Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Opposing perceptions of people in organizations, cultures, governments, and nations, and between departments and between nations constrains harmony and growth. But, these opposing perceptions cannot necessarily be reconciled, because perceptions are largely genetically coded, contributing to polarized hemisphericities in the brain, and unable to change by either force or reason. For instance, some will be unable to distinguish the trees from the forest, while some only make good managers and not good leaders. This dilemma of the human condition is well proved and documented by the science of (brain) hemisphericity. The right and left brain dominance in various individuals lead to different analysis, synthesis, and thinking orientations, even when given identical facts. Naturally, this division has the very strong potential to lead to conflict – and among nations – to war. A study done in a large public transportation department revealed that the worldviews of design and construction engineers were so different that it caused disharmony between those two groups when they interacted. If one issue was solved by force, the opposing worldviews among those engineers would resurface in subsequent issues, hence guaranteeing perpetual disharmony. There are different hemisphericity dynamics for individuals, marriage, inter-departmental groups within organizations, among organizations themselves, and between nations. As interesting as they are, they have a profound effect on how our societies operate, how people understand and process information, and how they decide. This paper will discuss the prime importance of hemisphericity orientations in the competitiveness and conflict of groups.