CHAPTER ONE

Framing the Issue

The Work of Chris Argyris

Innovation, ingenuity, and thinking outside the box are often cited as hallmarks of successful organizations, but in practice, their occurrence is rare. More likely, the “way things work around here” is a litany of missed deadlines, low morale, strained relationships, and inept problem solving. In fact, many organizations manage to operate far below the standards of excellence they strive for. Why is that the case?

No one sits down and says, “Okay, here’s our plan for lowering morale in the company.” No one asks, “What can we do to run this project into the ground?” We are human beings who desire to succeed, to foster creativity, to be competent, and to value the dignity of work. Yet we find ourselves being ineffective, settling for less, and caught in escalating cycles of unproductive behavior toward each other. We also tend to cover up inefficiency to protect ourselves, and come to see those actions as necessary, realistic, and even caring. How does this happen?

I have written this book to help people and their companies sort out these puzzles of human behavior. My inspiration and the foundation for this book is the work of Chris Argyris. Professor Argyris has dedicated his life’s work to the topic of human behavior in organizations. His research has shown that our reactions to conditions of threat and embarrassment create patterns of behavior that he refers to as organizational defensive routines. These routines are predictable and ubiquitous in the world of work, and ultimately they do not serve the best interests of an organization. Understanding how each one of us participates in these dynamics is an important step toward creating a productive workplace. Learning how to mitigate or even avoid the resulting discord and loss of productivity is another. My goal is to help you accomplish both. This book, along with its accompanying interactive materials, attempts to make Chris Argyris’s work more accessible and practical.

WHAT IS AN ORGANIZATIONAL DEFENSIVE ROUTINE?

Organizational defensive routines arise when we find ourselves under the conditions of threat or embarrassment. In reaction to these conditions, we engage in a characteristic mode of defensive reasoning and behavior. We think, “The problem is not me, but you.” If both parties are thinking in the same defensive mode about each other, then the stage is set for some nasty behavior.

Although we would not think of ourselves as being unreasonable or ill intended, we readily concoct private explanations about why others do what they do. We make attributions about each other’s motives and intentions and hold other parties accountable for the difficulty when we find ourselves at odds with one another. In the privacy of our own minds, we hold our positions with a high degree of certainty. It is hard to listen when you think the other person is dead wrong. Yet we will be the first to call “Unfair!” if we don’t think the other person is listening to us.

None of what we are thinking is spoken directly to the person involved. In fact, when and if we share our emotionally charged assessments, theories, and explanations, we generally do so only with those individuals who we feel will be sympathetic to our views. These private conversations are held behind closed doors, in the hallways and break rooms. Nothing is discussed in public meetings, and rarely, if ever, do the targets of those third-party conversations ever find out what we really think. The result is “open secrets,” “undiscussables,” or the “elephant in the room.” Most everyone can think of some example of this, often accompanied by a juicy story. What is often left out of the story is the teller’s complicit participation in it. There is no awareness of how he or she might be involved in creating the open secret, the undiscussable, or the elephant in the room.

These dynamics become a routine part of the workplace culture. Whole departments become encased in assumptions and expectations that feed predictable, vicious cycles of human behavior. As organizational defensive routines take hold of a company’s culture, the consequences are increasingly troubling. I have observed companies in which defensive routines proliferate to the point where the organizational culture becomes so toxic to working relationships that the organization’s productivity suffers dramatically.

Defensive routines become so ingrained in our social behavior that they become an accepted part of the “way things work around here.” What becomes apparent is that the organization, project, or team isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. No one is walking the talk, and everyone knows it. When this realization dawns on us, our first reaction is usually sadness, disappointment, or a physical sensation of being let down. People talk of being deflated and dispirited. There is a loss of animation. Animation, by the way, derives from the Latin word animus (m.) or anima (f.), “soul.” That definition holds true here. There is a loss of soul.

But even that isn’t the whole story. Along with that loss comes a sense of helplessness. Organizational defensive routines are experienced and reported as being external to anyone’s control or influence. We distance ourselves from any sense of personal responsibility. We don’t realize that we might be as much a part of the problem as the next person. No one knows how to break the cycle and start afresh. This self-fueling, counterproductive process exists in all organizations and plays out in one-to-one interactions, in groups, and across organizational divisions, time and again, to the detriment of all.

These situations are depressing, to put it mildly. They are also much more common than we’d like to think, in organizations of all sizes, shapes, and geographies. But there is a way to break the cycle. And although the process is difficult, it is doable and very much worth the effort.

HOW I CAME TO WRITE THIS BOOK

I came to know Chris Argyris’s work and to write this book through an untraditional route. My academic background is steeped in the liberal arts fields of philosophy, psychology, religious studies, and folklore. Prior to my career as an educator and consultant, I made the rounds in a variety of health care professions, mainly in care of the sick and dying.

I never thought I would be writing a business book. Fortunately, my background, particularly in the study of philosophy, has served me well in this line of work. In the study of philosophy, reflection is a requirement, and critical thinking is an essential tool, just as it is in the field of organizational learning. I have never been attracted to a philosophy that is disconnected from living, nor do I desire to ponder thoughts without understanding their practical implications. I follow the precepts of the philosopher Epicurus, who said, “Empty is the argument of the philosopher which does not relieve any human suffering.” Translated into the language of action science, knowledge must be actionable if it is to be at all useful.

I recognized in Chris Argyris’s work a program of attraction for those with an appetite for reflection. He prescribes a different way of thinking and acting that holds the promise of greater learning, reduction of error, and a fair exchange between conflicting views. Simply said, he offers us a better, more excellent way of behaving in the workplace. In my world of philosophy, demonstrations of the best of human action are called virtues. The word virtue comes from the Latin virtus, which is a translation of its Greek counterpart, arête, “excellence.” The antidote to the vicious cycle of human behavior exhibited in defensive routines is a virtuous one in which we act well or most excellent with each other.

I made the connection between virtues and Chris Argyris’s work one night when he spoke to a small group of us gathered at a friend’s house. Argyris said, “People think that because I am a social scientist, I am interested in the truth. I am not interested in the truth as much as I am in justice: how to treat people with respect and dignity in the workplace.” And at that moment, my heart was won over to his work. From my youthful days to adulthood, I was always involved in issues of justice. My generation acted to correct injustices and instilled in me a firm belief that things could change and that I could be part of that effort.

My confidence in my ability, as one individual, to change the world has tempered over the years, but I still believe in the pursuit of justice. Instead of trying to change the world, I now focus closer to home. Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who lived and died during the turbulent 1960s, once said, “Social justice is how you treat the person next to you.” Every encounter I have has become an opportunity to act justly. That evening, Argyris’s statement confirmed a connection between his work and the passion I felt for the cardinal virtue of justice.

Acquiring the mind-set and skill set proposed by Argyris for a more just workplace is a matter of learning new behavior through practice. When watching Argyris interact with workshop participants, I would always hear him say, “So, how would you do it? What would you say?” He was interested in seeing if people could produce the behavior they thought would be effective and well intended. He, like other practitioners of action science, was also offering the person a chance to...