Explains the paradigm that is the foundation of theory. A paradigm is a “framework of knowledge that governs the way of looking at and thinking about (scientific problems),” and is a concept that is the foundation for constructing a theory. The foundation is made up of two stages. The first stage is the “human-centered concept (there is no organization without people).” The second stage is the “communicative action (communication-centered) concept,” and is made up of the following four perspectives.
・Communication: exchange of information for the purpose of sharing ‘thoughts’ between humans

Information: means of communication consisting of ‘signs’ and ‘thoughts’

・Action: speech act (in this book, coordination and production acts)

・Organization: network of actors working together to process transactions
The core of the paradigm, the ‘communicative act’, was proposed by German philosopher Jurgen Habermas (1929-), and is “an actor conveys intentions and propositions to the receiver, who is the recipient, and exchanges them until the intentions and propositions are mutually acceptable.” The paradigm in this book is “humans at the center of communicative acts.” The reason for placing humans at the center is that humans are the only beings who can make promises to each other about the results that will be brought about and abide by them.
For a communicative act to be established, its content must naturally be valid. The actor’s request to the receiver is called a “validity claim.” A validity claim is established when the receiver accepts the three claims of “truthfulness claim,” “legitimacy claim,” and “sincerity claim.” The following example is when ordering coffee at a cafe.

– Truthfulness demand: “Accept because I am ordering a product that is available at a fair price.”

– Legitimacy demand: “Accept because I am ordering according to applicable social norms or rules.”

– Sincerity demand: “Accept because I am honest and trustworthy.”

We have conversations that we do not think about, but these kinds of exchanges are made explicitly or implicitly. When communication does not go well, it is important to make an explicit validity demand to avoid discrepancies.

The reason why Habermas considers these three conditions to be sufficient is because he trusts “rationality” as the cornerstone that built modernity, and considers that agreements created by communication without coercion or control are truly productive forces.

It is important to note that human-centered thinking is defined logically as a schema, not as an emotional expression.

The act of seeking the other person’s free consent and approval of the intention or proposition you are trying to convey is completely different from the way leaders of authoritarian nations try to influence the other person’s decision-making through coercive forces such as power and money. In the next article, I will explain the main EE theories based on Enterprise Ontology (EO). I believe this will be a great opportunity to gain useful insights for promoting DX.

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