# Organizational and Individual Systems By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-07-17 Organizational systems are constraining. This is intentional. It provides heuristics for behavior, action, and decision-making. These systems create pathways for activities without endless consideration about what to do. The idea is that they put the guardrails in place so one knows what to do within a range of infinite possibilities. This constrains uncertainty, which in turn often increases what the system deems to be efficient. One should recognize that efficiency is an organizationally defined metric. There is no such thing as an absolute definition of efficiency. Every organizational system has its meaning of efficiency. Sometimes it is nuanced; other times, it is a radical departure. One organization defines efficiency as profitability, while the other defines efficiency as changing minds. At its heart, efficiency directly reflects the organizational system's value judgments, purpose, and choice to exist. Once these are in place, systems are constructed to optimize this value judgment and purpose constantly. Thus, constraints are put into place to prevent one from venturing too far away from these values. Yet, organizations regularly put out new mission statements and values that they obtain from a strategic off-site. Does this mean the organization, with its intrinsic value and resulting systemic processes, has changed? Unlikely. How can an organization change its mind when it is not a single entity but a bunch of systems and processes that keep individuals within guardrails? Thus, one sees how and why organizations die. The very systems that they created constrain them from being anything else. As the world changes, they do not. As individuals, we have an advantage in this game: we are the agents of systemic change. One is only restricted by the systems one chooses to appropriate. One did not choose to exist as an organization did, so one can choose whatever system one likes - if one is willing to challenge the status quo and find new constraints. #### Related Items [[Organization]] [[Individuals]] [[Systems Thinking]] [[Efficiency]] [[Change]] [[Status Quo]] [[Value]] [[Mission Statements]]