Reframing Organizations, 4th ed.
Chapter 2
Simple Ideas, Complex Organizations
Simple Ideas, Complex
Organizations
 Common Fallacies in Organizational
Diagnosis
 Peculiarities of Organizations
 Organizational Learning
 Coping with Ambiguity and Complexity
Error in Organizations: The
Tragedy of 9/11
 System Failures Helped Terrorists Succeed
 Mindset error: defense systems hadn’t planned for
domestic air attack, even though the possibility had
long been recognized (they didn’t anticipate a “black
swan” because they’d only seen white ones)
 Coordination error I: FBI/CIA (terrorists should have
been on airport security watch lists)
 Coordination error II: FAA/NORAD (weak lateral
communication hindered the two agencies from
working together during the emergency)
Error in Organizations: Helen
Demarco
 Osborne announces revitalization plan
 Demarco and colleagues agree: it can’t work
but we can’t tell him
 “Study” to buy time and develop strategy
 Option B: low benefits at high costs
 Technical jargon as camouflage
 Demarco feels frustration, failure
Peculiarities of Organizations
 Organizations are complex
 Organizations are surprising
 Organizations are deceptive
 Organizations are ambiguous
Sources of ambiguity
 Not sure what the problem is
 Not sure what’s going on
 Not sure (or can’t agree) on what we want
 Don’t have the resources we need
 Not sure who’s supposed to do what
 Not sure how to get what we want
 Not sure how to know if we succeed or fail
Organizational Learning
 Peter Senge
 We learn best from
experience, but often
don’t know
consequences of our
actions
 System maps
 Barry Oshry
 Asymmetric
relationships (top –
middle – bottom –
customer)
 “Dance of blind reflex”
Systems model for vicious learning
cycle
Short-term
Strategy
Short-term
gains
Long-term
costs
Delay
Organizational Learning (II)
 Argyris and Schon
 Actions to promote
learning actually inhibit
it
 Defenses: avoid
sensitive issues, tiptoe
around taboos
Chris
Argyris
Donald
Schon
Coping with Ambiguity and
Complexity: Friendly Fire in Iraq
 What you see what you
expect -- and what you
want



US fighter pilots
expected enemy
helicopters
Aerial combat is fighter
pilots’ holy grail
Pilots saw what they
expected and what
they wanted
Coping with ambiguity: conserve or
change?
 Advantages of relying on existing frames and
routines



Protect investment in learning them
They make it easier to understand what’s
happening and what to do about it
…but we may misread the situation, take the
wrong action, and fail to learn from our errors
 Change requires time and energy for learning
new approaches but is necessary to
developing new skills and capacities
Common Fallacies in Organizational
Diagnosis
 Blame people

Bad attitudes, abrasive personalities, neurotic
tendencies, stupidity or incompetence
 Blame the bureaucracy

Organization (a) stifled by rules and red tape,
or (b) lack clear goals, procedures and job
descriptions
 Thirst for power

Organizations are jungles filled with predators
and prey
Conclusion
 Complexity, surprise, deception and ambiguity
make organizations hard to understand and
manage
 Narrow frames become rigid fallacies, blocking
learning and effectiveness
 Better ideas and multiple perspectives enhance
flexibility and effectiveness