What do we mean by "control"? It's certainlt not an either/or concept.
When I'm driving my car, for example, I'm controlling it -- but certainly
that degree of control would be reduced suddenly by a blowout or another
vehicle. The same is true of many other things that we believe we control.
You're certainly right that control is comforting, but to call it a fiction
might be an overstatement. But then, when I was studying literature, I
thought that the conventional distinction between fiction and non-fiction
was simplistic and outdated in this more sophisticated era. In a time whne
TV and the movies are full of fictionalized autobiographies (most
autobiographies are at least somewhat fictionalized in themselves -- but
that's another matter!) and "docudramas," we understand that the world is
not black and white.
For what it's worth, the term "control" comes from the medieval Latin
"controretulare," which meant simply to check by a duplicate register. So,
the comfortable illusion developed over the ages -- just as if I were to
believe that by comparing my bank account statement against my checkbook
log allows me to control my spending.
Just a few thoughts ....
Robert magnan
l_m@itis.com
----------
> From: Laurie A. Fitzgerald, PhD <
lfgerald@ORGMIND.COM>
> To:
MG-ED-DV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
> Subject: [MG-ED-DV] Management & Measurement
> Date: Saturday, December 05, 1998 8:24 AM
>
> Greetings,
>
> Through the lens of Chaos, I have come to understand that control ---
> whether we call it that or by its synonym "management" --- is
> essentially an illusion. If that is so, and I for one am convinced it
> is, then a new slant can be taken on Drucker's comment "What cannot be
> measured, cannot be managed/controlled": If no thing can be
> managed/controlled, perhaps the act of measurement is but a comforting
> fiction...Werner Heisenberg has proven as much with his "Uncertainty
> Principle." Your thought?
>
> Laurie