As a lifelong learner of leadership in higher education, I am fascinated with the notion of how dysfunctional behavior abounds — not just in our personal relationships, but within the workplace as well.
As C. Argyris, the Harvard professor emeritus and organizational development expert, put it:
Conflict is frequently avoided or pushed underground rather than dealt with openly. . . .Turf battles continue for extended periods without resolution. People nod their heads in agreement in meetings, and then rush out of the room to voice complaints to sympathetic ears in private. Worst of all, when people are asked if things will ever change, they throw up their hands in despair. They feel like victims trapped in asylum. . . . We want to change, but can’t. We are stuck, trapped in the status quo.1
In other words, nothing changes because people don’t know how to affect change without confrontation. This can lead to dysfunctional behavior.
What Consequences Look Like
Think of the last time you attended a meeting or conference. Did you or anyone else in attendance say or think any of the following?
- “She ran the meeting as if it would be a group decision, but really she had already made up her mind.”
- “Nancy never listens — if you want to get anything done, you’ve got to go around her.”
- “He just doesn’t understand.”
- “They don’t want to hear the truth.”
- “Nothing will ever change.”
According to Argyris,2 people who express these thoughts are responsible for making the status quo so resistant to change. By making such statements, we feel like victims, trapped in an unending cycle of stagnation. However, in reality, we are trapped by our own behavior. We then deny we are doing this and cover up our denial. Paradoxically, these actions only serve to deepen our entrapment in the cycle of anti-learning and anti-improvement.
Reducing Traps
Like Argyris, I believe such traps inhibit organizational learning. We need to expand our thinking to create a new “learning architecture”3 and redesign the organizational environment to encourage learning.
Argyris states that productive cultures are characterized by the following six traits:
- Seeking and accepting feedback that may not be favorable to ourselves
- Commitment to continued cultural change and learning
- Encouraging flexibility in the development and implementation of policies
- Rewarding risk-taking
- Encouraging taking chances on people’s innovations or creative ideas
- Strengthening of trust and cooperation
Next time you’re in a meeting, see how many of the above six traits the participants demonstrate. If you see only one or two traits, chances are, your team is experiencing organizational entropy. Three to four traits shows there’s room for improvement. If you’re one of the lucky teams to have all six, keep it up! And let your team know so that they continue to strive for this ideal and don’t experience any setbacks.
The primary intent of this blog is to examine the works of thought leaders focused on organizational learning, which are the biggest challenge to raising the level of performance by individuals, groups, organizations, and communities. Future posts will focus on other “traps” we create for ourselves, how these traps keep us from making progress, and what we can do to free ourselves from the trap.
- Argyris, C. (2010). Organizational Traps, Leadership, Culture, Organizational Design. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 1.
- Ibid.
- Haims, L., Stempel, J., and van der Vyver, B. (2015). Learning and Development. Retrieved September 23, 2019 from https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends/2015/learning-and-development-human-capital-trends-2015.html.