Yesterday in my Buzz and Facebook "management friends" I talked about change and restoration. In business we like to talk about the former aspect and in churches we like to talk about the later (gradually the voice is becoming fainter and fainter). This brings in the concept of necessary but not sufficient. Some people thinks in a linear fashion, some in two dimensions. The conditions that are satisfied in two-dimension are often necessary but not sufficient. The Maslow triangle of needs (Needs Hierarchy) is two dimensional. It is a good description of human needs and motivation. These are necessary conditions especially in the days of or in countries with under-developed living conditions. With a new dimension, (in Peter Drucker's concept of Contribution and in Bible's self-giving and love) the needs are still there but changed shape entirely.
We can take the story of Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman as an example that illustrates that a new dimension of life will overshadow the needs. This story illustrates when you add to the necessary (needs of human) a new dimension (spirituality in this particular story) it becomes complete (sufficiency).
The story starts with the woman came for water, physical water that quenches thirst. (1st level of Maslow's need hierarchy.) Then she talked about her husbands and boyfriend which indicates her great urge for friendship (3rd level). Jesus offered to her a new dimension, spirituality that she did not have (or ignored, like most of us do). Once she accepted it, she was elevated and fulfilled with excitement and joy (4th level). She no longer focused on need any more. She began to tell her story to others. She contributed to her community in a positive manner. Symbolically, she left behind the water container (physical) and poured out from her living water (spirituality).
The story starts with the woman came for water, physical water that quenches thirst. (1st level of Maslow's need hierarchy.) Then she talked about her husbands and boyfriend which indicates her great urge for friendship (3rd level). Jesus offered to her a new dimension, spirituality that she did not have (or ignored, like most of us do). Once she accepted it, she was elevated and fulfilled with excitement and joy (4th level). She no longer focused on need any more. She began to tell her story to others. She contributed to her community in a positive manner. Symbolically, she left behind the water container (physical) and poured out from her living water (spirituality).
Another well know example of necessary but not sufficient in management. The hygiene factor in motivation theory is necessary not to de-motivate people but it is not sufficient to motivate.
將注目自己的需要轉為
注目於別人需要的力量
In linear algebra and linear system theory, we know that we cannot fully describe a system of n-dimension by less than n-dimensional attributes. For example, in describing a 3-dimensional machine part trajectory, a 2-dimensional drawing is not sufficient.
回覆刪除Life is multi-dimensional. We cannot manage life with less dimensions. The world is getting more complicated and life keeps adding new-dimensions to it. But sadly, we try to manage our lives using a one-dimension or two-dimension solutions.
When we manage, we have to take care, first of all, the tangible Maslow Needs but also the dimension of spirituality in a general sense.