Uke 35

Nettverk kontra fellesskap

John Taylor Gatto diskuterer i boka "Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling" forskjellen mellom nettverk (Networks) og fellesskap (communities). Sitat fra boka:

"Aristotle saw, a long time ago, that fully participation in a complex range of human affairs was the only way to become fully human; in that he differed from Plato.

What is gained from consulting a specialist and surrendering all judgement is more than outweighed by a permanent loss of one's own volition. This discovery accounts for the curious texture of real communication, where people argue  with their doctors, lawyers, and ministers, tell craftsmen what they want instead of accepting what they get, frequently make their own food from scratch instead of buying it in a restaurant or defrosting it, and perform similar acts of participation. A real community is, of course, a collection of real families who themselves funcion in this participatory way.

Networks, however, don't require he whole person, but only a narrow piece. If, on the other hand, you function in a network, it asks you to suppress all the parts of yourself except the network-interest part — a highly unnatural act although one you can get used to. in exchange, the network will deliver efficiency in the pursuit of some limited aim. This is, in fact, a devil's bargain, since on the promise of some future gain one must surrender the wholeness of one's present humanity. If you enter into too many of these bargains, you will split yourself into many specialized pieces, none of them completely human. And no time is available to reintegrate them. This, ironically, is the destiny of many successful networkers and doubtless generates much business for divorce courts and therapists of a variety of persuations.

The fragmentation caused by excessive networking creates diminishing humanity, a sense that our lives are out of control — because they are."

Nettverk er begrenset til smale og rasjonelle formaliteter, mens fellesskap rommer et bredt spekter av menneskelighet.

Kvalitet i prosess

Produksjon av varer og tjenester skjer i prosesser.

For å ha kontroll på produktets kvalitet, må man beherske prosessen.

Variasjon i prosessen gir variasjon i kvaliteten på vare/tjeneste. Dette gjelder i stort monn ved masseproduksjon, men kommer også til syne i prosjektorganisert produksjon.

Et sikkert kjennetegn på kvalitetsbrist er derfor variabel kvalitet, f. eks. på skivet Jarlsbergost og andre norske meieriprodukter. Det er også et hyppig fenomen i norske byggeprosjekter der det eneste stabile ser ut til å være mengden av kontrakter og spesifikasjoner.

Kvalitetsarbeid bør alltid begynne med prosessarbeid. Man kan ikke "sikre" kvalitet; kvalitet kan bare skapes.