“Value through innovation requires a framework that allows for exploration, randomness and chaos. It also requires for individuals and groups to be comfortable trying out things without traditional business pressures.”

Semantics in the workplace have a profound influence on how we think and act, though we give it little conscious thought. From a systems model perspective, I agree with Daksh, you need to supply the right mix of human resources to the enterprise to make things happen. Like the catalyst ingredient in process manufacturing, you need people around. Even factories can’t function without people ..

But Sunil you are making a deep and sweeping points along other vectors, about the emotional and social health of individuals, and the importance of a fully engaged workforce. The motivator of commitment, for example, only humans can bring to the table. If present and nurtured, it serves to unlock passion and energy that every organization needs to improve ..

In the KM context, Ikojiro Nonaka spoke often of “care” as an integral element of KM. I think it was offered in the same vein ..

But in the west, as Margaret Wheatley reminds us, humans and their emotions are viewed as sources of error. HR as a function, unfortunately, has historically been intended to “deal with” those errors, before they infect the interworkings of the corporate machine .. the more enlightened HR leaders .. perhaps, I’m hopeful, more and more .. deal with the whole person, and how that whole person impacts and improves the company. That to me is what OD can achieve. But that’s in cultures where people are valued, and not simply measured by how many outputs they can produce per shift.

Time for a change? Perhaps. Thanks for keeping these ideas in play.