The organisation as Mind/Brain LO30994

From: Jan Lelie (janlelie@wxs.nl)
Date: 02/29/04


Replying to LO30984 --

Dear Philip, mindful readers,

Funny you write Mind/Brain: isn't the left part of our head the seat
of our brain and the right part the place of our mind?

I would like to make a few remarks:
 - Morgan - Images of Organisations - also devoted a chapter to
"organizations as minds".
 - Do not forget that the mind/brain is not and cannot be separated
from the body/flesh. It might seem that way - that there is a mind, a
spirit, a ghost, a soul without a body - but the one cannot exist
without the other.
 - Organisations might be considered as "projections" of our
Mind/Brain/body/flesh. So the

"pathologies"

can be explained as a result of these "projections" - see for instance
Kets De Vries.
 - The Learning Organisation is - in my opinion - a "myth", a story -
a set of stories - , a mental picture, a way to exchange meaning. We
do this by attributing our own faculties to inanimate objects, even to
those of our own creating. So - in my opinion, there are no
"intelligent" organizations.
 - We - our mind/brain/body/flesh being - works on the brink of chaos,
trying to outsmart the paradoxes we ourselves created.
 - All our problems revolve around a central theme: in my experience -
or as i would like to phrase it and in this way i'm telling only
something about me - the question: "how to live an ethical life?".
 - I would like to add Weick and Nietsche to your list.

Kind regards,

Jan Lelie

Philip Keogh wrote:

>I continue to find this list extremely stimulating. It has caused me
>to reconsider many times how I view things. I was beginning to write
>some personal notes around "The Learning Organisation is a myth" and
>it struck me how similar an organisation is to the brain.
>
>In the brain we have neurons connected together and communicating -
>giving rise to "intelligence". I was considering the "emergent" nature
>of this intelligence and began to compare it to an organisation.
>
>In the organisation, which operates at a different level to the brain
>(thinking of fractals here), we don't have neurons, but people - which
>act as neurons, communicating with each other.
>
>In the brain we have two hemispheres - the left and the right. These
>seem to give rise to our left brain functions - language, numeracy,
>communication, computation and right brain functions - appreciation of
>music, development of art, holistic views.
>
>I began to compare these to the organisation and there are remarkable
>similarities. But what I did notice was that the organisations right
>brain functions are pretty weak, while, in this technological age, the
>left brain functions are in ascendancy.
>
>Do we see the same "pathologies" in the organisation that we see in a
>person where there is a dysfunctional joint between the two
>hemispheres (surgical or otherwise)?
>
>Is this why we find it difficult to describe what learning
>organisations are. Is this why we find it difficult to develop and/or
>sustain learning organisations?
>
>Are we concentrating too much on the organisations left brain
>functions? What are the organisations right brain functions and how do
>we develop them? I suspect At and Andrew Campnona will have some
>thoughts here as their contributions are very holistic in nature (this
>is not to say that everyone else's are not).
>
>I am very probably rediscovering what someone else has already said,
>so I'd appreciate any comments on the above thoughts and any
>references. I can already see strong links in the works of De Geus,
>Senge, Polanyi, Watslawick, Checkland, Nonaka and others.
>
>Regards
>
>Philip Keogh
>Pathology Information Officer

-- 

Drs J.C. Lelie (Jan, MSc MBA) facilitator mind@work

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