Jo
You said, in part:
"This reminded me of the comment someone made (and I apologise for not
remembering who) about humans being divided into those who participate or
take part in organisations, and those who create organisations. In central
Scotland what we seem to have is a lack of creators. People who previously
worked in the old industries remain unemployed, waiting for someone else
to create the working organisations."
To a degree your thesis has credence. Areas of high unemployment exist,
at least in part, because the unique form of human creativity which
originally engendered economic activity in the area has disappeared, for
whatever reason. Without that creativity, whether it be collective or
individual, a climate of entrepreneurship cannot flourish. Without that
climate, dynamic organisations become more and more difficult to create.
Any number of the self-reinforcing "vicious circles" (System Archtypes)
described by Senge can and will occur. In the particular case of central
Scotland, most if not all of these archetypes are or have been very
prevalent. In fact, central Scotland could be seen as a fascinating
living laboratory as to how to NOT engender or nurture entrepreneurship.
You could look at the story in today's Glasgow Herald on ScotSafe for a
good case study of this depressing situation.
Your posting implies that you understand that the answer is not to try to
import low-skill jobs-for-jobs-sake (Inward Investment). The answer is
also not to look for some magic solution "elsewhere." I say this sadly,
but with some authority--I live in central Scotland (Fife) and I've been
"elsewhere" (e.g. Silicon Valley, Boston, Denver). I've started
businesses in all these places, and am extremely familiar with many of the
most successful entreprenuerial activities which have managed to emerge
from the masses of SME's in Scotland. The answer (if one exists) to
creating more of these organisations (and fully exploiting those rare
"successes" which do manage to occur) is likely to be radical, painful and
fraught with uncertainty--which means, of course, that it is unlikely to
ever be implemented in the Scotland that we (mostly) know and love.
Cheers (?)
Richard Goodale
The Dornoch Partnership
"Linking Strategy and Organisation through Technology"
--Richard Goodale <fc45@dial.pipex.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>