Adaptive systems display both excellence in preserving and refining successful solutions to frequently addressed problems, and severe limits in detaching from them in the face of something novel. Because they observe their worlds through lenses that are ground by history and experience, they often overlook the new. Nevertheless, novelty is occasionally recognized by organizations. This paper investigates conditions, motivations and processes that facilitate this recognition. The analysis shows that more knowledge is not the answer, as even the most peculiar learning strategies are always constrained within the boundaries of existing knowledge. Newness may be better captured by the dream of what has not taken place, by ignorance and imagination, through the exploration of diverse framings of the situation.
OVERCOMING ORGANIZATIONAL MYOPIA
Frigotto, Maria Laura
2012-01-01
Abstract
Adaptive systems display both excellence in preserving and refining successful solutions to frequently addressed problems, and severe limits in detaching from them in the face of something novel. Because they observe their worlds through lenses that are ground by history and experience, they often overlook the new. Nevertheless, novelty is occasionally recognized by organizations. This paper investigates conditions, motivations and processes that facilitate this recognition. The analysis shows that more knowledge is not the answer, as even the most peculiar learning strategies are always constrained within the boundaries of existing knowledge. Newness may be better captured by the dream of what has not taken place, by ignorance and imagination, through the exploration of diverse framings of the situation.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione