A matter of design

'We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.' - Albert Einstein.

Dysfunction results from poor design.

In nature, if the design of a wing or a leaf is not optimal - the organism that it is a part of dies, because it simply cannot survive without the efficient use of the resources available to it, and that species ceases to exist.

Bad design is snuffed out by evolution; only good design survives.

Thank goodness.

The same holds true for organisations.

Companies with flawed systems design fail - or at least they ought to fail.

Sure, you can artificially patch over poor design with subsides and pouring more investor capital into the gapping hole created by poor design, but eventually the inevitable will happen and that system will fail.  

If you have too many poorly designed organisations making up an economic ecosystem, all propped up artificially with debt - you end up with a very fragile economy; one that's guaranteed at some stage to collapse. Sound familiar?

Poor design needs to fail, only good design should be allowed to survive.

Tweaking the design to try fix the overall unsatisfactory outcome that a system produces is often ineffective; the solution lies in a complete redesign of the entire system.

Suspending the old, and starting again from scratch is ultimately the best way to fix the issues.

Perhaps there needs to be far more of an awareness of the importance of design when it comes to organisational performance?

In my experience, 9 times out of 10, the issue is absolutely a matter of design.