THE INTERNAL WORKINGS

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➥➥ Example

Because we lack one “best” way to solve organizational problems, it is crucial for us to be “strategically consist-ent” to consensual, multiple goals, yet “operationally flexible” (or empowering) in working to achieve those goals. This encourages us to challenge our minds—to employ our mental skills in determining how to achieve goals. And as long as our goals are clear and based on a shared vision, we can succeed at it.

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➥➥ Experienced Dynamics

Too often we ignore the complexity of an issue, insist-ing upon, and fightinsist-ing about, the “best way to do things.” We immediately look for a direct, one-to-one, cause-and-effect relationship that would explain the issue; then we try to find a simple, singular solution.

But such solutions do not work in a systems world, that is, our world today.

III. THE INTERNAL WORKINGS

8. Entropy. Physical systems are subject to the force of entropy, which increases until eventually the entire system fails. The tendency toward maximum entropy is a move-ment to disorder, complete lack of resource transformation, and death. For instance, people with anorexia do not

consume enough food to maintain their physical bodies;

if the disorder continues, they perish.

In a closed system, the change in entropy must always be

“positive,” meaning toward death. However, in open bio-logical or social systems, entropy can be arrested and may even be transformed into negative entropy—a process of more complete organization and enhanced ability to transform resources. Why? Because the system imports energy and resources from its environment, leading to renewal. This is why education and learning are so important, as they provide new and stimulating input (termed neg-entropy) that can transform each of us.

“From the time we’re born, we begin to die” is an apt adage here. Our cells completely regenerate every seven years through neg-entropy, and, in a sense, we become completely new persons. Regular follow-up and feedback are key to this needed renewal.

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Most change efforts fail because they aren’t given enough follow-up, reinforcement, and new energy.

Many managers want to get everything up and run-ning on autopilot, but this is the antithesis of what actually makes change happen. In systems terms, it takes negative entropy—new energy—to make change occur. In fact, most executives are concerned about getting employee “buy-in,” when “stay-in” is even more difficult to get and retain over time (for more on this topic, see Haines, Sustaining High Performance).

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➥➥ Experienced Dynamics

Lack of negative entropy, or new energy, is what leads to obsolescence, rigidity, decline, and (ultimately) death.

9. Hierarchy. A system consists of subsystems (lower-order systems) and is itself part of a suprasystem (higher-order system). Any living system thus has a hierarchy of components. In today’s politically correct environment, the concept of hierarchy is quite unpopular, but it is a perm-anent fact of life. The issue is to “flatten” the hierarchy as much as possible—to “go with the flow” of life and what makes sense, in a natural, self-organizing type of way.

What we do not want is the imposition of rigid and artificial structures.

Since systems are hierarchical, the organizational system is higher than the department/unit/team as a system, which is higher than the individual employee as a system (whether we’re happy about that or not). If we don’t like the hier-archy or fit, we need to work either to change how the hierarchy operates, or to lessen it; however, it cannot be eliminated, as some would naively propose—it’s simply inherent in systems.

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To get an idea of how hierarchies work in the natural world, and how essential they are to it, think about the food chain—an inescapable hierarchy, found in both terrestrial and aquatic environments, and often crossing between them.

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➥➥ Experienced Dynamics

Instead of finding natural, common-sensical hier-archies in our organizations, we often find artificial, rigid hierarchies; they are usually subject to bloated bureaucracies based on the old “command and control,” as if we can ever truly and surely control others.

10. Interrelated Parts (Subsystems or Components).

By definition, a system is composed of interrelated parts or elements in some kind of relationship with one another.

This is true for all systems— mechanical, biological, and social. Every system has at least two elements, and these elements are interconnected.

The whole idea of a system is to optimize—not maximize—

the fit of its elements in order to maximize the whole. If we merely maximize the elements of systems, we end up sub-optimizing the whole (2 plus 2 equals 3—less than it should, and less than we want it to).

To get a handle on this concept, consider what happens to college football players who try to artificially maximize their muscles and weight with steroids: they do serious long-term harm to their bodies, and sometimes the damage is so severe it leads to premature death.

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➥➥ Example

In organizations, it is vital to get all the related sub-systems working together toward the achievement of business goals. However, too often departments compete with one another, individually attempting to maximize their influence in the organization, to the detriment of other departments and, ultimately, to that of the organization as a whole.

Balancing the demands of each department is difficult and should be a key role of senior organizational lead-ers. Unfortunately, this leads to conflict-resolution issues and skills that many leaders in both private and public organizations would rather ignore.

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➥➥ Experienced Dynamics

We often experience artificial and separate silos, parts and components that managers try mightily to protect; but doing so is impossible in a system with