|
Investigation Course

|
WHYS
One uses the above knowledge and
skill to track down the real reason for the positive or nonoptimum situation.
This is called a “Why.”
Why = that basic outness found which will lead to
a recovery of statistics.
Wrong Why = the incorrectly identified outness which
when applied does not lead to recovery.
A
mere explanation = a “Why”
given as the Why that
does not open the door to any recovery.
Example: A mere explanation: “The
statistics went down because of rainy weather that week.” So? So do we now turn
off rain? Another mere explanation: “The staff became overwhelmed that week.”
An order saying “Don’t overwhelm staff” would be the possible “solution” of
some manager. BUT THE STATISTICS WOULDN’T RECOVER.
The real Why when found and corrected leads straight
back to improved stats (statistics).
A wrong Why, corrected, will further
depress stats.
A mere explanation does nothing at
all and decay continues.
Here is a situation as it is
followed up:
The stats of an area were down.
Investigation disclosed there had been sickness two weeks before. The report
came in: “The statistics were down because people were sick.” This was a mere
explanation. Very reasonable. But it solved nothing. What do we do now? Maybe
we accept this as the correct Why. And give an order, “All people in the area
must get a medical exam and unhealthy workers will not be accepted and
unhealthy ones will be fired.” As it’s a correction to a wrong Why, the stats really crash. So that’s not it.
Looking further we find the real Why. In the area, a boss gives orders to the
wrong people which, when executed, then hurt their individual stats. We
organize the place, train the boss and we get a stat recovery and even
an improvement.
The correct Why led to a stat recovery.
Here is another one. Statistics are down in a school. An investigation comes up
with a mere explanation: “The students were all busy with sports.” So
management says “No sports!” Statistics go down again. A new investigation
comes up with a wrong Why: “The students are being taught wrongly.” Management
sacks the dean. Statistics really crash now. A further, more competent
investigation occurs. It turns out that there were 140 students and only the
dean and one instructor! And the dean had other duties! We return the dean to
his job and hire two more instructors making three. Statistics soar. Because we
got the right Why.
Management and organizational
catastrophes and successes are all
explained by these three types of Why. An arbitrary, a false order or datum
entered into a situation, is probably just a wrong Why held in by law. And if
so held in, it will crash the place.
One really has to understand logic
to get to the correct Why and must really be on his toes not to use and correct
a wrong Why.
In world banking, where inflation
occurs, finance regulations or laws are probably just one long parade of wrong
Whys. The value of the money and its usefulness to the citizen deteriorate to
such an extent that a whole ideology can be built up (as in Sparta by Lycurgus
[a Greek lawgiver] who invented iron money nobody could lift in order to rid
Sparta of money evils) that knocks money out entirely and puts nothing but
nonsense in its place.
Organizational troubles are greatly
worsened by using mere explanations (which lead to no remedies) or wrong Whys
(which further depress stats). Organizational recoveries come from finding the
real Why and correcting it.
The test of the real Why is “When it
is corrected, do stats recover?” If they do that was it. And any other remedial
order given but based on a wrong Why would have to be cancelled quickly.
INVESTIGATORY ACTIONS
Correction of things which are not
wrong and neglecting things which are not right puts the tombstone on any
organization or civilization.
This boils down to correct investigation. It is not
a slight skill. It is the
basic skill behind any intelligent action.
Suppressive Justice
When justice goes astray (as it
usually does) the things that have occurred are:
1. Use of justice for some
other purpose than public safety (such as maintaining a privileged group or
indulging a fixed idea) or
2. Omitted use of investigatory
procedure.
All suppressive use of the forces of
justice can be traced back to one or the other of these.
Aberrations and hate very often find
outlet by calling them “justice” or “law and order.” This is why it can be said
that man cannot be trusted with justice.
This or just plain stupidity bring
about a neglect of intelligent investigatory procedures. Yet all group sanity
depends upon correct and unaberrated (rational) investigatory procedures. Only
in that way can one establish causes of things. And only by establishing causes
can one cease to be the effect of unwanted situations.
It is one thing to be able to
observe. It is quite another to utilize observations so that one can get to the
basis of things.
Sequences
Investigations become necessary in
the face of outpoints or pluspoints.
Investigations can occur out of idle
curiosity or particular interest. They can also occur to locate the cause of
pluspoints.
Whatever the motive for
investigation, the action itself is conducted by sequences.
If one is incapable mentally of
tracing a series of events or actions, one cannot investigate.
Altered sequence is a primary block
to investigation.
At first glance, omitted data would
seem to be the block. On the contrary, it is the end product of an
investigation and is what pulls an investigation along—one is looking for
omitted data.
An altered sequence of actions
defeats any investigation.
Examples: We will hang him and then conduct a trial.
We will assume who did it and then find evidence to prove it. A crime should be
provoked to find who commits them.
Any time an investigation gets
back-to-front, it will not succeed.
Thus, if an investigator himself has
any trouble with seeing or visualizing sequences of actions, he will inevitably
come up with the wrong answer.
Reversely, when one sees that someone
has come up with a wrong or incomplete answer, one can assume that the
investigator has trouble with sequences of events or, of course, did not really
investigate.
One can’t really credit that
Sherlock Holmes would say, “I have here the fingerprint of Mr. Murgatroyd on
the murder weapon. Have the police arrest him. Now, Watson, hand me a
magnifying glass and ask Sgt. Doherty to let us look over his fingerprint
files.”
If one cannot visualize a series of
actions, like a ball bouncing down a flight of stairs, or if one cannot relate
in proper order several different actions with one object into a proper
sequence, he will not be able to investigate.
If one can, that’s fine.
Investigations
All betterment of life depends on
finding out pluspoints and why and reinforcing them, locating outpoints and why
and eradicating them.
This is the successful survival
pattern of living. A primitive who is going to survive does just that and a
scientist who is worth anything does just that.
The fisherman sees sea gulls
clustering over a point on the sea. That’s the beginning of a short sequence,
point number one. He predicts a school of fish, point number two. He sails over
as sequence point number three. He looks down as sequence point number four. He
sees fish as point number five. He gets out a net as point number six. He
circles the school with the net, number seven. He draws in the net, number
eight. He brings the fish on board, number nine. He goes to port, number ten.
He sells the fish, number eleven. That’s following a pluspoint—cluster of sea
gulls.
A sequence from an outpoint might
be: Housewife serves dinner. Nobody eats the cake, number one; she tastes it,
number two; she recognizes soap in it, number three. She goes to kitchen,
number four. She looks into cupboard, number five. She finds the soapbox upset,
number six. She sees the flour below it, number seven. She sees cookie jar
empty, number eight. She grabs young son, number nine. She shows him the setup,
number ten. She gets a confession, number eleven. And number twelve is too
painful to describe.
Discoveries
All discoveries are the end product
of a sequence of investigatory actions that begin with either a pluspoint or an
outpoint.
Thus all knowledge proceeds from
pluspoints or outpoints observed.
And all knowledge depends on an
ability to investigate.
And all investigation is done in
correct sequence.
And all successes depend upon the
ability to do these things.
|