The learning communities discussion started me net hunting.

> Some nuggets found on the net:
>
> ---------
> "Human activity consists of action and reflection: it is praxis; it is
> transformation of the world. And as praxis, it
>           requires theory to illuminate it. Human activity is theory
> and practice; it is reflection and action. It cannot be
>           reduced to either verbalism or activism...." --Paulo Friere,
> in Pedagogy of the Oppressed
>
> ---------
> "
> Peter Senge
>
>                  Director,
>                  Organizational Learning Center at MIT
>                  Author:
>                  The Fifth Discipline,
>                  The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization
>
>        What is a "learning organization"?
>
>         A learning organization is a particular vision of an
> enterprise that has the capacity to continually enhance its
> capabilities to shape its future.
>
> Organizational Learning needs to be thought about on several levels.
> There are a core set of individual capabilities which need to be
> deeply embedded in leaders throughout the enterprise--the capacity for
> personal vision, the ability to reflect on one's own thinking (one's
> "mental models") and the ability to think in terms of
> interdependencies and patterns of change ("systems thinking"). There
> is also a set of capabilities that need to be widely established
> within teams. These collective capabilities include the capacity to
> build shared visions based upon individuals' personal visions and to
> reflect collectively, to balance "discussion" where people advocate
> their views and "dialogue" where people collectively reflect on
> differing views of complex issues. None of these capabilities will
> take deep root if there is not a climate for learning throughout the
> organization and supportive learning infrastructures. Such
> organizations create a set of values, such as a commitment to the
> truth and an ability to foster inquiry as well as advocacy, that is
> inherently more conducive to environments for learning. "Learning
> infrastructure" means continual improvement of the design of
> organizations so that learning is no longer left to chance, so that
> not only is experimentation encouraged, but there is a rich
> infrastructure for studying lessons learned and diffusing new insights
> and new skills.
> "
>
> No sooner had I found some interesting and hopeful quotes about
> organizational learning, when my inbox received these examples of how
> some prominent organizations and former counter-culture icons can
> 'learn' ...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Phil Agre [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Friday, May 09, 1997 9:16 AM
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> Subject:      Top NEWSPEAK Stories of the Week #69
>
> [This is part of Wayne Grytting's "Newspeak" column in Z Magazine for
> May
> 1997; it is forwarded with permission.  Wayne doesn't like the "red
> rock
> eater" joke, though, so I'm not entirely sure we can trust him.  Be
> this
> as it may, that same issue of Z also includes a marvelous article by
> Noam
> Chomsky about the real meaning of "free trade".  Chomsky is not
> exactly an
> authority on social theory, but he does have a superhuman command of
> facts
> and an impressive capacity, as someone said, for cutting through the
> s---
> and actually saying something.]
>
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>
> Date: Mon, 5 May 1997 21:04:53 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Wayne Grytting <[log in to unmask]>
> To: "Undisclosed.recipients":  ;
> Subject: Top NEWSPEAK Stories of the Week #69
>
>
> AMERICAN NEWSPEAK. Inflicted weekly at
> http://www.scn.org/news/newspeak
> Celebrating cutting edge advances in the exciting field of
> Doublespeak!
> Written by Wayne Grytting
>
>
> Advertisers Becoming Literate
>
> Major advertisers are "changing the rules of magazine publishing",
> reports
> the Wall Street Journal, by breaking down the walls separating ads
> from
> editorial content. Now a number of corporations are demanding written
> summaries of articles before submitting their ads. Recently, Chrysler
> sent
> out a letter to Esquire and 100 magazines informing them, "In an
> effort to
> avoid potential conflicts, it is required that Chrysler corporation be
> alerted in advance of any and all editorial content that encompasses
> sexual, political, social issues or any editorial content that could
> be
> construed as provocative or offensive." I particularly like that
> "could be
> construed" part. Really professional. Countering critics who worry
> about
> freedom of the press, Pentacom CEO David Martin points out the
> reasonableness of advertiser's demands because, given ads that cost
> $22,000 a piece, "you want it surrounded by positive things." Esquire
> certainly agreed. After receiving their letter from Chrysler, they
> canceled a scheduled story with a gay theme by author David Leavitt.
> (WSJ
> 4/30)
>
>
> Mr. Bojangles Goes High Class
>
> Bob Dylan and a host of rock performers have discovered a new
> direction
> for their talents doing private concerts for corporations. Carley
> Simon
> has done three shows for conventions of Merril Lynch stockbrokers,
> while
> Dylan, the Eagles and Crosby, Stills and Nash were off entertaining
> the
> financial analysts from Nomura Asset Capital Corp. Even younger bands
> like
> Gin Blossoms and Toad The Wet Sprocket have been jumping on the
> corporate
> gravy train, which often pays three times what bands can  make from a
> regular concert. While critics complain about the counter culture
> being
> ripped off  "as a dividend for a company's sales reps," supporters say
> that such cynicism is out of step with the 90's when groups like the
> Rolling Stones are doing commercials for Microsoft. For those who
> blanch
> at the thought of philistine CEO's setting the song list for an artist
> like Bob Dylan, there are these words from Nomura president Ethan
> Penner.
> "I am not here paying someone a lot of money to amuse themselves -
> they
> are here to amuse me."  Smile big, Bob.  (WSJ 4/28)
>
>
> Nike Worries About Indonesia
>
> 13,000 workers in Indonesia protested against Nike subcontractors for
> failing to pay the minimum wage of $2.50 a day. Nike responded by
> pointing
> out an even greater danger threatening these employees. Jim Small, a
> spokesman for the attitude company, noted that wages have increased
> three
> fold in Indonesia in the past two years. "There's concern what that
> does
> to the market," said Small, "whether or not Indonesia could be
> reaching a
> point where it is pricing itself out of the market." Do remember that
> the
> cost of producing a $120 pair of  Air Jordans is almost $4.
> Regardless,
> Nike is very concerned about the welfare of these employees, which may
> help explain their innovative campaign to save the $2.50-a-day
> employees
> from the sin of greed.  Nike is  refusing to pay more to its factories
> as
> a result of any wage increases. Meanwhile, Mr. Small has planned a
> seminar
> to explain what he and other Nike PR Representatives are doing do to
> deserve more pay than their Indonesian co-workers.  (WSJ 4/28)
>
>
> Che Guevera Makes a Comeback
>
> Cuba's major revolutionary export, Che Guevera, is back in vogue with
> a
> best selling memoir, and several biographies and movies coming out
> about
> him. This is a result of the fact that, to quote the NY Times, "his
> image
> has become more vivid, complex and commercial." For example, Raichle
> Molitar, distributors of Fischer's Revolution Skis, is holding a Che
> look-a-like contest to sell their skis. Explained spokesperson Jim
> Fleischer, "We felt that the Che image - just the icon and not the
> man's
> doings - represented what we wanted: revolution, extreme change." This
> corporate pursuit of revolution, just the icon and not the reality, is
> also helping to sell Swatch watches and even ash trays. All of this
> commercialization has left Cubans somewhat mystified, but then they
> don't
> live in the "free world."  (NYT 4/30)
>
>
> The Out of Date Vocabulary Dept.
>
> Paper shredders will be working overtime thanks to word from the
> International Monetary fund that the label "industrial countries" is
> now
> out. An IMF report issued by Robert Rowthorn and Ramana Ramaswamy
> announced that wealthy nations will now be called "advanced economies"
> instead,  because they are all so busy deindustrializing. Fortunately,
> the
> dismantling of factories by "advanced economies" and the transfer of
> the
> old activity of actually producing anything to the "non-advanced" (?)
> world, is good for us.  The report shows how, "contrary to popular
> perception, deindustrialization is not a negative phenomenon..." Even
> so,
> the IMF does recommend training programs to help "the losers adapt to
> change." Even the Wall Street Journal felt compelled to add that
> deindustrialization has coincided with a rapid rise in income
> inequality
> as those losing their manufacturing jobs took 19% pay cuts in their
> new
> "advanced economy" jobs.  (WSJ 4/28)
>
>
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>
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