TWO VERY DIFFERENT DUALITIES
The fundamental social relationship we establish in a working community is based on emotional ties.
We are all confronted as early as in kindergarden, if not earlier, with an existential dilemma. We must find a balance between two indissociable facets of our being: our singular dimension and our social dimension. On the one hand, each individual is responsible for his/her own destiny since each is the depository of a unique combination of genetic, familial, transgenerational and social heritages. On the other hand, humans are strongly dependant on the social interactions which shape their personalities and influence their ability to blossom. This existential duality "me/others" constitutes a fundamental initiatory foundation for personal growth. Our existential quest consists in striking a finely tuned balance between these two inseparable parts of ourselves. This constant quest forces each of us to reveal our singularity as well as to develop meaningful ties with our social environment. As we all know, the objective of this quest is to be accepted and liked/loved by our peers. This is true for everyone working in a business company, from the bottom to the top of the hierarchical ladder.
The duality "singularity/otherness" is of a dialectic nature. This means that its opposite/complementary character cannot be resolved through the disappearance of one of its two poles, and that it can only be resolved if the complementarity aspect is effectively taken into account. The dialectic nature of the "singularity/otherness" relationship finds its resolution through an integration process of the individual into social entities. How is that? Whenever men and women gather to engage in collective endeavors, they create synergies in which each individual is led to play a specific social role. Playing this role brings the individual to establish non-emotional ties with others, and at the same time reveal his/her inner qualities. The mechanisms which underlie this integration process are specific to systemic interactions. We will study these interactions all along in this book, keeping in mind that it is this integration process which bring individuals to transcend their dual dimension. We will better understand this statement after studying the other type of social relationship encountered in a work organization.
The second type of relationship we encounter in a working community is organizational.
Acting together towards a common goal yields a new type of social relationship which demands that our intelligences work in a structured manner. Here, relationships are no longer based on emotional interactions but respond to organizational and productive criteria.
The social entity created whenever individuals gather together in order to achieve a common goal holds its own identity, and it too holds a singular dimension. We call it a system. A system is a synergy who's main characteristic is to possess a dimension greater that the simple addition of the elements which compose it. With Expert 5ATM, we will demonstrate that the fulfillment of five systemic functions is a condition for work organizations to act as social systems. We will study these systemic functions which have been described in great detail by the Traditional Chinese Medicine on the organic level.
A productive system relies on the fact that individuals fulfill the systemic functions by engaging their intelligence. One characteristic of work organizations is that any individual can be replaced by another without compromising the synergy. In other words, nobody is indispensable (exceptions are very rare). What is indispensable however, is the exercise of some intelligence. This defines an important structural aspect of work organizations: the relationship between an individual and a work organization is not dialectic in nature like it is between an individual and a social environment based on emotional ties.
This difference between the two relationships, emotional and organizational, underlies one of the most difficult aspects of management which is the necessity to not confuse personal value with organizational role. Effectively, we are dealing with two separate social realms, and thankfully, good people don't have to become managers to prove their worth. By making sure that the distinction between these two emotional and organizational social expressions is made, and that their articulation with one another is well understood, it becomes possible to manage a team on a more rational ground. Efficiency relies for the most part on the distinction between these two social expressions, and ethics demands that this distinction be made.
Again, let us emphasize the fact that the difference between the two types of relationships we have just described should not lead to exclusion of one to the benefit of the other. On the contrary, in a business enterprise, just as in any other social organization, efficiency is the result of the establishment of a mature social tissue which can then be organized according to systemic principles. Interestingly, we will see that mending an organizational fabric mends the underlying social fabric as well.
We note that our occidental thinking has not been capable of developing a model which would enable us to explore the intimacy of complex social systems on both emotional and organizational basis. We are often close, but never quite capable of getting the full picture. The cultural reason for the absence of a strong social model is that we do not dispose of a global vision of complex social phenomenon. This is why so many management theories flourish and disappear without, for most of them, leaving any permanent traces. It is as if our comprehension of such complexity was too partial to durably nourish our understanding.
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