While doing some of the heavy thinking for my PhD, I came across the notion of "semantic analysis", the black art of determining what people mean. The notion was, and is, useful in the context of clarifying shared meanings in a way that advances organizational effectiveness. The term has evolved quite substantially since then and is now used in a variety of ways, but the techniques I use to co-create clarity have served me well over the years.
The thing that continues to amaze me is how often semantic analysis is necessary. We all operate under the misguided notion that each of us uses language in the same way. The evidence is quite to the contrary. I make the same mistake in thinking every day. And then something comes along that reinforces the lesson.
A couple of years ago I taught a course that included some of the processes related to semantic analysis, and on the take-home examination asked the students to answer the question "what is a student?" One of them had the initiative to call the Department of Education for the answer, only to learn that they did not have such a definition. Now if the Department of Education doesn't have the definition of "student", then who does?
The answer is, of course, that we negotiate the meaning on a case-by-case, circumstance-by-circumstance basis. And so it was with the group who met in Ottawa this week to talk about the challenge of defining the phrase "post doctoral fellow". The process consumed the better part of a day among over a dozen of the brightest and most experienced academics and administrators. And we have come up with something that we think is good enough to circulate among each other in draft, but is not ready for prime time.
Why so long, and why the need to spend even more time on the topic? Because definitions have a fundamental relationship to purpose which then connects to action. And having good definitions is fundamental to fair and effective administrative action. Whether in a university, teaching hospital research setting, or granting agency.
Semantic analysis - a permanent feature of my life.
Sunny
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