Subject: System Objective

Posted by Prof. Dr. Niall Palfreyman on 9/4/2006
In Reply To:System Objective Posted by Bill Braun on 9/4/2006

Message:

Ah Kau LIM wrote:

>On a related issue, what are the tell tale signs that an organisation
>is pursuing more than one key objective or is unclear about its
>objective from a system point of view?
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I would say: quite simply, conflict. Conflict is nothing other than a sign that two parts of a system are trying to move in different directions, and while I'd be hard put to it to provide a definition of conflict in an SD model, I have no doubt that all conflict in an organisation is traceable to diverse objectives. I am not saying that diverse objectives are bad - merely that conflict is a good sign that they exist, and so must be addressed.

Bill Braun wrote:

>every system is perfectly designed to produce the results it produces.
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I love this quote. It seems so apt to working with people, for example in my case students who are weighed down with worry about their own abilities. Where does it come from?

Niall Palfreyman.