
Agricultural silos. These structures are used for storing grain. As a metaphor for organizational structures, silos are regarded as being relatively independent of each other. But the silos in this image clearly are not. For example, they share a loading mechanism, parts of which are clearly visible at the top of the line of silos. Not visible are the structures that keep the silos aligned with each other, so as to prevent their shifting from distorting the members of the loading mechanism.
So it is with organizational silos. Although we regard them as independent, and although they often seem to be working at cross-purposes with one another, they are linked, often in ways that are outside the awareness of the people who operate them.
As we discussed last time in more detail, disjoint awareness is a state in which the people of an organization collaborate using inaccurate mental models of each other's work and intentions. That is, there is a mismatch between their awareness of what each other is doing (or intending) and what those people are actually doing (or intending). Disjoint awareness is problematic because it causes collaborators to interfere with each other. For example, two different projects might contend with each other for the same scarce resource. Or two projects might waste precious resources trying to achieve the same goal.
When a significant number of people in an organization make similar errors in constructing disjoint awarenesses of what their collaborators are doing, one must consider three possibilities. First is a set of factors related to how well people can assess and project the activities of their collaborators. Second, the system in which these people find themselves might play a significant role. Finally, there is the possibility that psychological phenomena can contribute to the errors. In this part of our exploration of disjoint awareness, we explore factors that affect how well people can assess and project collaborators' activities. Three examples of such factors are complexity, specialization, and rapid change.
- Complexity
- When a collaboration is addressing problems that are unusually complex, some collaborators might find difficulty in grasping what's needed to create useful mental models of what others are doing. So even if they have access to the information they would need to create useful mental models, the task can be challenging and time consuming.
- One common way of coping with complexity is an organizational structure known as siloing. In siloing, we decompose the responsibilities of the organization into semi-independent parts. This enables the people in each part to focus on their own mission, which is well defined by the siloing. Decomposing the organization in this way corresponds to the analysis phase of solving problems by means of analysis and synthesis. Unfortunately, the silos aren't always as independent as we assume they are, which is what leads to disjoint awareness on the part of the people in the silos.
- Worse, most people When a collaboration is addressing
unusually complex problems, some
collaborators might find difficulty
in grasping what others are doingregard as low priority any activity involved in understanding what others are doing. At even lower priority is the task of communicating to others what those others would need to know if they wanted to avoid interference. Each person regards his or her "own work" as more important. The result is that the collaborators don't know enough about each other to avoid interfering with each other. These priority issues can resolve themselves if the schedule has sufficient slack. - Specialization
- As often happens in this age of specialization, the collaborators might not have a technological or educational background adequate for understanding each other's efforts. These barriers can add to the difficulty of understanding the work of their collaborators, which can create problems for understanding how their own work might interfere with the work of others.
- The consequences of specialization can also afflict the collaborators as they try to explain their own work to their colleagues. What might seem like communication problems can actually be the result of knowledge or educational gaps. Understanding that the collaboration is a group of specialists can help its members communicate in terms simple enough and general enough to be understood by all.
- Rapid change and chaos
- If complexity and technical specialization aren't enough to prevent collaborators from understanding each other, a rapid pace of change bordering on chaos can be. By the time one collaborator understands another's plans, the situation might have changed so dramatically that the recently acquired understanding is no longer valid, and interference between the two efforts is inevitable. Ironically, the inter-collaborator interference can itself be a driver of chaos or rapid change.
- Chaos within the collaboration — or in the context in which it occurs — can therefore be a self-sustaining phenomenon. Repair and maintenance of the disjoint awareness is an essential step in recovering smooth operation of the collaboration.
Next time we'll examine system-related factors that contribute to creating and maintaining disjoint awareness within collaborations. First issue in this series
Next issue in this series
Top
Next Issue
Occasionally we have the experience of belonging to a great team. Thrilling as it is, the experience is rare. In part, it's rare because we usually strive only for adequacy, not for greatness. We do this because we don't fully appreciate the returns on greatness. Not only does it feel good to be part of great team — it pays off. Check out my Great Teams Workshop to lead your team onto the path toward greatness. More info
Your comments are welcome
Would you like to see your comments posted here? rbrenaXXxGCwVgbgLZDuRner@ChacDjdMAATPdDNJnrSwoCanyon.comSend me your comments by email, or by Web form.About Point Lookout
Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and
found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.
This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.
Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.
Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.
Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.
Related articles
More articles on Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness:
Pygmalion Side Effects: Bowling a Strike
- Elise slowly walked back to her office, beaten. Her supervisor, Alton, had just given Elise her performance
review — her third consecutive "meets expectations." No point now to her strategy of
giving 120% to turn it all around. She is living a part of the Pygmalion Effect, and she's about to
experience the Pygmalion Side Effects.
Finding Work in Tough Times: Infrastructure
- Finding work in tough times goes a lot more easily if you have at least a minimum of equipment and space
to do the job. Here are some thoughts about getting that infrastructure and managing it.
Wacky Words of Wisdom
- Words of wisdom are so often helpful that many of them have solidified into easily remembered capsules.
We do tend to over-generalize them, though, and when we do, trouble follows. Here are a few of the more
dangerous ones.
How to Waste Time in Virtual Meetings
- Nearly everyone hates meetings, and virtual meetings are at the top of most people's lists. Here's a
catalog of some of the worst practices.
Anticipating Absence: Passings
- In times more normal than ours, co-workers who pass on tend to do so one at a time. Disease or accidents
rarely strike many co-workers in the same week, month, or year. There are exceptions — 9/11 was
one such. This pandemic is another.
See also Personal, Team, and Organizational Effectiveness for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming July 23: Microdelegation
- Microdelegation is a style of delegation in which the delegator unintentionally communicates the task to the subordinate in such detail and so repetitively that the subordinate is offended. As a result of this delegation style, many subordinates feel distrusted or suspected of fraud or goldbricking. Available here and by RSS on July 23.
And on July 30: What the Dunning-Kruger Effect Actually Is
- Although the Dunning-Kruger Effect is widely recognized, people describe it — and understand it — in many different ways. Some of these expressions are misleading. Proceed with caution. Available here and by RSS on July 30.
Coaching services
I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenaXXxGCwVgbgLZDuRner@ChacDjdMAATPdDNJnrSwoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.
Get the ebook!
Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:
- Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
- Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
- Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
- Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
- Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
- Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )
Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info
Follow Rick
Recommend this issue to a friend
Send an email message to a friend
rbrenaXXxGCwVgbgLZDuRner@ChacDjdMAATPdDNJnrSwoCanyon.comSend a message to Rick
A Tip A Day feed
Point Lookout weekly feed
