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- Individual people act with great compassion and charity toward the victims of a tragedy. Large organizations don't.
- When normal processes are overwhelmed service levels
decline. Those on the front lines become frustrated. I can't tell
you how many times various individuals told me how Katrina was
such a major event that I shouldn't expect their organizations to
provide good service. They all worked for government. (When I just dropped into a State Farm Insurance office in Dallas, Texas in September 2005 they had no trouble retrieving my records and issuing a $2,500 check.)
- Large organizations (governments,
bureaucracies,
etc) learn best and perhaps only learn through direct experience.
It is hard for them to act on lessons learned by others.
- Large organizations
have limited memory spans. As new people take over, the organization has to relearn lessons.
- In order to combat the tendency
toward
forgetfulness, large organizations use codified procedures to control
their operations. Although an effective memory aid, codified procedures can work poorly in
unusual circumstances if they cause people to apply methods to situations
to which they do not apply.
- Rigid internal enforcement of procedures can cause an organization to appear to lack imagination and compassion. ( 911
Commission , NASA Columbia disaster report, NOPD 12/28/05 shooting
investigation)
- Much work on organizational capability focuses on developing and using codified procedures.
- Change
is filtered at every layer within the organization. Lots of ideas for
change are generated and most are dismissed. Filters take on a life of
their own and may serve causes other than the benefit of the
organization (e.g. survival or other benefit to an individual).
- When they make mistakes bureaucracies defend
themselves to their own detriment. Reasonable process improvement fails to occur when organizations grow defensive.
- During
normal times people protest these activities but accept them as
inevitable and tire of activism as other problems are more pressing.
However when something extraordinary happens people can get mad as hell
and can then make their
governments take action through mass protest, petition and direct
action (Lech Walesa, Poland 1980, Howard Beale, Network, 1976).
- Planning
is difficult in a democratic society. There is always someone harmed by
even the most reasonable plan and their protest is often much louder than the approval of
those who might benefit from successful implementation. ( Machievelli 1513)
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