HOW DO YOU ACHIEVE
CONTROL WITHOUT CONTROLLING?
People learn most rapidly when they have a genuine sense of responsibility
for their actions. Helplessness, the belief that we cannot influence
the circumstances under which we live, undermines the
incentive to learn, as does the belief that someone somewhere else
dictates our actions. Conversely, if we know our fate is in our own
hands, our learning matters.
This is why learning organizations will, increasingly, be "localized"
organizations, extending the maximum degree of authority and power
as far from the "top" or corporate center as possible. Local-ness
means moving decisions down the organizational hierarchy; designing
business units where, to the greatest degree possible, local decision
makers confront the full range of issues and dilemmas intrinsic in
growing and sustaining any business enterprise. Local-ness means
unleashing people's commitment by giving them the freedom to act,
to try out their own ideas and be responsible for