by Chris Billowsin Business Beller0 commentstags: Comprehensive Analysis, Corporations Don't Think, Defining Life, Foolishness, Institutional Learning, Summarizing a Business Organization
I can’t recall how I stumbled onto this concept and websites, but a while ago I found this riveting theory which I believe explains why most modern organizations are so inadequate at times and spend far too much time chasing the wrong priorities. I have touched on parts of this in previous blogs such as Driven to Distraction and Even the Best Systems Fall Victim and A List of Guidance. The reason why this happens is they fail to embrace Complexity Science. Basically, it is because our social institutions continue to operate like machines, believing that events can be tracked in a linear fashion and have measurable inputs that neatly match known outputs. While there is no denying that some institutions do operate like machines (take most factories), the fact that humans end up doing most of the work leaves the model sorely lacking. What is more accurate is to realize that all human based organizations are non-linear and complex. It is common for these systems to exhibit the following characteristics: Small inputs can lead to dramatically large consequences. Very slight differences in initial conditions produce very different outcomes. Global properties flow from aggregate behavior of individuals. Emergence (of order) […]
by Chris Billowsin Business Beller0 commentstags: Customer Service, Defining Life, Human Condition
I just dealt with a situation where my financial institution originally said no to me when I tried open up a new business savings account. I expressed my frustration, then went ahead and asked another branch manager to do the same thing – he said yes. It just proves to me that people are more important than institutions. One person interprets rules one way, the other a different way. The thing to remember is not to ask for something that is unreasonable or illegal. In my case it was about the interpretation about a specific banking package. I explained to both how both the documentation and the staff below them interpreted the account the same way I did. That reasoning did not work with the person who said no, but thankfully worked with the person who said yes. Of course, I am more interested in bringing my personal business to the reasonable branch manager. Giving the answer the customer expects is easily the simplest way to retain them.
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