As I was drifting off to sleep last night, something that has been
percolating finally made it to conscious thought. This "something" has
to do with our (in this case, the listserve participants) expectations
of creating learning organizations. I'd be interested in hearing your
thoughts...
CONTEXT--
In reading the posts on this listserve, I am always in awe of the
experience, knowledge, intellect, caring, etc. contained the sender's
message. Therefore, it appears as if participants of this listserve are
working/living at the self-actualization need level (Maslow).
PERCOLATED, DISTURBING THOUGHT #1 FOR DISCUSSION--
Is it realistic for a group of self-actualized academians (us) to
believe that organizations containing people at all levels of Maslow's
hierarchy (in differing ratios) can become, together, a learning
organization?
People who are struggling to make ends meet, who may have other, more
pressing problems will most likely not be too concerned about learning,
about how effective or adaptive their organization is, about how
connected they feel to their colleagues, etc. Organizations are filled
with people doing the best they can to stay afloat.
PERCOLATED, DISTURBING THOUGHT #2 FOR DISCUSSION--
Can we really go into these organizations, having left our ivory towers
temporarily, and profess that the learning organization must evolve?
How much credibility will we have? After all, we are seeing
organizations from a lofty, theoretical perspective vs. a day-to-day,
gotta-get-things-done-and-I'm-2-months-late-on-my-rent perspective.
Don't get me wrong, I truly believe that learning organizations are
critical for our future and that SOMEONE must think about them from an
academic perspective...I just think that sometimes we can get a little
carried away with ourselves and forget about the people who make
organizations thrive, who just get things done as best they can.
Nancy Polend
nanjr@erols.com
--Nancy Polend <nanjr@erols.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>