Discussion Questions1. If entropy?the natural degradation of systems?is indeed a universalcharacteristic of systems, what signs of entropy do you see in organizations withwhich you are familiar?2. In his text on persuasion, Herbert Simons relates the story of three umpiresdisagreeing about the task of calling balls and strikes. The first umpire says, I callsthem as they is. The second one says, I calls them as I sees them. The third andcleverest umpire says, They ain?t nothin? till I calls them. What do you supposethis story has to do with Weick?s notions of enactment, selection, and retention?3. The systems concept of equifinality proposes that there are many ways toachieve system goals and get to the same place. If, for example, members ofan organization lack motivation to work, how would this concept apply? Whatdifferent options might be considered as a way to address the problem?4. The principle of requisite variety suggests that the more equivocal anorganizational problem is for organizational participants, the more they needto develop correspondingly complex processes to cope with the issue. Do youagree with this idea?or might it be possible that a rather complex and uncertainsituation could be managed by a very simple strategy?5. The concepts of efficiency (doing things right) and effectiveness (doing theright things) might seem rather abstract. Can you think of specific situations whereorganizations have done something very efficiently, but not very effectively?6. This chapter stresses the value of proactive, reflexive, and fairly deep andsystematic thinking about organizations. Yet organizational theorists such asPeters and Waterman, in their classic book In Search of Excellence, argue thatbusinesses often spend too much time and energy analyzing everything, and thatexcellent firms have a bias for action. Do you think it is possible to overstudya problem facing an organization?
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