Organization: Organization: Insight and Structuring Insight and Structuring Conscious Activity Conscious Activity MPA 8002 Organization Theory Richard M. Jacobs, OSA, Ph.D.
Jan 01, 2016
Organization:Organization:Insight and Structuring Conscious Insight and Structuring Conscious ActivityActivity
MPA 8002
Organization Theory
Richard M. Jacobs, OSA, Ph.D.
Since the time of Francis Bacon Since the time of Francis Bacon (1561-1626)...(1561-1626)...
an “organization” has been viewed as an achievement, a product of experimentation...
…as people hypothesize about what constitutes “best practice”
…and devote themselves to improving organizational functioning
Organization is viewed as a product Organization is viewed as a product of an objective, scientific method...of an objective, scientific method...
where humans control conditions in order to reproduce existing knowledge and reduce anomalies
…by moving from defective forms of knowledge to more accurate forms
…by working within and replicating a tradition
with the goal of increasing productivity
hypothesis
theory
tradition
a conjecture about
organizationa conceptual schema to be subjected to
further testing
culminating in a body of
knowledge
““To see what one knows”...To see what one knows”...
…and is used to analyze human beings and their conscious activities
an organization is...
…an instrument or tool of the hand
…an objective entity
…an entity serving as a means to productive ends
…a product of science
For Kuhn (1986), this paradigm For Kuhn (1986), this paradigm proves somewhat problematic...proves somewhat problematic...
the structure of organization constrains the ability for people to think beyond the mediated theories and tradition…as extant knowledge is duplicated
and replicated…and unconstrained inquiry is
stultified by disciplinary canons
The word “The word “organizationorganization”...”...
a Greek noun ()...identifying...
…a mentality or formation of the mind emanating from the human spirit
…evidenced in the various ways human beings structure conscious activities
insight
intelligence
knowledge
a perception about human
existencean
unconditioned grasp of the
nature of realityvarious ways to “look at”
reality
““To know what one sees”...To know what one sees”...
human experience and conscious activities...
…the movement from one form of self understanding to another
…the capacity to engage in intellectual work on one’s own
…previously experienced mental operations and the dynamics that follow from them
an invitation to participate in discovering within oneself...
Substantively, the study of organization Substantively, the study of organization is a subjective endeavor...is a subjective endeavor...
to study organization is to get behind the mediated intelligence, understanding, and knowledge...…so as to gain insight into
organization
…and to develop new intelligence about organization
Substantively...Substantively...
Substantively, managing and leading Substantively, managing and leading human organizations requires...human organizations requires...
practical intelligence that is generated by the self-correcting process of learning (Lonergan, 1972)
questioning thinking formulating testing judging
evaluating self-evaluation being objectivity
QUESTIONING
researching the data of human experience
comprised of material content and operational content
Is it mere data?
Is it meaningful data?
Is it the truth?
THINKING
to receive the tradition
an invitation to know by “taking a good look at” the concepts bequeathed from the past
FORMULATING
an unconditioned reflective grasp, the constitutive factor in knowing, that precedes and determines truth (i.e., insight)
a subjective achievement of radical intellectual development by which the human being discovers in oneself precisely experienced mental operations and the dynamism that leads from one type of self understanding to another
to develop an appreciation of history by seeing the series of interpretations in a sequential pattern and trying to determine what was going forward
TESTING
to verify what knowledge is (not that knowledge exists)
What may this mean?
What does this mean?
How does this fit?
JUDGING
defining history
Is this first in itself (i.e., truth)?
Is it first for us (i.e., an insight)?
EVALUATING
finding the present by discovering the hidden suppositions at work in the tradition
an awareness that humans are prone to understand data within the limits of their own horizons
engaging in a dialectic between past and present
moving toward the moment of decision by articulating one’s personal stance
SELF-EVALUATION
restlessly seeking fulfillment in the true, the real, and the good (“to be ethical,” Aristotle, 1958)
to do the right thing
to the right person
at the right time
in the right way
BEING
the function of managing and leading a diverse group of people to develop insight and creativity in dealing with reality
OBJECTIVITY
apprehending reality for what it truly reveals
acting conversant with reality
INVESTIGATING ORGANIZATION
Investigating organization is not to study the past. The truly significant investigation is that of the future, leaving the task of interpreting this generation’s insight to future generations.
The organization envisaged today remains to be perfected. Due to this generation’s lack of insight, most questions are very difficult, if not impossible, to answer fully.
There is a sense in which the really tough questions about organization reduce managers and leaders to silence until they can engage in the dialectic of past and present.
In this generation, all managers and leaders can hope to accomplish is to develop an interim organization, one substantively better because they were there and their insight offered a better way.
Or, to put it in another way, that the people in the organization and the organization itself is better off because these managers and leaders were were there.
This module has focused on...This module has focused on...
OrganizationOrganization and how insight animates a substantive organization...
ReferencesReferences
Aristotle. (1958). The Nicomachean ethics (W. D. Ross, Trans.). In J. D. Kaplan (Ed.), The pocket Aristotle (pp. 158-274). New York: Simon & Schuster.
Barnard, C. I. (1938/1968). The functions of the executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kuhn, T. S. (1986). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed.). New York: New American Library.
Lonergan, B. (1972). Method in theology. London: Darton, Longman, & Todd.
Neustadt, R. E., & May, E. R. (1988). Thinking in time: The uses of history for decision makers. New York: Free Press.