chapter 6: natures templates senge: chapter 6 the fifth discipline

Chapter 6: Natures Templates

Senge: Chapter 6THE FIFTH DISCIPLINE

1 June 2002 Prepared by James R. Burns

Nature’s Templates: the Archetypes• Structures of which we are

unaware hold us prisoner• The swimmer scenario

• Certain patterns of structure occur again and again: called ARCHETYPES


We are creating a “language”

• reinforcing feedback and balancing feedback are like the nouns and verbs

• systems archetypes are the basic sentences• Behavior patterns appear again in all

disciplines--biology, psychology, family therapy, economics, political science, ecology and management

• Can result in the unification of knowledge across all fields

Prepared by James R. Burns1 June 2002

Recurring behavior patterns• Do we know how to recognize

them?• Do we know how to describe them?• Do we know how to prescribe cures

for them?• The ARCHETYPES describe these

recurring behavior patterns


The ARCHETYPES • Provide leverage points, intervention

junctures at which substantial change can be brought about

• Put the systems perspective into practice• About a dozen systems ARCHETYPES

have been identified• All ARCHETYPES are made up of the

systems building blocks: reinforcing processes, balancing processes, delays


Before attacking the ARCHETYPES we need to understand simple structures

• The reinforcing feedback loop• The balancing feedback loop


ARCHETYPE 1: LIMITS TO GROWTH• A reinforcing process is set in motion

to produce a desired result. It creates a spiral of success but also creates inadvertent secondary effects (manifested in a balancing process) that eventually slow down the success.

• All growth will eventually run up against constraints, impediments


Management Principle relative to ARCHETYPE 1• Don’t push growth or success;

remove the factors limiting growth


ARCHETYPE 1: LIMITS TO GROWTH• Useful in all situations where

growth bumps up against limits• Firms grow for a while, then plateau• Individuals get better for a while,

then their personal growth slows.• Falling in love is kind of like this

• The love begins to plateau as the couple get to know each other better


Structure

state of stockgrowing action slowing action

BalancingReinforcing


Understanding the Structure• High-tech orgs grow rapidly

because of their ability to introduce new products

• This growth plateaus as lead times become too long


How to achieve Leverage

• Most managers react to the slowing growth by pushing harder on the reinforcing loop

• Unfortunately, the more vigorously you push the familiar levels, the more strongly the balancing process resists, and the more futile your efforts become.

1 June 2002 Prepared by James R. Burns 13

Leverage, Continued

• Instead, concentrate on the balancing loop--changing the limiting factor

• This is akin to Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints--remove the bottleneck, the impediment


Applications to Quality Circles and JIT• Quality circles work best when there is

even-handed emphasis on both balancing and reinforcing loops

• JIT has had to focus on recalcitrant suppliers

• THERE WILL ALWAYS BE MORE LIMITING PROCESSES

• When once source of limitation is removed, another will surface

• Growth eventually WILL STOP


Create your own LIMITS TO GROWTH story• Identify a limits to growth pattern

in your own experience• Diagram it

– What is growing– What might be limitations– Example--the COBA and University

capital campaigns– NOW, LOOK FOR LEVERAGE


Test your LIMITS TO GROWTH model• Talk to others about your

perception• Test your ideas about leverage in

small real-life experiments• Run and re-run the simulation

model• Approach possible resistance and

seek WIN-WIN strategies with them


ARCHETYPE 2: shifting the burden

• An underlying problem generates symptoms that demand attention. But the underlying problem is difficult for people to address, either because it is obscure or costly to confront. So people “shift the burden” of their problem to other solutions--well-intentioned, easy fixes that seem extremely efficient.

1 June 2002 Prepared by James R. Burns 18

Shifting the burden scenario, continued• Unfortunately, the easier solutions

only ameliorate the symptoms; they leave the underlying problem unaltered. The underlying problem grows worse and the system loses whatever abilities it had to solve the underlying problem.


The Stereotype Structure

Problem

Symptomatic Solution

Fundamental Solution

Side effect

BALANCING

BALANCING

REINFORCING

Symptiom-CorrectingProcess

Problem-Correcting Process

Addictioin Loop


Special Case: Eroding Goals• Full employment meant 4%

unemployment in the 1960s, but 6 to 7% unemployment in the early 1980’s

• Gramm-Rudman bill called for reaching a balanced budget by 1991, but this was shifted to 1993 and from 1993 to 1996 and from 1996 to 1998

• “If all else fails, lower your goals..”


EXAMPLE

Alcohol

Stress/Depression

Reduce workload

Health

BALANCING

BALANCING

Alcohol

Stress/Depression

Reduce workload

Health

BALANCING

BALANCING


Another Example

Costs of Higher Ed not funded by State or Students

Raise tuition, add course fees, etc.

Enrollments

Perceived cost to the student


Still Another ExampleHeroics and Overtime

Project Delayed

Efectiveness of PM practices

Reward for heroic behavior

Improvement of processes/practices

Symptom-correctingprocess

Problem-correctingProcess

Addiction Loop


Still other Problems

• What about retention of students• The perceived fix is raise the

admission standards• What about drug-related crime• The perceived fix is to remove the

drugs from the street


“Shifting the Burden” is an insidious problem• Is has a subtle reinforcing cycle• This increases dependence on the

symptomatic solution• But eventually, the system loses

the ability to apply the fundamental solution

• The system collapses


Senge Says

• Today’s problems are yesterday’s solutions

• We tend to look for solutions where they are easiest to find


HOW TO ACHIEVE LEVERAGE• Must strengthen the fundamental

response– Requires a long-term orientation and

a shared vision

• Must weaken the symptomatic response– Requires a willingness to tell the truth

about these “solutions”


Create your own “Shifting the Burden” Story

• Is there a problem that is getting gradually worse over the long term?

• Is the health of the system gradually worsening?

• Is there a growing feeling of helplessness?• Have short-term fixes been applied?

• The local Mexican restaurant problem of using coupons to generate business and then can’t get away from using the coupons because their customer base is hooked on coupons


To structure your problem

• Identify the problem• Next, identify a fundamental

solution• Then, identify one or several

symptomatic solutions• Finally, identify the possible

negative “side effects” of the symptomatic solution


Review

• We have now seen two of the basic systems archetypes. – The Limits to Growth Archetype– The Shifting the Burden Archetype

• As the archetypes are mastered, they become combined into more elaborate systemic descriptions.

• The “sentences” become parts of paragraphs• The simple stories become integrated into

more involved stories


Seeing Structures, not just Trees• Helps us focus on what is

important and what is not• Helps us determine what variables

to focus on and which to play less attention to

32Prepared by James R. Burns1 June 2002

Copyright C 2002 by James R. Burns• All rights reserved world-wide.

CLEAR Project Steering Committee members have a right to use these slides in their presentations. However, they do not have the right to remove this copyright or to remove the “prepared by….” footnote that appears at the bottom of each slide.

Prepared by James R. Burns

chapter 6: natures templates senge: chapter 6 the fifth discipline

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