Organizational Dilemmas

The more highly differentiated a company and the greater the market turbulence to which it is subjected and the greater the economies of scale it has achieved, the more difficult yet crucial it is to integrate all its parts coherently, respond fast to market waves and dips, and to manufacture as flexibly and economically as possible. - Charles Hampden-Turner.

individual excellence/organizational performance

differentiation/integration

autonomy/interdependence

planning/emergence

low cost/value

mass mkt/niche/mkt

portfolio mgmt/cash cows, stars, dogs, ?

technical/social - Emery & Trist -> sociotechnical

response rate/turbulence

economies of scale/product variety

scale/flexibility

flexibility/controllability

rational/empirical

centralized/decentralized -> distributed

change/continuity

expand/fixed capacity

expansion rate/capacity expansion

strained workload/budgetary constraints

profit goals/expand capacity

expand business/expand profits

stockholders/reinvestment

short term/long term

control outcomes/include people

growth/stability

incremental improvement/system-wide focus (innovation/creativity)

personal advancement/organizational advancement

theWay of Systems * Feedback * Musings
Copyright © 2004 Gene Bellinger