The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 1

However, their largely fixed, immovable line of defence was one that was tightly-

coupled. Most armaments of the Maginot Line faced east. Once a line of fortified defence

was broken, the entire fixed line would become redundant.

The looming campaign against France would place greater demands on the Germans to

‘surprise’ the enemy (see the textbox below). They would need to adapt quickly to a

changing situation, be highly creative in developing novel solutions and agile in exercising

those responses, all for the single aim of bewildering the enemy.

Tight

(Defending)

(Attacking)

Complexity

Loose

Certain

Uncertain

Uncertainty

Figure 1.3: Mapping complexity and uncertainty (Adapted from Perrow 1999)

11 | P a g e