Organizational Development: A Manual for Managers and ... - FPDL

esources to cure these consequences; they will disappear when their root causes cease to
maintain them.
These causes may be of an unpredictable nature – then there is no problem to solve. An accident
remains an accident; it is not likely to be repeated in the future. Or, causes may be systematic.
Systematic causes may belong to controllable and uncontrollable factors. Uncontrollable factors
are the responsibility of fate. Controllable factors are in the hands of management. Of course,
controllability also depends on the skill of the ‘hands’. Anyway, as we’ve already discussed in Part
1 of this manual, the elimination of or compensation for systematic causes of objectionable
deviations is the most characteristic function of management. It is related to ‘problem solving’.
Problematic situations may belong to different categories. They may manifest as a slump to the
edge of the existence space, or in stagnation (‘getting stuck’ in a zone of discomfort - not as bad as
to die, but not good enough to be considered as a state of comfort). In a state of stagnation, any
organism experiences internal stress, energy is wasted to maintain it, flexibility is lost – sooner or
later it will end up in a slump or, worse yet, a catastrophe. But with a good reserve, it may take
time, as in the case of the former Soviet Union.
When environmental (external) conditions remain normal, and the abnormal discomfort is caused
by internal factors – then we talk about disease. When an organism remains the same, but the
environment changes in an unfavourable manner, then the reason for increasing discomfort may
be a lag. A lag is just the inability of an organism to change in sync with the environment in a way
that would maintain a state of comfort. Being ‘backward’ or unable to change may result in the
death of a formerly very ‘healthy’ organism.
Several observations may assist in the process of problem diagnosis. For example, in the chain of
causes and consequences, controllable and uncontrollable factors are always clearly divided at a
certain point – where controllable factors end and uncontrollable ones begin. Thus, a simple
question, like “Why is it like it is?”, when applied to the causes of undesirable attributes, will
inevitably lead to the root controllable factors. These factors may be called ‘problems’ and
addressed as problems, when the deeper causes are actually uncontrollable. For example, a low
temperature in the room may be caused by bad weather. However, weather is usually not within
the purview of a manager. His problem is the low temperature in the room, caused by the bad
weather.
When ‘everything goes badly’ in an organization – it does not mean that ‘there are a lot of
problems’. There may be only a few problems, or even one. Evaluating such a situation as a state
with many ‘problems’ may be very harmful, because it often lead to attempts ‘to solve’ everything
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