Monday, October 13, 2008

Participation Paradox

Several paradoxes related to participation (p. 237/238) are present at the organization and government level. For example, the paradox of homogeneity was was evident in the findings by NASA, that the shuttle disaster was attributable in part to "group think," the idea that constructive questioning is tantemount to disloyalty to the group, and therefore silenced by peer pressure. The dialectic of exclusion-participation is also evident, and I think necessary, in all organizations. As Dr Coopman points out in her post, the Comm dept. at SJSU lists democratic participation among its values. The degree to which that plays out in the classroom depends to some extent on the professor, to some extent on the department, and to some extent on the university. Participation is usually not all or nothing but where the organization or team, fall on the scale
Posted by at

1 comment:

Professor Cyborg said...

Thank you for reading my blog! I write a lot about SJSU, which I'm sure gets boring. But I've been there since 1990, so I know it pretty well. I find the paradoxes of democracy and participation evident in my department and other parts of the university. I wonder if democracy is truly possible in a massive bureaucracy. But then I also realize I don't want to participate in all organizational decisions. I'd be overwhelmed. But what tends to happen is that those who are affected by a decision don't get to participate. For example, the CSU, after losing 4 lawsuits, decides that the entire system is going to have all instructional materials fully accessible. I'm part of implementing that plan. But it's a huge undertaking that many faculty find daunting. Involving more people in the original decision making process likely would have gotten better buy in faculty.

October 13, 2008 at 5:49 PM

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)