RE: Educating the Colour-Blind

["Robert Bacal" <ceo@work911.com>]

On 5 Dec 02, at 6:57, Ivan Webb wrote:

> Mike Woolbert <mawoolb@charter.net> wrote
> 
> >  The point of my color-blind comment was not that people were taught to
> >  be
> color-blind, it is that some people are incapable of seeing color or in
> this case understanding Deming.  Not every problem is a training problem.
> Capability of the human system is nearly impossible to change.
> 
> This thread is leading to some very important questions and Mike has
> raised another one, namely the nature of the capability of the human
> system: is it difficult to change and if so why?

Quick points. There are some people out there that have suggested 
that the commonly accepted notion of difficulty in change, and 
resistance in change, is in fact, not accurate. And that the problem 
isn't difficulty changing, BUT a refusal to entertain change that is 
seen as imposed, not in self-interest, and not "sympatico" with 
where a person is. That's on an individual level, so it may not be 
germane to human systems, or it might be.

I don't personally like the color-blind analogy, although I believe I 
understand what's meant. My fear here is that we might label 
someone incapable of understanding x, when if fact, x may not be 
a solution that would work for them anyway, or is a "non-self-
evident self-evident truth". Various movements, for example 
religions and political ones, will often blame the people who "deny" 
for their denial, not really examing their own roles in the denial 
system.

So, wouldn't it make sense, rather than considering the color-blind 
in isolation, to consider this issue in terms of systems - the 
communcation system perhaps, or some other name - that involves 
both the inputs, the processing, and the outcomes?

(ok, not so short points).


Robert Bacal
http://performance-appraisals.org, Performance Management Resource Center. http://articles911.com - Over 2000 work related arti
cles listed. http://relationships911.org for the relationships library.