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SHORT BUT SWEET DONNIE DURRANCE'S article "Stories at Work" (February, 1997), is superb. David R. Wright Clarion University Clarion, Pennsylvania

SILICON-VALLEY APPROVED

THIS IS TO let you know that we at ASTD-Silicon Valley Chapter appreciate the excellent supplement, Intranets or Bust, in the February issue.

We are distributing it at a chapter meeting with a program on Internet learning environments, moderated by Mani Iyer, whom the supplement quotes. The program also has a panel of training representatives from Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, and Apple Computer.

Thanks again. John Tabor ASTD-Silicon Valley jtaborii@pacbell.net

Do IT YOURSELF!

I WAS ANNOYED by the tone of the item Why Good Girls. .. (Working Life, February 1997).

Who are the people to whom you will delegate your "chores" so that you will be noticed? Being noticed is how one achieves success, but being noticed at the expense of others is a poor way to accomplish any task.

Do you think that the people who work with you and take on your chores will work hard and be creative just so you can look better? They will do exactly what they are told to do and no more. You will become noncompetitive very quickly, and even if you don't care what people think of you, you should care about being noncompetitive due to the failure of your team.

Though I agree that being assertive helps one keep from getting lost in the crowd of other ambitious people, I am also reminded of the fact that the people you step on on your way up are the people that you meet on your way down. Who will speak up for you when the inevitable comes along and you need to be supported?

I ask you: How will you be noticed if the person to whom you report is giving you her chores so that she can be noticed? Gretchen Shook gretchen.shook@snyder. com

Editor's note: Thank you for your feedback. To clarify, the advice was, "Delegate responsibility." The text that followed used the term chores. We were reporting on the book Why Good Girls Don't Get Ahead, but Gutsy Girls Do by Kate White; the tips weren't from T&D or ASTD.

ANOTHER RESOURCE

MAILBOX IN the February issue notes "An Oversight" in failing to [mention Media Alliance's] Training Media Toolkit and Trainer's Gold CD-ROMs as compilations of training media programs.

Those are excellent tools. VideoLearning is also a resource for training media producers-video, audio, CBT, and CD-ROM. We provide all information on an objective basis, and we make it quite easy to find the programs needed. Please let your readers know.

Homer H. Hewitt lII VideoLearning Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania videolrn@ix. netcom.com

STOP CULTURE ABUSE!

ARE YOU A consultant, internal or external, who has been part of a group planning to facilitate a change in an organization? If so, the following scenario should sound familiar:

The scene is a team launch. The cast of characters is made up of consultants and clients representing various areas, who share a common mandate to be champions of change. They are joined together (perhaps for the first time) to use their collective wisdom to produce a strategy document that will convince the organization of the need to change.

The compelling imperative for the organization centers around the need to redesign key aspects of how it works, known as reengineering. That will involve implementing new technology, and the result will affect the way work is done.

One or more team members remark that the organization's culture will have to change. Too frequently, the remarks are a cavalier denigration of the current culture.

That's when I lose control: Stop culture abuse! Why am I infuriated? Because the culture being criticized is the one that has done enough things right to have built an organization successful enough to arrive at a point of growth and change.

Start respecting culture! As consultants, many of us have lost sight of our real job. It's not to change culture; it's to help organizations, their leaders, and their members identify what if not changed will help implement the new work environment.

Edgar Schein defined culture as a pattern of shared basic assumptions learned by the members of a group in solving external problems of survival and internal problems of integration. Those assumptions work well enough to be taught to new members of the group as the correct way to think about aspects of their daily work. Once those shared assumptions exist, they provide meaning to daily events, make life predictable, and reduce anxiety.

In Patterns of Culture, Ruth Benedict says that what is considered good in one culture may be bad in another. That theory of culture relativism suggests that no culture should be judged except from within.

Should every organization be equivalent to an ideal-a best practice? Does every successful family conform to the one in Father Knows Best?

I suggest that there is no best way. We learned with TQM that variation in processes is normal and expected. Isn't that also true for organizational cultures? There is plenty of room for different types of cultures. How good or bad a culture is rests more on perception than a fit with an ideal.

As professionals, we should facilitate respect for organizational cultures. We should know and accept our work boundaries and be realistic about our influence.

I can step down from my soapbox now. Thank you. I feel a lot better. And if I have served as a catalyst to someone's thinking or conscience, please join me in stopping culture abuse.

Rochelle Turoff Deloitte & Touche Atlanta, Georgia We welcome your opinions and observations about HRD and Training & Development. Send letters to Mailbox, Training & Development, 1640 King Street, Box 1443, Alexandria, VA 22313-2043. Fax 703/6839203; Mailbox line 703/6839590; e-mail mailbox@ astd.org.

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Unless otherwise noted, submit manuscripts and other materials to Ryann Ellis, editorial assistant, c/o Training & Development, 1640 King St., Box 1443, Alexandria, VA 22313-2043.

For Contributors' Guidelines, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Phone 703/6S3-8100; fax 703/683-9203; TDD 703/683-4323; e-mail rellis@astd.org. Visit the ASTD Web page http://www.astd.org.