RE: another lurker

["Randol, Steven K Mr VDAS" <steven.randol@us.army.mil>]

A posting from another "lurker" on belief systems.  I heard the head of
a seminary a few years ago posit that there are two ways to change
belief systems.  She said that there are a few of us who are
intellectual learners, whom can study a new belief system (think random
sampling vs 100% census rather than a religious system) and adopt it.
Many are, however, experiential learners--we can our beliefs after
having experienced a new way of doing things and then understand the why
of it afterward.  A few years ago, the ASQ sponsored a study that ended
up titled "The Stuff Americans are Made of" which came to the
conclusion, after studying cultural archetypes that Americans at least
need to try it the wrong way first before bothering to read
instructions.  The ASQ study lesson proposed for change agents was not
to expect that American workers will change behavior because of an
intellectual exposure to new information, but will more willingly adopt
new behavior after trying something else first.  I'd wonder how Dr.
Deming would comment on this in comparison to "do it right the first
time" and the plan-do-study-act cycle.  My comment is that we should be
changing belief systems (for example, the belief that higher quality is
more expensive), but that we need to figure out whether the learner is
an intellectual learner or an experiential one.



V/R,
Steven K. Randol
Acting Vice Director of the Army Staff
Office of Chief of Staff, Army
703-695-0294