>>If we imagine populations of different management types within a business
>>unit, a similar mechanism could guide organizational learning within the
>>Bu. The number of managers of a type that is perceived to be successful
>>will increase at the expense of the populations of other manager types.
>>The increased homogeneity of managers may increase the Bu's short run
>>efficiency at the expense of the Bu's long run effectiveness (i.e.,
>>ability to adapt to environmental change). [Doug Merchant]
>
>You're describing this in terms of natural selection, which I don't think
>tells the whole story. Natural selection is pure competition. The business
>reality is that in a well-run organization, business units can see the big
>picture and learn from one another, even as they strive to excel according
>to their own goals, rather than the entire organization's. Each success or
>failure in one unit essentially changes the rules for the others. [Nick
>Arnett]
I agree, "natural selection" or "market mechanisms" store past learning's
in the population distributions and are just one of the three basic
learning mechanisms at play. The other two learning mechanisms are
"Symbols and Rules" (i.e., the organization as a stored program machine)
and "neural networks" ( i.e., learning is stored in the fabric of
relationships across the organization and the mechanisms by which these
relationships are strengthened or diminished).
My intent is not to "tell the whole story" with any one of these
mechanisms. I believe all three mechanisms (hierarchies, markets and
clans) are a play in any reasonably large organization. And, all three
mechanisms can exist at different levels of the system. I think it is
useful to identify the idealized forms of these mechanisms in order to
understand organizational learning (organizational governance). I think
one of the weaknesses of the current LO work is that it has been too
focused at individual learning.
Doug Merchant
Currently On Career Sabbatical
--"Doug Merchant" <dougm@eclipse.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>