When You Aren't Really Agreeing: The Dangers of Universal Language

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Last month, Michael Spencer posted a list of what he, as a religious person, wanted in a church. His readers, from a variety of denominations, all agreed whole-heartedly with his vision. And that’s the problem. Take a look at how using vague Universal Language (as opposed to even Universal Values) can lead to agreement where there probably isn’t any, whether in churches, companies or associations.

Manhattan Bridge under construction-1909

Instilling Values in an Organization Takes Time, So Be Patient

Forrest ChristianChange, Warren Kinston 2 Comments

vOne of the things that always seesms to surprise people who do organizational change projects (and pretty much all IT projects are organizational change projects) is that it takes longer to change things than you thought it would. While you are waiting for things to settle down, you can’t walk away or everything that you brought to them walks out …

Lighthouse at night, (c) 2009 Martin Belam. Via flickr. (CC BY SA 2.0)

Ian Macdonald on Values and the Shadow-side of Requisite Organization (Conference Report)

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Ian Macdonald, of Macdonald Associates Consultancy, opens the day with a short plenary on “Positive Oranizations: Discipline not Dogma”. Reflecting on the practitioner and the practice. Why he does it. What drew him to Elliott Jaques’s work was the underlying values, like Felt-Fairness, what’s social justice, non-paranoiagenic organizations. It was about building social institutions. Second, the method of social analysis. …