The Taxonomy of Human Elements in Endeavour (THEE) is the result of over 35 years of observations which started when I came across «levels of work» (via EJ's A General Theory of Bureaucracy). After starting at BIOSS, I realised that levels of work lay within a context of human endeavour which itself required appreciating to throw more light on "levels of work".
Over time I explored other distinct areas within that context. Initially,inquiry, decision-making, purpose-values; later change, communication, identity, participation,creativity, spirituality, prosperity and more. Some themes were more closely linked to levels of work (eg communication) and others more distantly linked (eg experience and identity development). Over a hundred frameworks have been developed. An encyclopaedic text on purpose and values was published in 1995. During 1995 - 2000, the frameworks were all unified in THEE, including provision of space for undiscovered areas.
The nature of the context for LoW emerged: it was human will in action within society. This inevitably manifests in a large (but not indefinite) number of inter-related frameworks. THEE offers both a natural language and formula-style representation of the realities of human endeavour in all its various structural and dynamic manifestations. It is directly comparable to the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements eg formulae enable identification and description of psycho-social entities as yet unrecognized.
Beginning in 2008, a website project has enabled the Taxonomy frameworks to be progressively posted with many new frameworks developed in a public environment and open to interaction. By 2013, sufficient discoveries and elaboration meant that investigation of the unexpected taxonomic architecture could commence. As a result, the main structural forms are now understood in terms of human needs and mechanisms, and conjectures have been developed as to the neurobiological origins.
WK - 2007 Revised 2009, 2011, 2014
Contributions to the field
Videos
Web site for the THEE Project
Books