Knowledge Matters™

It’s Halloween and we are seeing evidence of the “MacDonaldization ” of Australian society. The streets are full of children, young teenagers, and not so young teenagers, going from household to household tricking or treating. Call me a wowser but I think this is un-Australian and indicative of an unhealthy trend to adopt unthinkingly everything American. Yes I know the Halloween tradition has Celtic origins and Irish and Scottish immigrants took it to the United States; and yes I have a self-professed interest in all things Celtic. My point, however, is our Irish and Scottish immigrants didn’t bring the celebration to Australia! I don’t know why they didn’t, but they didn’t!

Halloween as celebrated today is little more than a commercial activity with some saying it is the sixth most profitable holiday on the American calendar. Halloween in Australia is indicative of “MacDonaldization”. Think about it. One can go almost anywhere in the world and buy a MacDonalds hamburger that looks and tastes exactly the same. Where has cultural integrity gone? More to the point we teach stranger danger messages in schools, and then unthinking parents let their children loose, largely unsupervised, on the streets. There is a paradox here.

“MacDonaldization” also has relevance to knowledge management. One solution does not fit all situations, and we need to be beware of commercial solutions that purport to provide knowledge management out of a box.

Regards, Graham.