Inside Organizations by David Coghlan

Author:David Coghlan [Coghlan, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Reference, Research, Social Science, Business & Economics, Management
ISBN: 9781473987500
Google: 1iPRDAAAQBAJ
Publisher: SAGE
Published: 2016-08-08T04:15:22+00:00

Theory of Action

In Chapter 1 the notion of a theory of action was introduced. What a theory of action emphasizes is how organizations have a theory-in-use; that is, the theory that is actually employed, usually tacitly, and is unrecognized by the people employing it. Argyris found that most organizational theory-in-use is grounded in an implicit disposition to controlling, winning and to avoiding embarrassment. The assumptions are: be in unilateral control, win and do not lose, suppress negative feelings and behave rationally. The action strategies that follow such assumptions are aimed to protect and defend the self against embarrassing situations by speaking in inferred and attributed categories thereby engaging in a defensive reasoning mindset to explain actions and to implement future actions. The consequences are routines that promote protectiveness, self-reinforcing behaviour, escalating error and ultimately increased defensiveness and decreased effectiveness. But because these routines are unquestioned the decreased effectiveness may not be noticed. Have you noticed situations backstage where your colleagues discuss a current problematic issue and make comments in the vein of ‘of course the boss doesn’t want to know’?

As Argyris explains defensive routines are thoughts and actions that are used to protect individuals, teams and organizations from dealing with reality. They are reinforced by organizational members who would prefer if these routines didn’t exist but defend them as being necessary and part of being in the ‘real world’. The routines are based on untested inferences that organizational members make. Organizational members reach conclusions that they believe they have tested carefully, but they haven’t because they have been framed to make them untestable because they are privately held. In terms of what was discussed in Chapter 2 organizational members have climbed the Ladder of Inference. ‘The boss doesn’t want to know’ is such a conclusion that is based on an inference. Accordingly, such routines are not discussable and that they are not discussable is itself not discussable. Organizational learning, which we will explore in Chapter 7, is inhibited because what cannot be discussed is kept hidden and is undiscussable.

In summary, an organizational theory of action produces consequences that people do not intend when they deal with difficult problems. It leads them to hold other people or the system responsible for errors rather than examine their own responsibility. They may exhibit collective Child self-protective responses to threats that are exhibited in organizational games. It enables errors to be repeated skilfully and organizational black holes in which information is driven underground are created.

Take a reflective pause and see if you can catch signs of defensive routines in your organization. This is not easy to do but is worth attempting so as to gain insight into the hidden world of your organization.

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