Organizational Traps

For over 40 years, Chris Argyris has demonstrated and explained how organizational inefficiency is principally caused by the inability of individuals to act constructively when they are faced with potentially embarrassing or threatening situations. Indeed, people tend to avoid or circumvent conflicts, rather than dealing with them constructively. As a result, the same debates resurface regularly, almost word for word. Turf battles can drag on forever without ever finding a solution. Dysfunctions become part of the landscape.
Everyone starts to believe that change is impossible.
Argyris attempts to show that the obstacles to change are not raised by the system, but by our own reactions. Out of an excessive desire to keep control and avoid discomfort, we often subconsciously repeat the behaviors that contribute to maintaining the problems we find so unpleasant.

This book revisits these theories and uses many real-life examples to show how we act against our own best interests. In particular, it explains how the inefficiency of traditional change approaches is due to their failure to address defensive reflexes. The author recommends a change and learning approach in which these reflexes are identified and deep thinking and exercises are conducted to modify the underlying assumptions and convictions. Many practical exercises are suggested, including a two-column exercise in which a person notes what he or she actually said in one column and his or her corresponding unspoken thoughts in the second column. This extremely simple exercise is very effective in uncovering latent contradictions and inconsistencies.

This book could durably transform your perception of change and, most of all, of your share of responsibility in bringing it about.