Fragmentation: a little-known phenomenon that could be paralyzing transformation in your organization

 

The development of organizational initiatives, projects and problem solving are often processes that are managed from technical expertise. However, we are well aware that there is a social nature inherent to this reality: the human factor.

In this context, the success of projects certainly depends on collaborative skills and collective intelligence, the latter being a natural property of shared cognition and a natural facilitator of transformation processes.

Thus, in most organizations, the concept of collaboration is an element that is heard on a daily basis, as a necessary value to be installed transversally and in a sustained manner over time.

However, often these intentions and aspirations for a collaborative culture are not matched in practice, and this has to do with the fact that you rarely pay attention to the relational forces that challenge collective intelligence, inhibit collaboration and can lead to the failure of your organization's initiatives or projects.

This translates into a complex social phenomenon that is scarcely explored in organizations. We are talking about fragmentation.

Fragmentation is a reality that can manifest itself in different ways in organizational projects.

For example:

  • When stakeholders are not aware of all the assumptions that exist about the problems, which are unspoken and often incompatible with each other.
  • When each person involved believes that his or her understanding of the issue is total and complete, and that it would be equally shared by the other members.

In this way, the fragmented pieces are made up of different perspectives, judgments, intentions, assumptions and unstated understandings of the people who are part of the same project that rarely emerge explicitly.

But this complexity goes a little beyond the above, and we can consider it as a configuration of 3 forces that could be paralyzing the transformation of your organization and the necessary collaboration to achieve the objectives of the projects.

These 3 forces are:

  • So-called Wicked Problems
  • Social complexity
  • Technical complexity

Fragmentation = [wickedness x social complexity x technical complexity].

While fragmentation can be explained by these 3 forces, here we will focus on the non-technical aspects: "wicked problems" and "social complexity".

WICKED PROBLEM

The first force that would explain to a certain extent the phenomenon of fragmentation in projects, teams and organizations are the "Wicked Problems".

This term was first coined in 1973 by Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber, two academics at UC Berkeley in California, and has since gained wide acceptance as an approach to:

  • Problems impossible to structure or understand until a solution is found.
  • Problems in which no single root cause can be identified
  • Its resolution does not generate something right or wrong, the judgment will depend on the evaluator.
  • A common mistake is to approach them from linear thinking tools and logics, designed for less complex problems.
  • Some universal examples of wicked problems are related to: climate change, extreme poverty, pollution, corruption, drug trafficking, etc.
  • In relation to organizational issues, it is possible to detect some problems that the vast majority of organizations have not been able to solve, such as: working in silos, poor communication, development of accountability, customer-centric culture, among other wicked problems that do not have a clear or replicable solution.

SOCIAL COMPLEXITY

Another force shaping the fragmentation phenomenon is social complexity.

Social complexity is explained by the number and diversity of actors involved in a project or initiative. This means that the greater the number and diversity of parties involved, the greater the social complexity.

In a future publication, we will delve in more detail into this phenomenon, which involves several factors, such as:

  • Individual diversity (experience, personality, style of thinking)
  • Diversity of disciplines involved in the project
  • Design polarity, (tension between the desirable and the feasible)
  • Divergence of goals between the parties, to name a few.  

In this sense, the fragmenting force of social complexity can make it very difficult to communicate effectively, resolve conflicts, generate agreements, and make joint decisions, among others.

Therefore, social complexity requires new understandings, processes and tools that are in tune with the human and conversational nature of work. And in turn, this requires openness to the development of new mindsets, values, practices and behaviors that facilitate connectivity and cohesion among teams.

But what techniques and/or tools exist today to navigate through these scenarios?

In order to generate some answers to these and other questions, we will be publishing during March and April a series of 3 articles related to the phenomenon of fragmentation and its dimensions.

As The Change Lab team, we are convinced that our value goes beyond what we do. For this reason, we collaboratively seek knowledge transfer and the development of organizational capabilities in everything we do. We are convinced that we must contribute to help organizations manage their change and transformation processes with greater ease.

This is why we invite you to review the information of our International Certification in Change Management, which is about to start its 6th version on March 31, 2022.

You can also schedule a time to talk and apply directly. There are limited spaces available.

SOURCE: Dialogue Mapping Book - Building Shared Understanding of Wicked Problems