Bill Braun
PROPOSED TAXONOMY OF TERMS
Problem Symptom
==============
A description of an event (or set of events) that can be directly seen,
observed, monitored or measured and which is generally considered to be at
variance with a desired norm. Problem symptoms should:
1) have been in evidence for some time
2) have a history and are supported by data which can be trended over time
3) persist despite managers' best efforts to correct them
4) be considered important to the long-term well being of the organization
5) attract a stakeholder (or stakeholders) who is (are) interested in them
(the number of stakeholders can change over the lifetime of the problem
symptoms)
Examples: My behavior in meetings, sales over the last 6 quarters, employee
turnover rate
Problem Symptoms may be markedly different depending on who is attempting
to define them. A subsystem may believe that the system is failing to
address its needs (for the good of the part) in the same moment that the
system may believe that the subsystem is failing to perform its function
(for the good of the whole). This frequently appears as directly opposing
cause and effect (you are the cause of my behavior, if you change yours,
I'll change mine) allegations and/or the Escalation archetype.
Problem
======
Conditions that give rise to problem symptoms and which are not directly
observable and/or quantifiable, and whose measured value must be inferred
through data; a systemic misalignment between two or more structures that
themselves cannot be measured directly.
Example: an organization using a mechanistic structure in an external
environment of high uncertainty
The level of uncertainty cannot be measured directly but can be inferred
from the complexity of the external environment (the number of
environmental elements that influence the organization's ability to perform
and over which it has no control, ranges from Simple to Complex) and the
rate at which each environmental element changes (ranges from Stable to
Unstable).
Simple/Stable - Low Uncertainty
Simple/Unstable: Low - Moderate Uncertainty
Complex/Stable: Moderate - High Uncertainty
Complex/Unstable: High Uncertainty
Low uncertainty favors mechanistic structure, high uncertainty favors an
organic structure.
Stakeholder(s)
==========
Decision Makers
--------------------------
Individual or group whose decisions give rise (consciously or
unconsciously) to the Problem Symptoms identified by the Decision
Responders and who, when alerted to the concerns of Decision Responders and
upon electing to respond, have sufficient control to alter the Problem
Symptoms. They may accomplish this by attempting to solve the Problem
Symptoms directly or by attempting to solve the Problem itself.
Decision Makers are faced with: 1) Controllable Variables, 2)
Uncontrollable Variables, and 3) Constraints, which when taken together
represent the range of Possible Outcomes.
Decision Responders
----------------------------------
Individual or group whose interests (their "part" of the system) are not
being served by the system (by their own criteria) and who initially
attempt to define the Problem through their interpretation of the Problem
Symptoms. Stakeholders who identify with each other frequently share common
mental model attributes relative to the Problem Symptoms.
Individual or group that supports or rejects the decisions of the Decision
Makers, with either compliant or resistant behavior (includes all the grey
area) and who do not have sufficient control to autonomously alter the
Problem Symptoms to their satisfaction (regardless of his/her/their
ultimate satisfaction with the outcome)
Note: The same individual or group may be a Decision Maker in one set of
circumstances and a Decision Responder in another set of circumstances.
--Bill Braun <medprac@hlthsys.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>