:
>
> John Paul. In LO11698, you talk about thoughts from a movie:
snip
> I remain unsure as to why individuals or teams withhold information from
> others -- part of it undoubtedly arises from our Darwinian Education
> Systems that seem to operate the same way worldwide (grading on a curve?).
The answer is in this statement:
> For the FUN of It!
I'll try to explain:
I used to play any game to win. I suspect it is partly a cultural thing,
which i learned, and partly an artefact out of a period in which our
existence (as a species) was threatened without enough exercise (taking
the form of play, games), so nature.
The first time i played a game with my wife, (well, this is a very old
story: we were not married then, in fact we had just met), she did not
seem to be interested in winning. I was amazed (she did win, by the way):
why play without wanting to win. And she said ... 'I play for the fun of
it' (no capitalization :-)).,
And here, i presume, is the critical success factor in playing the game of
organizing: do it for fun, not for profit. HOWEVER (to avoid but) there is
always the problem of dividing dividend. There is no fair way to give
everybody what he or she deserves, there is no justice, ok, not in the
world i know of. (You know the joke of the Lion, Tiger, Cheetah and Puma
who went for to chase? After the kill, the lion said: i want one quarter
because of the big family i have to feed, one quarter because of my
greater strength, one quarter because of my greater intelligence and as
for the last quarter: feel free to go into debate with me).
This is further complicated with future oriented people. The nice thing
about planning is our improved ability to survive. The drawback is: we
start to assume we'll have to share the results to be earned, and, knowing
of our inability to share equally, a given as sure as gravity, we
therefore start to define situations in terms of win/loose, prisoners
dilemma's etc. THEREBY creating these exact situations and concluding:
see, we were correct in planning a competitive society. It was a good idea
after all AND (in case we win) we are better then those others AND (in
case we loose) the others are unfair competitors.
As children, we knew how to play for fun. I was enlighted by a story about
two boys playing badminton (my wife used to play badminton, by sheer
coincedence): one of the boys was much better then the other, and won
continually (or should i say continously?). The other didn't enjoy this,
walked away and started to cry. The first asked what was the matter and
the latter explained: he didn't like the play, becuase he kept loosing.
What was the very creative solution of the first boy. He said: 'lets
start a new game in which we try to keep the shuttle as long as possible
in the air'. That way both would win.
Have a funny day,
Jan
PS: see the connection with the thread on pay and learning. Same
structure, different form.
--Drs J.C. Lelie CPIM janlelie@pop.pi.net (J.C. Lelie) @date@ @time@ CREATECH/LOGISENS - Sparring Partner in Logistical Development - + (31) 70 3243475 Fax: idem or + (31) 40 2443225
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>