Historical Context of Vision and Visioning

Historical Context of Vision and Visioning

In the last decade there has been much attention, without much rigorous reflection, on vision (the product) and visioning (the process) (Shipley & Newkirk 1998; Shipley 2000). Robert Shipley, researching in the field of community planning, provides us with a comprehensive historical overview of, within a social constructionism approach, of the concepts "vision" (the product) and "visioning" (the process).

The history of visioning dates back to scriptural and classical traditions, but the meaning of vision from those times is very different from the way we understand vision today. Vision from this period refers to a "divine communication of an ecstatic nature. Visioning has also been traced back to the utopian genres of the 17th and 18th centuries, in which perfect societies were depicted. In this tradition, utopias were described only by the individual thinkers writing as much about the current reality's deficiencies as they were about the future. Utopias became the repository for innovative ideas. In the 19th century, visioning found its voice in the "future as history," particularly in the science fiction genre. "Backcasting" was the device used by the writer, who would predict what this future world would look like, then backtracked to define what steps it would take to get from the present to that desired future state. This approach is common in today's visioning processes (Senge 1990).

By the 20th century, visioning of desired futures became those futures known and shaped by science and technology. "The twentieth century saw faith in humans' ability to solve problems with machines and formulas replaced older believes. Forecasting was the process used, as predictability was possible. The myth of progress was born. Later in this century, the belief began to shift from the ability to predict (although business systems still seem to hold onto this control) to the ability to invent our futures. Backcasting appeared again as the process to achieve this desired future state.

Maslow introduced the human development aspect of the visioning process by introducing the self-actualized human being and the self-actualized or "Eupsycian" organization (1965), which is an organization populated completely with self-actualized individuals. For him, visions of the future motivate present action. Future is based on choice-oriented behaviors.

Concurrent with the self-actualized individual, the twentieth century witnessed the rise of the visionary, charismatic leader with remarkable rhetorical skills. Vision is produced by an individual who has either the will or authority to direct what course future events will take (Gardner 1995). In business and organizational science literature, there is an abundance of literature describing the role of the leader as someone who sets vision (Nutt & Backoff 1997).

Nutt and Backoff (1997) do a noble job outlining the many streams of thought and processes in current literature concerning vision and the visioning process. They take the position that it is the leader's job to create vision, although they attempt to separate the impact of vision from charismatic leader behaviors. From their research on the literature and their own experiences, they take the "gap analysis" approach, or backcasting. They define a successful vision as one which has a "clear and compelling imagery that offers an innovative way to improve, which recognizes and draws on traditions, and connects to actions that people can take to realize change. It taps people's emotion and energy (1997). It describes a desired future state which directs human activity.

Within the new paradigm of complexity theory as applied to organizational science, some theorists have been ambivalent about the role of the visioning process for envisioning future states. They advocate that since the future is unknowable, the predictive quality of visions is suspect. (Stacey 1992) Others recommend a kind of values-driven vision that serves as a "strange attractor" (Wheatley 1996).

The visioning process, as described by Shipley's history and Nutt & Backoff's literature review, outlines some of the main goals of the visioning process, namely

 Creating a better world (utopias, science fiction, myth of progress, postmodern and social constructionism tradition)

 Releasing innovation (utopias)

 Cultural affiliation (charismatic leadership)

 Motivational (Maslow)

 Direct human action (Nutt & Backoff)

 Moves an organization