The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 4
decisions or exercise any autonomy that would enable them to deviate from what is being
prescribed. Such geniuses are rare and few in management, and when they exist (e.g. Steve
Jobs) their successes may turn them into insensitive strategisers, indulging in and
pressurised by their expected infallibility, careering headlong into dogmatism and disaster.
There is only so much we can expect from those rare individuals. What we cannot expect is
that they are always ‘right’ in the what, why and how.
Limitations of Accountability
Accountability is defined as the obligation of individuals to account for their own actions and
accept responsibility for the outcome of those actions. In centralising working, this implies
compliance: obeying an order, rule, or request. There lies the problem. The willingness of a
follower to spend time and energy on actions is dependent on a belief – the what and the
why – defined by a leader. Hence, belief in the message or the messenger is paramount. If
one does not have faith in the order, rule, or request or in the messenger who conveys such
rule, order, or request, commitment to act in the best interest of the organisation is easily
undermined.
This erosion of commitment is also fuelled by a degree of disempowerment and lack of
direct influence on one’s individual objective. For the former, receiving an order, rule, or
request tends to perceived as a deprivation of power and interest. The latter refers to the
‘blame’ attributed to the one that provides order, rule and request that turns out to be
‘wrong’. As a consequence, centralisation – by default – undermines commitment to carry
out an order, rule or request for the greater good of the organisation.
Intent instead of Tasks
Under a decentralised way of working, people are helped to acquire the skills and
capabilities to work independently, show initiative and improvise if necessary. This does not
mean that autonomous working is encouraged without any form of alignment. In the armed
forces, all over the world, the concept of intent is defined as a mechanism that provides
purposeful direction which people are committed to. In other words, an intent does not only
consist of the ‘What to do’ but also provides meaning in the sense of ‘Why’ and boundaries
for ‘How’.
Klein (1999, 225) describes seven types of information deemed crucial to convey an
intent.
The purpose of the task (the higher level goals). It provides the ‘bigger picture’,
conveying an understanding of a broad vision of aspirations and goals.
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