A630.2.4.RB_DellElceCamila

A630.2.4.RB – 21^st Century Enlightenment

            Matthew Taylor is the Chief Executive at RSA, a charity organization focused on finding innovative and practical solutions to social challenges faced on the twenty-first century. When he says, “to live differently, you have to think differently” (Taylor, 2010), he refers to the ideal opportunity to be unique. Mahatma Gandhi said once, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world,” and he was not wrong. To approach innovation, an organization or individual must be able to foresee a future where change is acceptable and demanded starting with one-self.  Thinking differently does not come easy as change brings its own challenges. In today’s world, competitor brands, organizations, technology, media, etc., are all making living a difference. Therefore, Mr. Taylor is asking people to risk the unknown, to be or to think differently.

            “To resist our tendencies to make right or true that which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange” (Taylor, 2010). This quote is very familiar to my previous position about change. When I was younger, I experienced significant change in all aspect of my life. I probably assisted more than 12 different schools before starting college, changed homes every year, and made a lot of friends all over the world. Nevertheless, change has always come to me with a high price to pay. Taylor’s metaphor explains that most us, humans, reject change, which in turn makes us relate it to wrong and strange feelings. Gerald M. Nosich (2012, p. 120) talks about thinking within a field or disciple and explains:

Trusting a discipline, then, does not mean believing it completely or automatically. It means taking it seriously, treating it as something to be learned from, rather than as something to be doubted automatically or put aside or reject out of hand. After consideration, you may reject an idea or find it inadequate in one way or another. But to trust a discipline means to ‘try it on,’ to think in terms of it and see how it helps you understand the world in a new and richer way.

            In the same manner, understanding and confronting unfamiliar challenges can at least bring the satisfaction of trying rather than rejecting it, as we are more confortable with things we know about. Therefore, Matthew Taylor suggests that most people would rather stick to something they are barely familiar with than something they know nothing about.

            Taylor argues that our society should eschew elements of pop culture that degrade people and that we should spend more time looking into what develops empathetic citizens. Would this be possible? “Managers today face risk situations unlike those of the past, and in an era of accelerating change, managerial excellence derives from the ability to cope with these changes” (Brown, 2011, p. 33). While working in the medical field, I have become first hand witness of change and the repercussions it could bring. Medicine is nothing like it used to be many years ago, and today some doctors and organizations are more interested in finding ways to see more patients in less time by double or triple booking their schedules. Technology has made it possible for doctors to conquer such amounts of patients, since now laptops can be carried around rooms with little time to waste. Patients are rushed into rooms, medical assistants try to get as much information as possible, get vitals, run x-rays, and write reports for doctors to know what to expect on the patient’s visit, and all of this under ten minutes. Hence, society should try to spend more time looking into what develops empathetic citizens despite the challenges because it is possible. “The idea that progress should be designed to increase human happiness has turned into the assumption that pursuing progress is the same as improving human welfare” (Taylor, 2010).

            When Taylor suggests about atomizing people from collaborative environments and the destructive effect on their growth, it is unclear to determine what did he implied. Perhaps, he tried to direct attention to negative aspects of not finding collaborative groups to reach success. The founder of Southwest Airlines and currently Chairman Emeritus was asked how to renew a big organization and he responded, “The way that we accomplish that is that we constantly tell our employees . . . think small and act small, and we’ll get bigger. Think big, be complacent, be cocky, and we’ll get smaller. To be successful, organizations must develop a managerial style and culture that can adequately handle the challenges and opportunities they face” (Brown, 2011, p. 34).  The implication of organizational collaboration focuses on working with others and embracing diversity while individualism can lead to self-focused results.

            To conclude, the biggest take-away from this assignment is to concentrate about the bigger picture and being able to recognize that empathy, team collaboration, and change need to be embraced. In developing organizational change, challenges will be present but it should not stop anyone from pursuing it. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that has” (Taylor, 2010). What are you going to do about it?

References

Brown, D. R. (2011). An experiential approach to organization development (8th edition.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Nosich, G. M. (2012). Learning to think things through: A guide to critical thinking across the curriculum (4th edition). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Taylor, M. (2010). The 21^st Century Enlightenment. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ANGMy0yo&feature=youtu.be