ResourcesSystems Archetypes:These are fundamental areas of mistakes companies make and fail to solve due to pressures, poor decision making, unforeseen consequences etc. or the inability to see and fix a problem without outside help.William Braun describes Systems Archetypes as: “The Systems Archetypes describe common patterns of behavior in organizations. As diagnostic tools they provide insight into the underlying structures from which behavior over time and discreet events emerge. As prospective tools, they alert managers to future unintended consequences. Collectively they challenge managers to consider the merits of fundamental solutions by making time an explicit variable in decision making.” (Braun, 2002)There are many listed Systems Archetypes in Senge, The Fifth Discipline that gives examples of how companies and organization implement changes only to find out that their implementation of a new system fails. Senge and others have given names to a variety of these systems and how due to poor decision-making cause confusion and failure, however, looking at these areas managers and leaders can identify their shortcomings and turn these failures around if they can swallow their pride and not shift blame. I have list only 5 most common System Archetypes below. I have also added a video for Peter Senge on The Fifth Discipline. In the Video that I have attached from Senge, he makes a great comparison of children playing video
games and motivation. I added two questions at the end to write on.The Five common system archetypes:Fixes that fail—A solution is rapidly implemented to address the symptoms of an urgent problem. This quick fix sets into motion unintended consequences that are not evident at first but end up adding to the symptoms.Shifting the burden—A problem symptom is addressed by a short-term and a fundamental solution. The short-term solution produces side effects affecting the fundamental solution. As this occurs, the system’s attention shifts to the short-term solution or to the side effects.Limits to success—A given effort initially generates positive performance. However, over time the effort reaches a constraint that slows down the overall performance no matter how much energy is applied.Drifting goals—As a gap between goal and actual performance is realized, the conscious decision is to lower the goal. The effect of this decision is a gradual decline in the system performance.Tragedy of the commons—Multiple parties enjoying the benefits of a common resource do not pay attention to the effects they are having on the common resource. Eventually, this resource is exhausted resulting in the shutdown of the activities of all parties in the system.londonessays.com Jorge Taborga Saybrook Forum, Human Experience- Monday, August 15, 2011londonessays.com System Archetypes Copyright © 2002 by William Braun (2002.02.27 (londonessays.com