Why Systems Fail LO10497

JC Howell (orgpsych@csra.net)
Tue, 15 Oct 1996 11:58:16 -0400

Replying to LO10463 --

Rol wrote:

> I was not very clear or thorough in explaining what I meant. It takes a
> lot of energy to change the direction of a system, but I did not mean to
> imply that the energy needs to come from 'pushing' on it.
>
> Some form of organizational judo may well be necessary to change the
> direction of the system. By that I mean you need to use the momentum of
> the system as the source of energy to change its direction. Teaching and
> learning are ways to develop energy around a new direction. Create
> discomfort or tension around our views of how the system is working.
> Bring real information to bear. Create opportunities for people to
> experience the system from a different perspective. All these will
> generate energy which can then be directed -- some of the time -- toward
> your goal.

I view a system as an "entity" of energy, perfectly balanced to do exactly
what it is currently doing. When it becomes necessary to change a system,
I prefer to work internally to bring about that change by creating a
"network" of champions of the new direction (normally this is people).
Since the entity is balanced when we start, any change that will affect
that balance will lead to a change in course.

When you unbalance a gyroscope it will seek to regain its balance and, in
the process, destroy itself. This is because it has no adaptive mechanism
through which to reestablish balance.

Just like the gyroscope, an unbalanced system will seek to restore
balance. The obvious difference is that a system has (an) adaptive
mechanism(s) by which to seek and restore balance. Once balance is
restored, the system may not be going in the same direction it was
originally. It is, though, perfectly balanced to do what it is NOW doing
... providing the results it is achieving.

As Rol said, though, this will likely take some time and affect ALL
participants. This gets scary and exciting and may lead somewhere other
than was originally envisioned by the change master (Sponsor).

--

Clyde Howell orgpsych@csra.net

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>