I have a wild idea to propose: a volunteer collaborative project to search
for and track the progress of learning organizations.
It's probably best to begin with a caveat: as has been discussed on this
list before, there's no clear definition of a LO, nor is it easy to say,
either from the outside or inside, that a particular entity is a LO. I
propose, therefore, that the search be for organizations that exhibit at
least some important characteristics of a LO. (It might be worth using
At's distinction between a tacit and explicit LO.) Clearly, there's more
that needs to be said about this aspect; please jump in.
As to "organization", I'd suggest accepting any (inter)active group of
more than, say, 6 people that has persisted for at least, say, 10 years
and is likely to continue to persist for some time. This could include
organizations that are commercial, government, social, religious, ...
Ideally, a searcher could describe the nature of the organization, and the
characteristics that lead him/her to propose it as an LO. Even more
ideally, someone (a tracker) could provide periodic "progress reports" to
give a rich picture of the organization's becoming.
There'd need to be someone/someorg to serve as a coordinating/recording
agency, and to make available the reports of the searchers and trackers.
My own feeling is that a serious effort of this kind would turn up, even
after winnowing, literally thousands of LOs and near-LOs (the vast
majority tacit).
Again, please jump in...
--Don Dwiggins d.l.dwiggins@computer.org Man ascends through the discovery of the fullness of his own gifts. What he creates along the way are monuments to the stages of his understanding of nature and of self. -- Jacob Bronowski, "The Ascent of Man"
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