On Fri, 17 Nov 1995, Andre Fiedeldey wrote in reply to mine:
Rick,
I like your example. Something I would like to add as a possibly
useful consideration is the idea that the the 'result', as you call
it, of the 'trigger' or 'initiator', is co-determined, rather than
determined, by the structure. I realise that Maturana & Varela talk
about structure-determined, but for me the relationship between the
system and that which perturbs it, i.e. the relationship as part of
the structure of the larger system, is required, to begin to
understand what happens when two systems transact with one another.
In essence I guess this means that whatever is perturbing the system
has something to do with the system's response, but not in the
'instructive' sense, more in the the sense of a co-constructive
sense. I'm no expert on these issues, so I'm on thin ice here.
Andre, this has been a question for me and my colleagues. I had been
saying, "Structure influences performance," thinking that it couldn't
*all* be structure, that the initiators were *part* of the picture.
Surely. We also felt that we'd be rejected by managerial audiences if we
played it too strongly.
But, when I recently read Winograd and Flores, and reviewed The Tree of
Knowledge, I came to feel that we had done a disservice by softening the
message. That for really complex systems (like human beings, families, or
organizations) the structural influence is so much stronger that we
should be saying, "Structure determines behavior."
I'm standing right now on the brink of making that step, and I'm a little
nervous about it. I think I know what message to get across, but
wondering if I've got the best way to do so.
Thanks for your comments.
Richard Karash ("Rick") | <http://world.std.com/~rkarash>
Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | email: rkarash@world.std.com
Towards Learning Organizations | Host for Learning-Org Mailing List
(617)227-0106, fax (617)523-3839 | <http://world.std.com/~lo>
ยทยทยท
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