Organisational Dysfunctionality

There are many reasons why organisations, whether public or private sector, do not function smoothly. It can be due to structural dysfunctionality, whereby mechanisms are not adequate to deal with the complexity of the everyday. Alternatively it may be due to individuals who, for whatever reason, are pursuing their own agenda. There are other reasons, for example, inappropriate technologies or policies. Invariably, dysfunctionality can be diagnosed, given sufficient transparency of what is happening - transparency is revealed in the detail of discrete events, which collectively can reveal the problematic areas, and thus allow a negotiated resolution. The analogy is the diagnosis of an ailment, which, by evaluating its symptoms, leads to an iterative process involving deeper examination of the problematic area(s), until the cause of the ailment is found. Bad customer service is an ailment, but its cause requires a systematic approach. One approach that facilitates such an analysis - diagnosis uses Stafford Beer's Viable System Model (VSM). However, this raises an interesting question. If dysfunctionality can be diagnosed, why is dysfunctionlity endemic to all organisations and not eliminated? One reason is that resolution requires negotiation. But this draws attention to another problem...