Replying to LO30250 --
Dear Organlearners,
Leo Minnigh <minnigh@dds.nl> wrote:
>I am struggling for a while with some questions. One of the
>first of them is:
>
>"What are the living conditions of a LO?"
>
>It is a natural question to consider the whole, the environment
>and the organisation itself. Perhaps we have focussed a little bit
>too long inside the LO and not have looked at the surroundings.
Greetings dear Leo,
I have found your contribution stunning! Thank you very much. I hope i
will find appropiate thoughts in my reply.
>What is behind that question, what do I have in mind? Well, I
>was wondering why there is such a small number of LO's. It
>seems a rare species. I have two possible explanations.
>
>1. Like living creatures, it looks as if LO's could survive only
>either in a protected reserve, or they have found a special but
>rare niche.
(snip, long part)
>2. The second possible reason why LO's are rare.
>
>A LO emerges from an OO (Ordinary Organisation). It is an
>evolutionary feature. The phenomenon of evolution is very
>interesting, but not simple to comprehend. Evolution in nature
>is a result, it has no specific goal or purpose. It happens.
(snip, long part)
Thank you for the beautiful and rich explanations of these possible
reasons in the long parts snipped away. I gave me the "goose flesh".
There is also a third possible reason. In some sense it involves your two
reasons. There is a mismatch between the RATE of evolutionary change in
the organisation and the RATE of evolutionary change in its environment
When the rate within the system is the highest, the system adapts easily
and multiplies plentiful. But when the rate within the system is the
lowest, the system adapts hardly at all and may become scarce in numbers.
This can be overcome by increased symbiosis with beneficial systems in the
surroundings.
How does this third reason relates to the scarcity of Learning
Organisations (LOs) in modern times while Ordinary Organisations (OOs)
abound?
Organisations are OOs because they lack in the five disciplines needed to
operate as LOs. OOs abound because they can start quickly with enough
people qualified for their kind of business. They then can expand quickly
in operation by importing more such people. They can also adapt quickly by
firing people with knowledge which has become useless and replace them
with people having the required knowledge.
Systems in their environment supply them with such people. These supply
systems are also mostly OOs since they do not supply enough people
sufficiently aware of the five disciplines and their importance. Such
people would have activated the abundant OOs to emerge into LOs.
The abundance of these OOs (including the supply systems) change the
"ecology of the body" and "ecology of the mind" of most humans at a very
fast rate. Let us call both ecologies by "deep ecology" as Capra prefers
to do. This "deep ecology" will become deteriorated by a lack of learning
what the LO involves, not only the five disciplines, but especially also
the lack of metanoia characterising it. Unfortunately, these very metanoia
are needed to become aware of a deteriorating "deep ecology". Since these
metanoia lack in the supply systems, the rate of new LOs emerging is very
low.
I used to read SF stories and to see SF movies. The vast majority of them
depicted a severely deteriorated "deep ecology" for the future. Some of
the earliest ones in the 20th century became fulfilled in the late 20th
century. If this trend continues in the 21st century, we will all be in
deep trouble.
If we want LOs to become abundant in the 21st century, more people are
needed who have experienced metanoia directly rather than being informed
indirectly about them. They will have to be supplied at a faster rate than
people for OOs. In other words, at least the number of emerged LOs will
have to accelerate
>And to combine both possibilities of the rareness of LO's
>- is this environment not suitable for the evolutionary step
>to the birth of the species LO? Shall we wait anxiously for
>a dramatic change of the environment?
>
>What doe you think?
Dear Leo, it is this "dramatic change of the environment" which, as we say
locally, "will throw a spanner in the wheels to stop them turning". An OO
just not develops gradually into a LO. I now suspect strongly in terms of
my own rare experiences that it first have to prepare itself to emerge
into a LO. Then, when this "dramatic change of the environment" unfolds
itself driving the OOs to the edge of chaos, the prepared ones among them
will emerge into LOs. The others will cease to exist, or become COs
(Criminal Organisations). Think of the Enron saga.
What will the "dramatic change of the environment" be? One possibility is
when the supply of fossil fuel cannot meet the demands for it any more.
This is a physical possibility which will happen within twenty years as we
have talked about it some time ago. Another possibility is an outbreak of
a new virus, much more virulent than the recent outbreak of SARS.
But what about spiritual possibilities? One is that the incidence of PIE
(Pathology of the Information Exlosion) may accelerate rapidly as
information becomes more rapidly available. I have observed the past few
years how the number of people with seemingly the Information Fatique
Syndrome (IFS) have increased rapidly even here in South Africa which is
far away from the information highway. Several incidents occured this year
which got me very worried. I suddently realised that especially the
presidents of countries are extremely prone to IFS. I think that the one
immediately north of our country is an example.
People having IFS are unable to learn new things. But for an OO to adapt
to a "dramatic change of the environment", its members will have to learn
what that change involves. But since too much of its members have IFS, it
will learn too little too late. Fortunately, the spirit of a LO is to
learn whatever it takes. That is why LOs will adapt to such a "dramatic
change of the environment". And prepared OOs will scrape through by
emerging into LOs.
The other part of me is my environment. Long ago Winfried Dressler and i
had an exciting dialogue on where to begin with the initial change -- in
the system or in its environment. I still think that it has to happen in
the environment in a manner like the flapping wings of a butterfly. Since
the environment is the other part of me, i have to become aware what i can
do to let the butterfly flap its wings in that environment. The only
butterfly which i can foresee at this stage, is for more LOs to emerge
which will cope with the 21st century.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@postino.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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