It’s All An Act

We can see, via simple observation, that in most organisations, folks seem to get their needs met better through pretending to do things than by actually doing those things.

I’m not attempting here to make any kind of moralistic judgment about these folks. Rather, to suggest that in most organisations, the system, culture, prevailing attitudes, whatever, is geared towards encouraging such pretence. Hence, results take a distant second place to appearances.

This is probably not what those in charge – maybe everybody – would ideally wish to be happening. Except those in charge, too, are subject to the same dynamic.

We might express this in Argyris’ terms: folks espouse the theory that results are paramount, yet create theories-in-action which promote appearances and lip-service-to-action, over results and effective action.

Would you be willing to consider what specific changes might be beneficial in getting folks’ need met in such a way that effective action comes to take priority over action for the sake of appearances?

– Bob