Organizational Entropy

slope

How do you see the world in terms of the playing field on which organizations compete? Some see it as sloped naturally toward health and success - If we do nothing, it will come. Some see it as level - If we just compete well, it will happen. Others see it as sloped away from health and success and toward deterioration and disintegration - If we do nothing, we will lose. These views of the world are largely affected by our overall disposition, our inherent optimism or pessimism (most often called "realism").

How do you see the world, the field, around you? I have noticed an interesting thing. It seems that when I fail to maintain things, they naturally decline. This principle applies to things (cars, lawnmowers, buildings, roads) and people (health, relationships, intimacy). I have yet to see the principle of things getting better without effort invested.Entropy (n) can be defined as: a process of degradation or running down; a trend to disorder, chaos, disorganization or randomness.I believe this principle is alive and well in our organizations. Organizational entropy dictates that when we fail to put effort (energy) into being healthy (efficient, functional, productive) that we will quite naturally and automatically slide back down the hill toward dysfunction and disorganization. I like to illustrate this principle like this: In light of this principle, which direction is your organization or team moving? My guess would be that unless you're doing something intentionally and systematically to add energy into the system, you are most likely rolling down hill. This reality is what I call organizational entropy.