Session Summary

Session Number:162
Session ID:S28
Session Title:Fostering the coupling of generative differences: Creating space for pluralism
Short Title:The Xerox Case: Day 2
Session Type:Theme Session
Hotel:Hyatt East
Floor:LL2
Room:GndBall A
Time:Monday, August 09, 1999 2:30 PM - 3:50 PM

Sponsors

AA  (Peter Smith Ring)pring@popmail.lmu.edu 310-338-7411 

General People

Organizer Sitkin, Sim B. Duke U. sim.sitkin@duke.edu 919-660-7946 
Presenter Brown, John Seely Xerox, Palo Alto Research Center  650 812-4341 

Submissions

Abstract

Xerox PARC is famous for its technical innovations, but underlying much of its innovation is a system of structural, processual and cultural support for different perspectives and practices. This symposium examines several recent programs undertaken at PARC - PARC 2000, PARC Artists in Residence (PAIR) Program, and the Marketing and Technical Innovation Program (M&TI). These programs illustrate how PARC fostered differences in the workplace. Perhaps more fundamentally, these programs -- taken together -- illustrate how pluralism may be most effective when it is simultaneously an engine for innovation and for stability. In PARC's case, the active presence of pluralistic perspectives/practices was linked to innovation through their effect on definitions of identity, expertise, knowledge, and community. These programs represent a pattern of promoting pluralism by provoking the curiosity of individuals and groups with very different perspectives. Whether they are interacting with others within PARC, across Xerox, or outside their company and discipline, PARC's efforts have focused on creating free space within which grounded curiosity can flourish. The philosophy underlying this series of efforts is that real technical and social problems tend to be cross-disciplinary and benefit from pluralistic insights, and that the opportunities/demands of pluralistic groupings are such that insights generated tend to go to the root of the problem in a way that is both deep and integrative. Deep and integrative solutions reflect the core values of "pioneering research" that PARC strives to pursue.