March, Technology of foolishness, 1988 Flashcards
Core message:
March suggests we should sometimes just allow organisational actors to do something without a justification – allow true gambles.
Technology of foolishness (in combination with technology of reason/procedural rationality) might help develop interesting people, organizations and societies.
March’s problem/RQ:
If action should be always justified by pre-defined preferences, how can we develop new preferences and values?
What is March’s question about goals?
We value goals, but we don’t think about their origination.
How could we know we don’t like something if we have never experienced anything close to it? Then, how could we know if pursuing this thing would be a good or a bad goal for us?
What is the dependency between goals and actions according to March?
Goals justify our actions. But also: actions can shape our goals.
This way, our actions results in new goals we never would have thought about before.
Goals and actions are co-dependent.
Do we find goals according to March?
We don’t find our goals, we construct them through our actions.
This doesn’t follow the logic of procedural rationality.
Playfulness:
“the deliberate, temporary relaxation of rules in order to explore the possibilities of alternative rules”
We can be play sometimes, not all the time.
In other words: sometimes, it is ok to do something ‘a bit crazy’ (to take risks), to be able to develop new preferences (new tastes).
What is technology of foolishness?
How can we then develop new goals?
We need tech. of foolishness, that is, the possibility to act without justifying our actions, which can help us develop new preferences and goals
How can we then create technology of foolishness?
A) Coming up with ideas: Sensible foolishness (temporarily suspend the assumptions of pre-existing goals)
B) Allowing us to do it: Playfulness (temporally suspend the need for consistency)
Some initial suggestions for playfulness:
Goals as hypotheses Intuition as real Hypocrisy as a transition Memory as an enemy Experience as a theory
Hvad er problemet med procedural rationality ifølge March?
Ved at vi bruger rationalitet til at tage beslutninger så forkaster vi to andre metoder man kunne bruge til at tage beslutninger: 1. intuition (man tager et valg uden helt at vide hvorfor man gør som man gør) 2.tradition og tro (man tager et valg af den grund at det ‘bare er sådan man gør fordi’.)
How we talk vs act according to March.
How we talk:
We take calculated risks
How we act:
We don’t take risks, unless we know we are likely to succeed (which is not really to take risks)
