Dear Organlearners,
Greetings to all of you.
I attended yesterday evening a seminar arranged by an organisation which
is declining. The purpose of the seminar was "What to do in this
organisation to revert its declining". The manager of the organisation
used a overhead projector to present his talk. He allowed his audience to
question him during the talk. The seminar was in Afrikaans so that I have
some difficulties in translating the topic. But I will come to that later.
As for the talk which the manager presented, the presentation shows
clearly that he worked hard with efficient management in getting it
prepared. His talking and doing are aligned. It means that he believes in
this strategy. Furthermore, unlike so many others who also have a firm
training in managerial science, he avoided jargon and dedicated
terminology to an excellent degree. He is a science graduate who also
obtained the HBA and MBA degrees. His talk was very much aligned with what
is presently taught in managerial science. He would get an A in an exam,
and I do not mean it sarcastically.
However, soon during the seminar I got a feeling of uneasiness. I decided
not to open my mouth, but just to observe what is happening. This feeling
of uneasiness gradually became intense. I can give two reasons. The first
is what I know self of hard work as well as efficient management. I am
thinking here of the non- standard part of that knowledge. The second is
that whenever he was questioned by pointing out a problem to him, he kept
on saying "by persevering with hard work and efficient management we will
solve that problem". This happened not only once, but several times.
The manager said several times that a positive state of mind for every
member is vital. So I am glad that I did not open my mouth since my words
would indeed have been interpreted as negative and judgemental. During my
growing uneasiness I had to question myself several times "At de Lange, is
it not you who are negative and judgemental? Is it not you, by your very
decision not to speak out, who have become so much sceptic? Since you are
involved with this organisation by another project in it, are you not
afraid that that project would fail?"
I am writing this contribution in the early hours of the morning after
some sleep. I am still glad that I did not speak up because an argument
between him and me would have developed with a possible disruption of the
seminar. I wonder how many of the others attending the seminar also felt
uneasy. But even that I dared not ask.
I must also tell of another incident. Several months ago he mentioned that
the problem of the organisation is that few of its members can work hard.
I said to him, say his name is John: "John, you have a science degree and
worked for many years as a chemist. You know that a chemical reaction
cannot happen spontaneously if there is not a lowering of free energy.
Assume just for one moment that there is such a thing as 'spiritual free
energy'. Will people be able to work hard when they do not have the
'spiritual free energy' to do such work spontaneously?" His answer was a
quick rebuttal "You cannot mix chemistry with management theory".
That day I suddenly knew that his openness (and perhaps also his
wholeness) was impaired. This morning, when I woke up, I again thought
that his openness is impaired, but now more seriously. Perhaps this was
the reason why I decided to keep my mouth shut. But then I took that
decision last evening subconsciously since I never questioned his lack of
openness consciously during the seminar. Perhaps it is me who do not want
to open up to his strategy for success. Yet when I now recall his
presentation, I cannot remember that he used the word spontaneous even
once because it would have thrilled me invariably. When someone uses
"spontaneous" it signals for me a tacit knowing of free energy.
I now want to put the following to you for questioning. The recipe for
success is "hard work and efficient management" as well as "perseverance".
As I now feel about it, it seems to me to be the holy grail of most
managers. Because of having been involved too much last night, I do not
think I can question this holy grail in fairness. That is why I would like
it very much if you fellow learners would question it for me.
I am fully aware of the significance of this "what do you say of what they
say" in authentic learning, but I will write on it at another occasion.
As for myself, I must admit frankly that I do not believe it any more to
be the holy grail. I have seen too many middle managers in large
corporations and top managers of small companies ending up in hospital or
the morgue because of this belief. Furthermore, the "efficient managment"
part is used far too often to force the last bit of "hard work" possible.
Lastly, it makes the paradigm shift from an OO (ordinary organisation)
into a LO redundant.
The Afrikaans paraphrasing of the topic is "harde werk en doelgerigte
bestuur" as well as "uithou". There can be little doubt about translating
"harde"=hard, "werk"=work, "bestuur"=management and "uithou"=perseverance.
But the translation of "doelgerigte" is doubtful. It can be efficient or
purposeful. I think the manager used it more in the sense of efficient
than purposeful, but he did use it in both senses. Fellow learners Alfred,
Chris and Daan may want to comment on this translation.
As an after thought, I also cannot remember that the manager used the word
learning even once during the seminar because that would also have
thrilled me invariably. Learning is the basic mental activity upon which
all other levels of spirituality emerge and rest. Learning is the feet of
the mind. Learning is the feet of a LO enabling it to go anywhere.
There was no feet in the seminar of last night. There was only the
wheelchair of rote learning. The manager allowed for questions, but he
side stepped them with his insistance for perserverance in the holy grail.
He allowed for opinions to be expressed, but he did not respond to most of
them. I know I am negative here and that this may influence you in your
reply, but I have to get it off my heart.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@gold.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.