Here is my case: I live in Hong Kong, and have been interested in Senge's
5th Discipline for years, especially systems thinking(ST). Last year, I
and my partners started lecturing the basics of ST. Moreover, I try to use
the tool to analysis consumer trends for clients. One day, one of my
partner, Ray, said that he do not believe in the helpfulness of ST, it is
only a tool of know-why, but not a tool for creation and know-how, at
least. He said that since the effectiveness of ST is to deal with the
uncertainties from the many many interactions of the systems' parts, it is
better to apply ST to multinational companies instead of the small/medium
size companies (about 90% of companies in HK are in this category). Since
the complexity of management, operations in most of the HK's companies are
quite low level, they do not require ST to handle, or help them to get an
insight either. Ray also says that they might only need a more clear or
'advanced' 'logical thinking', and saying that ST in fact is something
about every day's walk, so everybody have that in mind(intuitively,
instinctively) already, and there is no need to teach them about those
'trivial facts'. However, of course, I disagree with Ray's view. Hong Kong
need the awareness of ST and the formation of LO very much! And because of
the simplicity of the operation in most of the HK's companies, therefore
this is the best place to introduce and practice the ST.
Everybody can have his/her view. However, Ray is my partner, and he just
doesn't buy the idea of ST. and as a matter of fact, he hasn't read any
book about ST seriously, and once I introduce the archetypes and the
causal loop diagram to him, he think it is impractical and trivial. And I
really frustrated by my inability to enroll him to study the essence of
ST. So, I need some advice for me to enroll him again.
thanks
Joey Chan
joey@birdview.com.hk
--Joey Chan <rfeynman@netvigator.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>