It hurts! Embassy Bombings LO18899

Bill Harris (billh@lsid.hp.com)
Wed, 19 Aug 1998 15:02:23 -0800 (PDT)

Replying to LO18881 --

Ben,

Thank you for saying these important thoughts:

> Am I so desensitized by the violence in the world, that the bombings
> didn't even register on my radar screen? Or am I a cold and indifferent

and

> While in business we're not typically responding to moral issues and acts
> of violence, but we are constantly responding -- and interacting -- with
> the forces that are shaping our future. Why do so many of us respond so
> casually?

and especially

> As I've come to see my mistakes as a parent, I have become the family
> questioner not the family teacher. I'm full of questions. "Why did you do

> same with their friends. But when I stopped doing that and began asking
> questions, they became accountable for their actions, while at the same
> time becoming more conscious of what they were trying to achieve and why
> the attainment of what they wanted was important. They'd literally stand

Didn't we have an accountability discussion not that long ago here? This
is a very good description of "accountable."

> Again I have to wonder why this type of approach isn't used more in
> business and in politics.

I remember when I did my first work incorporating Argyris' action science
into the workplace. He wrote that one can't (or at least shouldn't --- I
think both are true) use closed (coercive) methods to induce openness into
an organization. That is, if I was trying to create an open environment
in which all could contribute to the extent of their ability, I
couldn't/shouldn/t use force to make it happen.

I bought into the value wholeheartedly, but I didn't have a clue how to do
it. I wrestled with that for a very long time, trying different things.
I think the final approach that did work was exactly in this vein of
observing, reflecting, and questioning.

It was very hard not to jump back to (even mild) managerial coercion when
things didn't go the way I thought they should. (I did, at least once).
It was also very important to our success not to resort to that managerial
coercion.

> Those who use force are trying to evade that moment. I don't care whether
> it is a terrorist, a politician, a parent, a child, a manager, an
> employee, or a spouse. An attempt to use force to control an outcome is a
> moral abdication, because it is an attempt to evade the causal
> relationship between action and consequence.

Well said. This is a key part of the ethics of managing (or consulting or
...).

Bill

-- 
Bill Harris                             Hewlett-Packard Co. 
R&D Engineering Processes               Lake Stevens Division 
mailto: billh@lsid.hp.com               M/S 330
phone: (425) 335-2200                   8600 Soper Hill Road
fax: (425) 335-2828                     Everett, WA 98205-1298 

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