Oh. Cybernetics. Autopoiesis. Systems theory. Learning
Organizations. Transformational Management.
Faith.
Can't help seeing some parallels with the "critical thinking" push that
managed both to sputter (after all, what discipline *didn't* have its
Critical Thinking for So and So texts?) and to encompass everything (after
all, what discipline didn't have it's Critical Thinking for So and So
texts?). CT spun off into a field all its own in much the way systems
theory as management approach (etc.)has and is, which is both a gain and a
loss. It meant/means everything and nothing, and ends up so oddly twisted
and sound-bitten by our deeply engrained hierarchical patterns that keeping
my sense of humor about it (e.g. "point six on our agenda today is building
a shared vision for our Learning Organization" or "today's forum invites
stakeholder discussion about the fait accompli of the month") gets tough.
Part discipline, part calling, *large* part parroting the best-selling
management bible(s) of the moment, it always brings out the six (six six)
sigma rebel in me.
And I can hardly hear "trans" (to say nothing of "integrative") appended to
anything anymore without thinking of Ken Wilber and his holons (it ain't
easy being turquoise, sounds like--or should we call that "post-green"?),
and despairing that all TOEs end up wearing sandals and hanging out in the
aromatherapy aisle at Whole Foods while their former owners sign consulting
contracts and hire themselves out for private guru sessions.
All of which is to say that the language and appearance of transformation
and integration too often appear on the scene all alone, like empty
costumes, making the things I really *do* believe in (passionately, even)
seemingly more elusive, somehow. If WAC dispersion becomes dissipation too
readily (maybe the echoes of "dissolute" would be good there, too)--and ECAC
involves similar risks--then I'd be wary of attaching ECAC too completely to
systems thinking approaches. Very appealing in theory, of course, and
exciting for potential application, too, but just as CT edged towards
exercises, diagrams, and apple pie phraseology (who would dare say critical
thinking isn't a good thing, a fine thing, something *every* student needs)
so too have ST's flying arrow diagrams and popular incarnations (TQM, CQI,
LO, Who Moved My Cheese Inc.) begun to seem cliche: it's a mathematical
concept, a programming concept, a management approach, a therapeutic
approach, a philosophy, a religion, maybe even a cult, and subject of more
than a few parodies. Well, I worry that it has one sandaled TOE in the
aromatherapy aisle already, and that life in the ECAC zone is tough enough
without trying to explain why one seems to be toting patchouli incense in
one hand and The Art of War in the other.
Kathy at C.O.D.
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