Late Night Discussions
Number 11

by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt

"How's life?" Jonah asks as he takes his favorite couch near the empty fireplace.

I groan. "It was a very frustrating day - I think I should have stayed in bed."

"What's the matter, Alex? Anything wrong?" he sympathetically inquires.

"Nothing in particular," I say. "It's just that I'm starting to be very skeptical about the possibility of causing a major change in my organization."

"I see," he nods.

"I've seen it so many times, but it never ceases to astonish me," I continue. I wave my hand in disgust, "you know the dirty politics, the walls of distrust, the apathy. It's very unpleasant to run smack into them."

"Yes, no doubt," he says and concentrates on his cigar.

"On second thought," I say after a while, "It cannot be so bad. I know of companies that do succeed to revitalize themselves. As you know, in my previous job, I even succeeded to do it myself. The problem is, I can't figure out how to repeat it. It must be that now I'm facing a very different situation. . . on second thought that's not the real reason, it's a cop-out. Jonah, do you mind if we analyze it the TOC way?"

"Good idea. It might even get you out of this miserable mood."

"Thanks," I laugh. "Shall we start in the usual way: listing some things I consider to be bad effects?"

"Certainly. Bad effects concerning human behavior in organizations," he summarizes. "Why don't we start with the ones you have already mentioned - they are as good as any. You complained about walls of distrust," Jonah reminds me.

"Yes," I firmly say. "Walls of distrust between any two different functions. Production doesn't trust Sales, and Sales doesn't trust Production. Both, of course, can't stand Engineering."

"What is the main reason for engineering changes?" Jonah quotes with a smile.

"To make Production's life miserable and to cause Sales to run into misunderstandings with the clients. But that's not all," I continue, "the walls are even higher between levels. In my company the workers don't trust supervision and neither trusts top management."

"Walls of distrust between levels and between functions," he summarizes. "I'd say that it does exist to various degrees in almost every company. What was the other bad effect that you raised? Oh yes, apathy."

"This is a severe problem," I say. "And it's not restricted to just the lower levels. I'm afraid that many of the middle-level managers and some at the top are already apathetic. They behave as if they don't care anymore. They come at eight waiting for five, they come on Monday waiting for the weekend. In a way I feel sorry for them. But they definitely don't help to pull the ship. They are more like dead wood. Do you think these people must be trimmed?"

"I don't know," he says. "We have to first finish the analysis that we haven't even started. What other bad effects have you mentioned?"

"Politics," I answered. "And Jonah, this behind-the-scenes maneuvering exists not just among the top managers, it's prevalent throughout the organization."

"That will do for a start. Now let's try to logically connect between these effects."

"Walls of distrust, apathy, and politics all seem related," I say. "But the only direct connection I can see is that behind-the-scenes maneuvering does not help build trust. But that connection is not strong - the distrust is simply too big to be fully explained by maneuvering alone."

"Fine," says Jonah. "It seems that we do not have a choice but to look for connections in the form of common causes. Alex, what do you think causes the politics? Is it people striving for power?"

I give it a minute of thought. "No, I don't think so. Maybe in other places, but not in my organization. It looks to me more related to the fact that many people feel undervalued while others are overvalued and some are trying to do something about it."

I think about it some more. "Yes, that is a main reason. And you know, Jonah, it's no wonder. Not when people are judged according to our formal and informal policies and so many of them are erroneous."

"Okay, Alex. You have dived quite deep into speculating a reason. Now let's see if we can connect your hypothesis to the other bad effects we have mentioned."

"No problem," I say. "We shouldn't forget that many of these erroneous policies are part of the company's fabric. People have have been trained for so long to follow them, that people are almost conditioned to behave in accordance. At the same time, people have very strong intuition, and therefore, in many instances they simply don't agree with their own actions."

Jonah nods his head in agreement, and I continue. "Almost everyone feels that many of their actions are in conflict with common sense."

"And that leads to apathy?" he asks.

"Not always, and not directly," I answer. "But if you agree with me that satisfaction is important to almost all people, then the sense of doing things which are in conflict with common sense must lead to frustration."

In a thoughtful voice he says, "And frustration seeks an outlet..."

"Exactly. Now imagine a person that has tried to do the right things for the organization and was punished for it. What will such a person do?"

"If it will occur many times," he answers, "it can drive almost anybody into apathy. But Alex, don't you think if you talk about punishing, you must bring into the picture not just policies but the formal measurements as well?"

"Not necessarily. Punishment may take the form of being yelled at. But why not involve the formal measurements? Many of them, if not all, contain severe distortions. We do punish and reward according to our formal measurements. These formal measurements not only play a part in conditioning people, but actually force them to act in a certain way. This is even worse. People know that some of their actions do not make sense, but they don't have a choice. Talk about frustration!"

I don't wait for an answer to my rhetorical question. "Due to the erroneous policies in general, and the measurements in particular, many people are very frustrated, and as you pointed out, frustration seeks an outlet. No wonder that finger-pointing mentality is so prevalent - it's an unavoidable result."

Jonah smiles bitterly. "Here is another common bad effect, the blaming mentality. Ask anybody about anything that went wrong and you will immediately get the long list of reasons. All have one thing in common - it's always 'someone else's fault.' This raises another interesting point. Since finger-pointing mentality is commonplace, people are expecting the possibility of being blamed. Now combine it with the fact that so many times they must comply with wrong policies."

"A mentality of 'cover your rear parts,'" I complete his thought. "Now I think that we have completed the picture. If you have behind-the-scene maneuvering, coupled with finger-pointing mentality, coupled with 'cover your rear parts' mentality, what can you expect besides high walls of distrust between levels and functions. It's interesting. All those bad effects are stemming from one source, one core problem: the erroneous policies and measurements."

We sit quietly for awhile. Then Jonah speaks up. "Alex, examining the logical structure we just built, a very surprizing conclusion surfaces: People behave so badly because they are so good."

Puzzled, I look at him. What does he mean by this statement?

"Alex, if one examines the effects on their own merit, what must be the conclusion? People are engaged in behind-the-scene manipulations, they are blaming each other and at the same time are very careful to cover their behinds. Some are already apathetic and the organization looks like it's dissected by walls of distrust. Looking at such an organization one may reach a very unpleasant opinion about the people employed. Now look at what comes out of our analysis."

"Fascinating," I pick up the ball. "That means that if we enter an organization and we find that it is run according to some erroneous policies, and nevertheless, nobody blames anybody, it means that we entered an organization in which nobody cares anymore. People have given up wanting satisfaction from their jobs."

"Or this company employs only robots," Jonah adds with a smile. "Machines don't have intuition about what is really going on."

"Yes," I say. "Which means that since most organizations do use many wrong policies and measurements, mine for sure, then all the bad symptoms we pointed out are at the same time signs of the vitality that is still there. Viewing it from this angle, it is quite ridiculous to think that we can deal directly with the undesirable symptoms. Hiring organizational psychological experts, forcing the creation of quality circles, preaching enthusiastically about the need to pull together."

"For me too," he says. "Now we both have to continue thinking. I must find why, in spite of the fact that people have powerful intuition, so many companies are currently using so many erroneous policies. I think you should find which are the ones that in your company cause most of the damage."

"Yes, I agree. And then I must figure out with what to replace them and how to cause the change. Well we have a lot to do. But now at least I know where to head."

This "Late Night Discussion" is Copyright © 1992 Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt