Les décisions absurdes III

[Absurd decisions III]

Sociologist Christian Morel has specialized in exposing the insidious spirals that lead collectives to take damageable decisions. He addresses here two common problems in business organizations. First, the swelling number of rules and its perverse effects. Next, what he calls relational traps: psychological mechanisms that systematically appear in any human group and disturb its functioning. Among them: the difficulties in communicating, the adjustment of individual behaviors as a reaction to other people, the hesitations to express disagreement, etc. Without judging them, Christian Morel describes these deeply human attitudes and behaviors. He also shows how, through accumulation, they can lead to dramatic mistakes, such as the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia, or to costly ones, such as the failure of the Renault/Volvo alliance. How can they be prevented? Individual vigilance is not sufficient. Christian Morel rather recommends a collective effort, upstream, to create the conditions for a functional group dynamic. Among his advice: ensure that we all talk a common language, and set up a culture that values dissension. An important book to improve collective decision-making.